MINNIE PEARL from HEE HAW and GRAND OLE OPRY (autograph)

Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon, known professionally as her stage character Minnie Pearl, was an American comedian who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.

Minnie Pearl was the undisputed queen of country comedy, known for her hopelessly styleless knee-length country dresses, her straw hat decorated with colorful plastic flowers and $1.98 price tag, and her cheerful shout of “How-DEE! I’m just so proud to be here!’’ For fifty years, she performed as a member of the Grand Ole Opry and, in 1992, was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the United States government, for her half-century of work.