Dolly is a red-haired rag doll originally featured in the Rankin/Bass Christmas television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. She lives on the Island of Misfit Toys, an island sanctuary for toys that no little boy or girl loves, including herself.
The reason for Dolly being there was never explained in the special, leaving many watchers wondering why she was a Misfit, due to her normal-looking appearance. The special's producer, Arthur Rankin Jr., said that her problem was in fact psychological, caused from being rejected/abandoned by her mistress and suffering depression from being unloved. The 2014 graphic novel The Island of Misfit Toys, written by Brendan Deneen, confirms this by showing that she used to belong to a girl named Sue (hence her describing herself as "a dolly for Sue" in the song "The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year"), but was accidentally left behind when Sue moved away.
Dolly's lines and role in the special were extended after the popularity of the Misfit Toys increased and the ending was extended to show Santa Claus picking them up. Her wish to belong to a loving little girl is granted when Rudolph leads Santa to her and the other toys, and she becomes the first toy to get delivered on that foggy Christmas Eve. According to the above-mentioned Island of Misfit Toys graphic novel, the Ostrich-Riding Cowboy, whom she had formed a deep friendship with during the story, also ends up being delivered to the same house as her.
Dolly made a brief cameo in The Simpsons episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season". In one scene, Homer briefly watches a fictional stop-motion television special titled The Year Santa Got Lost, in which she and a few other Misfit Toys are shown listening to a story told by a mailman voiced by Jimmy Stewart.