Jane Fonda needed only three words to describe the late country legend, Dolly Parton. Getting them out was the difficult part. “She meant love,” Jane said through tears.
“She really did. She loved everyone.” Jane, 88, reflected on her decades-long friendship with Dolly during an interview with “Democracy Now!” released Monday, August 31.
The conversation took place days after the country music legend died Tuesday, August 25, following a brief battle with cancer. The Jolene singer, 80, was laid to rest during a private service in Nashville on Friday, August 28.
Why Did Jane Fonda Become Emotional Over Dolly Parton?
Jane and Dolly formed a lasting bond after working together with Lily Tomlin on the 1980 workplace comedy “9 to 5.”
The Oscar-winning actress said Dolly’s warmth extended far beyond her famous friends. She treated fans and people from every background with the same care. “She really did. She loved everyone,” Jane said.
Parton connected with younger fans and audiences through popular reality shows. While she never took a judge’s seat on American Idol or a coach’s chair on The Voice, she left her mark on both, mentoring Idol’s Top 9 during a 2008 tribute episode and returning to The Voice as a guest mentor in 2015 and 2016.
The actress recalled Dolly understanding people with remarkable clarity. “She wasn’t dumb. She had the ability, like X-Ray vision; she could see through people to their essence,” she said. “Whatever the outside was, she could see, good or bad, to the essence of a person.”
How Did Dolly Parton Help Jane Fonda Prepare for ‘The Dollmaker’?
Dolly helped Jane prepare for her role in the 1984 television drama “The Dollmaker,” which followed an Appalachian family forced to relocate to Detroit during World War II.
“I spent 10 days with her on a tour bus. Touring Appalachia, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas because I was about to play a hillbilly,” Jane recalled.
“Dolly’s the only hillbilly I knew, so she helped me find a hillbilly that I could base my character on.”
Jane said Dolly’s presence gave her access to communities where outsiders might not have been readily welcomed.
“I was in deep hollows of Tennessee and Arkansas where people lived in tarpaper shacks with no electricity or running water, and she would come in in her full regalia; I never saw her without full regalia,” she said. “And they loved her so much that they accepted my presence. And it was so clear that she absolutely respected them.”
What Did Dolly Parton Teach Jane Fonda About Fans?
GettyJane said Dolly never treated her public image as something separate from the people who supported her.
“That was why there was so much love. She never played down; she always was pulled together; she was always who she was out of respect for her fans,” Jane said. “She knew from the get-go who she was.”
Dolly’s example changed the way Jane approached her own audience. “She taught me the importance of acknowledging and respecting fans,” she said.
Why Did Jane Fonda Call Dolly Parton a Feminist?
GettyJane also praised Dolly for maintaining control of her career in an industry that frequently underestimated her.
“She knew that people would make fun of who she was because of how she looked. And so she did it first, and she did it so smart, and she was always in charge of her life,” Jane said.
The “Grace and Frankie” star noted that Dolly controlled her music, business decisions, and public image without letting stereotypes define her.
“She was always in charge of her talent, her business and her career,” Jane said.
