Remember When Dolly Parton Made Her Movie Debut?
Dolly Parton is one of the most iconic multi-media personalities of her generation, but she was just a country singer looking to try her hand at something different when she made her motion picture debut on Dec. 19, 1980. The film was
9 to 5, and it would launch Parton into a new stratosphere of superstardom.
Parton was already a veteran country star with a TV career and more than a decade s worth of hit singles under her belt when Jane Fonda approached her about taking on the role of Doralee Rhodes, a secretary to the movie s antagonist, an exploitative boss played by Dabney Coleman. Parton, Fonda and Lily Tomlin played three women he keeps under his thumb until they turn the tables in an act of hilarious revenge that made the movie into a runaway hit.