The Movie Moments That Made Dolly Parton a Screen Icon, Not Just a Music One

Happy Dolly Day, film and music fans. What better way to celebrate the big, blonde-haired icon than by looking back at some of the biggest moments in her acting career?

Parton died Tuesday, August 25, in Nashville at 80, and her reps said it followed a brief battle with cancer. She lived a life full of music, creativity, and advocacy, moving from a highly successful singing and songwriting career into film and television (and even screenwriting).

In her roles, Parton could have coasted on fame. She had enough personality to carry a part. While she often played women close to who she was in reality, she imbued each role with distinct humanity.

"I only take parts that are pretty close to my own personality," Parton told Apple Music.

We've already ranked her films, but we want to look at the best moments from her acting career today.

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The Rooster-to-a-Hen Threat in 9 to 5

This is the moment that immediately came to mind for me. Doralee, a secretary in the office, is finally fed up with Franklin Hart, Jr. (Dabney Coleman), her boss and a misogynist of the highest order. During this confrontation, Doralee pins Hart to his chair and threatens him.

“Look, I've been straight with you from the first day I got here. And I put up with all your pinchin' and starin', and chasin' me around the desk. 'Cause I need this job. But this is the last straw!”

She says she has a gun, and she’s not afraid to use it.

“And up to now, I've been forgivin' and forgettin' because of the way I was brought up. But I'll tell you one thing. If you ever say another word about me or make another indecent proposal, I'm gonna get that gun of mine, and I'm gonna change you from a rooster to a hen with one shot!”

The line mirrors Parton's real persona, which included a well-known gun in her purse (via the American Heritage Center):

“I made a statement once years ago that I carried a gun in my purse, and you have to understand that I live way out in the country and I work a lot when I’m in Nashville, at TV stations late at night, and I have to drive home; so, I used to carry a gun, if for no other reason than to make a lot of noise to scare somebody off if I got blocked in the road, but I wouldn’t want to hurt anybody. I have no intentions of doing that. So, now I carry a gun, but it’s got water in it.”

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The Haircut in Steel Magnolias

I revisited this film recently, and they really don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Parton plays Truvy, a cosmetologist who at one point cuts Shelby’s (Julia Roberts) hair short. Shelby’s reaction does not seem initially positive.

“Oh, you don't like it. Well, I did what you asked me, didn't I?”

Shelby has tears in her eyes.

“Oh, sweetheart, don't. Please don't cry. I will, too. I have a strict policy that nobody cries alone in my presence.”

Parton looks like she knows the job because she and Daryl Hannah studied as hairstylists, so the styling scenes look authentic.

"If I had not gone into the music business, I probably would have been a beautician,” Parton said later (via American Heritage Center). “So Truvy was a bit like me—a big-hearted country girl trying to keep peace in the neighborhood and stirring up just as much trouble with everyone else with gossip and all."

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The Goodbye in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

“I Will Always Love You" is iconic on its own, but paired with this scene, it’s a stunner of a cinematic moment. Miss Mona's farewell to Ed Earl (Burt Reynolds) uses Parton's biggest song for the character's exit. It was updated from the 1974 original, and according to Rolling Stone, she became the first country artist to hit Number One on the charts twice with the same song.

Gossip circulated that Parton and Reynolds had a real-life fling while making the movie.

“There were the inevitable rumors that Burt and I were romantically involved, and one day, in an interview, somebody asked me if it was true,” Parton wrote in her book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “‘Shoot, no!’ I said, ‘Burt and I are too much alike to be involved. We both wear wigs and high heels, and we both have a roll around the middle.'”

This was her second film role. She and the film both drew Golden Globe nominations.

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The Finale at the Rhinestone Club in Rhinestone

Nick (Sylvester Stallone) has to perform for the Rhinestone crowd and prove Jake (Parton) won her bet. He bombs, tells the band to speed it up, wins the room with a rock version, and the film closes on the two of them singing together.

The film flopped, but Parton gave her all. She wrote the songs, and she carried the comedy and the payoff.

"Sylvester Stallone made me laugh at a time when I really needed it. I have found no therapy more effective than laughing, although in this case, there were probably less expensive ways to get it," she wrote (via Far Out Magazine).

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The Food Fight In Joyful Noise

In her final film role, Parton plays G.G., a widow to the town choir director. Vi Rose (Queen Latifah) takes over and finds herself at odds with G.G. In this scene, they finally stop sniping and throw food at each other. Parton lets her polished image get messy.

At one point, Vi Rose makes fun of G.G. for the plastic surgery she's had.

Famously, Parton's character replies, "God didn't put plastic surgeons on earth to starve."

Parton encouraged writer/director Todd Graff to include the line.

“Everybody always likes to talk about my plastic surgery, but the writer was being a little sensitive about that. I told him, ‘Go for it, I don’t care what you say about me, as long as you give me some back,’” she said (via HuffPost).