你 Can Thank Dolly Parton for Buffy The Vampire Slayer 

made its television debut, Dolly Parton was asked by

Magazine about the extent of her fortune. “With all my companies and all the businesses,” Parton answered, “I’m not quite sure how much I’m worth, but all told I guess it’s quite a bit.”

Parton guessed right. Savvy investments have amassed the singer/actress/entrepreneur a tidy sum. (Today, Parton is estimated to be worth an even tidier $500 million). One such investment was in Sandollar, a television and film production company Parton founded in 1986 with Sandy Gallin, her former manager, roommate, and business partner.

In the early 1990s, Sandollar president and CEO Gail Berman read Joss Whedon’s screenplay for the 1992

movie when Sandollar became its distributor. She immediately saw its potential as a TV show and set about acquiring its television rights.

Because the film wasn\'t a hit, it took the success of 1995\'s

, which Berman thought shared tonal similarities with Whedon’s original movie script, for her to start pursuing the idea of a

TV show in earnest. Berman contacted Whedon, who was by then writing movies—including

—but agreed to come back to television to run the show. Seven seasons and one spinoff later, the rest was TV history.

Writing the checks all the while was Sandollar Television, the small-screen arm of Parton and Gallin’s production company. Sandollar co-produced

, with Whedon’s company, Mutant Enemy. Berman and Gallin were listed as executive producers on both shows, while Parton’s name stayed out of the credits.

Without Parton’s cash though, Buffy Summers may never have made it to television. For that, fans will always be grateful. Perhaps that gratitude also explains why the fictional vampire slayer shares a birthday—January 19—with the world-famous country singer?

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.

31 Adorable Slang Terms for Sex From the Last 600 Years

There\'s a Wire Above Manhattan That You\'ve Probably Never Noticed

The U.S. Map Redrawn as 50 States With Equal Population

Melting Glaciers in Italy Reveal a Shocking Surprise: Century-Old Corpses

Study: The First Americans Didn\'t Arrive by the Bering Land Bridge

The 1956 Magic Trick That Sent BBC Viewers Into a Panic

Opening Your Car Door Like the Dutch Do Can Save Cyclists\' Lives

Fast Food Chicken Isn\'t 100% Chicken (Or Even Close), Investigation Finds

A super-skimmable Daily Digest filled with fun stories from our editors.

©2016 Mental Floss, Inc. All rights reserved. Mental Floss® is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.