The news came on a Tuesday. By Friday, 200 AMC Theatres locations were running Dolly Parton films.
AMC announced special presentations of Steel Magnolias (1989) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) at Fan Faves value pricing, running through September 2. The selections are deliberate. Both films gave Parton roles that required dramatic range alongside deep ensemble casts. In Steel Magnolias, she played Truvy Jones alongside Julia Roberts, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, and Daryl Hannah. In Best Little Whorehouse, she starred opposite Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise.
Her entry into film came earlier. 9 to 5 (1980), a workplace comedy whose theme song she wrote and performed, earned her the first of two Oscar nominations for Best Original Song. The film established that she could carry a Hollywood production without flattening either her identity or the material.
Parton's nephew Bryan Seaver, who announced her death via Instagram video, said: "Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus." She was 80. The Academy recognized her philanthropic work with an honorary Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
The theatrical retrospective runs six days. It is also the most specific tribute cinema has given her.
