Minnie Pearl
| Minnie Pearl | |
|---|---|
Minnie Pearl performing at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sarah Ophelia Colley |
| Also known as | Minnie Pearl |
| Born |
October 25, 1912 Centerville, Hickman County Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | March 4, 1996 (aged 83) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres |
Country Comedy |
| Occupation(s) | Country comedian |
| Years active | 1939–1991 |
Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996), known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedian who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (from 1940 to 1991) and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.
Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee, 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Nashville. She was the youngest of the five daughters of a prosperous lumberman in Centerville:
She graduated from Ward-Belmont College (now Belmont University), at the time Nashville's most prestigious school for young ladies, where her major was theater studies and dance which was a particular interest. After graduating, she taught dance for the next few years.
Her first professional theatrical work was with the Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, a touring theater company based in Atlanta. She produced and directed plays and musicals for local organizations in small towns throughout the Southeast.
As part of her work, she made brief appearances at civic organizations to promote the group's shows. She developed her Minnie Pearl routine during this period. While producing an amateur musical comedy in Baileyton, Alabama, she met a mountain woman whose style and talk became the basis for "Cousin Minnie Pearl". Her first stage performance as Minnie Pearl was in 1939 in Aiken, South Carolina. Her now famous hat was purchased downtown at Surasky Bros. Department store prior to the show. The following year, executives from Nashville radio station WSM saw her perform at a bankers' convention in Centerville and gave her an opportunity to appear on the Grand Ole Opry on November 30, 1940. The success of her debut on the show began an association with the Grand Ole Opry that continued for more than 50 years.
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