Arguably the most moving moment of the 2026 Emmy Awards arrived when Reba McEntire joined Sally Field to pay tribute to the late Dolly Parton.
Field, who famously co-starred with Parton in the big-screen tearjerker “Steel Magnolias,” opened up about her own struggles not to cry while honoring the country music legend.
She Admitted It Was ‘Hard’ Not to Cry
After the ceremony, Field — who took home an Emmy for her performance in Netflix movie “Remarkably Bright Creatures” — spoke with reporters.
As People reported, when Field was asked about her onstage tribute to Parton, she responded, “Oh, don’t even talk to me about it.”
Reflecting on the moment, Field admitted she had a tough time keeping it together.
“As I was saying, as an actor you spend a whole lot of time, especially me, trying to make yourself cry,” Field said.
“And I was trying to make myself not cry. So it was hard,” she confessed.
Not Just Co-Stars
According to Field, she and Parton were more than just co-stars.
“She was a friend. I admire her. I loved working with her. I never stopped loving her,” Field explained.
“There were moments where we tried to reach each other, but this is a weird world I live in, this acting world where you do films and you’re so bonded with this group of people,” she continued.
“It’s like being in battle together. It’s like being in Battle of the Bulge together,” Field said of what it had been like to bond with Parton while working together on “Steel Magnolias.”
“And you save each other’s lives and you’ve got each other’s backs and you spend 24/7 with each other. We would go shopping together, all of us, and go to Walmart together. Can you imagine all of us coming into Walmart?” she recalled, referencing cast that also included Shirley MacLaine, Julia Roberts, Olympia Dukakis and Daryl Hannah.
Looking back at their long friendship, Field regretted that their respective busy careers prevented them from spending more time together.
“Though Dolly and I lived so far apart, we could never make it [work to] meet,” Field added. “We could never find a way. But I never stopped feeling that way about her. The times we did reach out, I think she felt that way about me. I loved her.”
Field’s comments about Parton built upon those she offered during the Emmy Awards telecast, before introducing McEntire’s performance of Parton’s “Appalachian Memories.”
“It was my great good fortune to have worked with Dolly in a film called ‘Steel Magnolias,’ and over the years, I never stopped loving her,” Field said while onstage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
“Though we lived very far apart, I adored her from day one. How could you not?” Field added. “She 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. I couldn’t see then what a real giant Dolly was — not just as an artist, but as a human.”
