Dolly Parton had no tolerance for anything that could offend someone she loved.
That trait led her to be “very upset” with her 9 to 5 co-stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin during a photoshoot for the 1980 film.
Fonda, 88, told the story in an interview with Democracy Now!, as she discussed what Pardon meant to her. “She meant love. She really did. She loved everyone,” Fonda said, recalling an example. “We were having a photo session, me, Dolly, and Lily. And for fun, we crossed our eyes, and they took a picture of us with our eyes crossed,” she continued.
Parton “got very upset.”
“She said, ‘We never can show this to anybody.’ She said it was like we’re making fun. ‘I have a relative who’s cross-eyed. I don’t ever want to see this picture,’ you know,” Fonda said, explaining that the anecdote showed Parton’s true nature. “She never played down. There was so much love.”
Parton died on August 25 at the age of 80, following a “short battle” with cancer, according to her family.
Fonda also shared that the star was never seen “without full regalia,” as to never disappoint her fans—another act of love. “She always was pulled together. She was always who she was, out of respect for her fans. She taught me the importance of acknowledging and respecting fans.”
Parton parlayed her mega success as a country star into a film career with her debut role in 9 to 5. Her song of the same name earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
The 11-time Grammy winner went on to star in several more films in the 1980s, including 1982’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 1984’s Rhinestone, and 1989’s Steel Magnolias. She’d occasionally return to the big screen in the years that followed, but she never stopped making music.
Parton was laid to rest next to her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, on August 28 in a private ceremony in Nashville.
