Sally Field Calls Dolly Parton an Angel on Earth in Emotional Emmys Tribute
Sally Field struggled to hold back tears as she stood before the audience at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards and remembered Dolly Parton, her longtime friend and Steel Magnolias co-star.
On Monday, September 14, at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, Field introduced a special tribute to Parton, who died August 25 at age 80. Her opening words immediately set the tone for the emotional moment.
“If there are truly angels on Earth, then we just lost one, Dolly Parton.”
Field and Parton first worked together on Steel Magnolias, the 1989 film adapted from Robert Harling’s play about a group of Southern women whose friendships carry them through grief and loss. Parton played Truvy, the owner of the local beauty shop, while Field portrayed M’Lynn, the mother of Julia Roberts’ character.
Looking back on their time together, Field said she considered herself fortunate to have worked with Parton and made clear that their friendship continued long after the cameras stopped rolling.
“It was my great good fortune to have worked with Dolly in a film called Steel Magnolias,” Field said. “And over the years, I never stopped loving her, though we lived very far apart.”
“I adored her from day one. How could you not?”
Field Remembered Dolly’s Humor Before Her Fame
Field could have focused entirely on Parton’s extraordinary career, but instead she began with something much more personal: the qualities that made Parton so memorable to the people around her.
She described Parton as genuine, humble and supportive, but singled out her humor as one of the things she loved most.
Field recalled Parton’s “bawdy sense of humor” and her ability to make people laugh with a sharpness that could leave even a rude man searching for somewhere to hide.
Only after remembering the woman she knew did Field turn to the scale of Parton’s accomplishments.
“I couldn’t see then what a real giant Dolly was. Not just as an artist, but as a human,” she said.
Field also emphasized Parton’s humanitarian work, saying her contributions had made a profound difference in the lives of people in Tennessee and across the United States.
She ended her tribute with a simple blessing for her friend.
“God bless you, Dolly Parton, my friend. I am not the only one on earth that will love you forever and ever.”
The tribute continued with Reba McEntire performing Parton’s 1983 song “Appalachian Memories.” The song, which Parton wrote about her Smoky Mountain and Appalachian roots, gave the ceremony another personal connection to the singer’s life and career.
The Steel Magnolias Cast Used to Go Shopping Together
One of the most revealing memories Field shared away from the stage was surprisingly ordinary.
While speaking with reporters after the ceremony, she remembered the time she and Parton spent together while making Steel Magnolias. The cast became closely connected during production, spending long hours together and forming the kind of bond that Field compared to being in battle together.
And when they had time away from filming, the group sometimes went shopping.
“We would go shopping together, all of us, and go to Walmart together,” Field recalled. “Can you imagine all of us coming into Walmart?”
The cast included Field, Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Daryl Hannah and a young Julia Roberts. The idea of the six stars from Steel Magnolias walking into a Walmart together is a striking contrast to the glamorous image usually associated with Hollywood productions.
For Field, though, those everyday moments remained meaningful decades later.
She explained that she and Parton lived far apart and were rarely able to find the time to reconnect. Even so, the affection formed on the Steel Magnolias set never disappeared.
Parton and Field had also publicly remembered their former castmate Olympia Dukakis after Dukakis died in May 2021. Parton described Dukakis as one of her favorite people she had ever known. Field shared her own tribute at the time, writing, “What can I say but I loved her. Everyone loved her. She was a gift. Rest in peace my friend Olympia.”
Five years later, Field found herself once again saying goodbye to someone from that same cast, this time to Parton.
Parton’s Death Came as Field Approached 80
There was another personal dimension to the evening.
Field turns 80 on November 6. Parton reached the same milestone in January before her death in August.
At the Emmys, Field was also there for her own work. She won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Netflix’s Remarkably Bright Creatures, earning her fourth Emmy.
In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter during the ceremony, Field reflected on what approaching 80 means for her career and what might come next.
“What’s left for me? I don’t know,” she said. “What’s around the corner? It’s very hard to find projects for old women. I’ll be 80, so I’m not young in any way, shape or form. It’s about finding that next thing.”
Those remarks took on added weight as she stood on the same night to honor a woman who had just reached the age Field is about to turn.
Parton was laid to rest in a private family service in Nashville on August 28, three days after her death. Her family confirmed the burial, which took place before the Emmy ceremony on September 14.
Field first met Parton while making a movie in Louisiana in 1988, and their connection continued long after Steel Magnolias reached theaters in 1989.
They shared a film set, ordinary shopping trips and decades of affection despite living far apart. At the Emmys, Field gave that friendship a final public expression, telling a theater full of people that she would continue to love Dolly Parton forever.
For someone who had spent years trying to find the right words to describe what Parton meant to her, the message was ultimately very simple: Field loved her, and she always had.