Sally Field set the tone for a heartfelt tribute to the late Dolly Parton at the Peacock Theater tonight. Speaking of her late “Steel Magnolias” costar, Field said, “If there are truly angels on earth, then we just lost one.”
Parton died last month in Nashville at the age of 80 after a brief battle with cancer.
“Over the years I never stopped loving her,” Field said, adding that she “adored her from day one.”
The Oscar- and Emmy-winner called Parton “blisteringly funny” and called out her “bawdy sense of humor that would send any rude guy for a place to hide.”
“I couldn’t see then what a real giant Dolly was,” the “Remarkably Bright Creatures” actress said, “Not just as an artist, but as a human. She was a humanitarian whose contributions have made a profound difference in her home state of Tennessee and across our country. God bless you, Dolly Parton, my friend. I am not the only one on Earth that will love you forever and ever.”
Field and Parton costarred with Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah and Olympia Dukakis in the 1989 tearjerker “Steel Magnolias,” based on the stage play of the name name.
After Field’s emotional words, McEntire took the stage to perform Parton’s “Appalachian Memories.”
Music first bonded the pair of country singers.
A decade ago during a master class, McEntire shared that in 1977 she was scheduled to make her debut at The Grand Ole Opry when she was informed the “Jolene” singer had arrived, and they were giving her one of the two songs McEntire was going to sing.
“I said ok, can I meet her?” McEntire recalled. “I didn’t care or anything, I just wanted to see Dolly Parton!”
The pair became dear friends over the years, and Parton was there for McEntire in 1991 after a plane crash claimed eight members of McEntire’s band. They enjoyed happier times in 2005 when Parton appeared as a guest star on McEntire’s hit television series “Reba.”
“When I was doing the ‘Reba’ TV show, Dolly spent the whole week with us on set,” she told E! in 2018. “She was one of the guest stars and that’s the last time we really got to sit down and visit.”
They appeared on stage together multiple times, and in January 2026 Parton released the single “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” which featured her, McEntire, Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus and Queen Latifah on Parton’s 80th birthday.
After Parton’s death, McEntire posted a message praising “my buddy Dolly” on social media.
Remember: While Parton is best known for her contributions to music, she also starred in films and on television. “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Town Square” won her a Primetime Emmy for outstanding TV movie in 2021, and she was nominated four other times by the Television Academy.
Before she became a household name, Parton cut her teeth on television’s “Porter Wagoner Show” in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. She went on to make memorable guest appearances and cameos on dozens of shows and TV movies over the years. In 2022, she appeared in the series finale of Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie” alongside her costars from the film “9 to 5,” Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.