Emmy Awards Remember Dolly Parton With Tribute From Sally Field and Reba McEntire

The 78th Emmys paid tribute to the country music superstar, who also appeared in a number of TV specials over the years

From her beginnings on The Porter Wagoner Show to her series of Christmas movies and specials, Dolly Parton had a long history with television. On Monday night, the 78th Emmy Awards paid tribute to the country songwriter and actress with a standalone homage during the telecast.

Her longtime friend actress Sally Field, who starred alongside Parton in the 1989 film Steel Magnolias, said Parton was “genuine and humble, supportive, and blisteringly funny, with a bawdy sense of humor that would send any rude guy looking for a place to hide.”

“There are truly angels on Earth, and we just lost one,” Field said. “Though we lived very far apart, I adored her from day one. How could you not? She was a humanitarian whose contributions have made a profound difference in the lives of so many in her home state of Tennessee and across our country.”

Reba McEntire then performed a string-orchestra backed rendition of the country-music icon’s song, “Appalachian Memories.” “I love you Dolly,” McEntire concluded. “So much.”

Parton died Aug. 25 after a brief battle with cancer. She was 80.

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While her singing and songwriting career turned her into country music royalty, her unmistakable image in film and television helped transform Parton into a globally recognized superstar. She appeared as herself on variety shows like Hee Haw, on game shows like Hollywood Squares, and as the host of the CMA Awards and ACM Awards. As an actress, she guest starred in roles on Designing Women, on her friend Reba McEntire’s eponymous series Reba, and on Netflix’s Grace & Frankie, reuniting with her old 9 to 5 co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda.

But it was her appearance as “Aunt Dolly” on Hannah Montana that helped endear her to Gen Z and millennials. Playing an even larger-than-life version of herself (she was the real-life godmother to Hannah star Miley Cyrus), Parton imparted wisdom with a sense of Southern humor. “Being a teenage girl is harder than walkin’ through a balloon shop with a porcupine purse,” she quipped in one episode.