Minnie Pearl was one of the most beloved and remembered names from the Grand Ole Opry, and from country comedy in general. She won a plethora of awards, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Her image has been used to sell everything from snacks to cruise deals. And she is entirely fictional. The woman who invented and played the character of Minnie Pearl for over fifty years, Sara Ophelia Colley Cannon, was as different from the character as night is different from the daytime. A well educated and refined woman, not to mention an excellent tennis player, she was also a breast cancer survivor, and using the name of her character, was an outspoken advocate of that cause until the cancer returned and ultimately claimed her life. She is buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee.