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 her being there was never explained, leaving many watchers wondering why she was a Misfit, due to her normal-looking appearance. The special's producer, Arthur Rankin Jr., says that her problem was in fact psychological, caused from being rejected/abandoned by her mistress and suffering depression from being unloved. Her wish to belong to a loving little girl is granted when Rudolph leads Santa Claus to her and the other toys, and she becomes the first toy to get delivered on that foggy Christmas Eve. Her lines and role in the special were extended, after the popularity of the Misfit Toys increased.
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 Dolly and a few other Misfit Toys are shown listening to a story told by a mailman voiced by Jimmy Stewart.