At the 78th Emmy Awards, Sally Field and Reba McEntire remembered Dolly Parton through friendship, music, and the Appalachian roots that shaped her extraordinary life
On September 14, 2026, the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards paused for a deeply personal tribute to Dolly Parton, bringing together two women who knew her in very different but equally meaningful ways. Sally Field, Dolly’s co-star in the beloved 1989 film Steel Magnolias, stood before the Emmy audience and spoke about the woman she had known away from the spotlight, while Reba McEntire followed with a performance of Dolly’s “Appalachian Memories.” The Television Academy itself described the segment as a celebration of Dolly’s life and career. Dolly had died on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80, making the Emmy tribute one of the first major television ceremonies to publicly honor her after her passing. The choice of these two women was especially fitting. Field represented Dolly’s extraordinary presence as an actress and friend, while Reba carried forward the musical world Dolly had helped build.
Sally Field’s words were not simply an account of Dolly’s professional achievements. She spoke as someone remembering a friend. Field recalled working with Dolly on Steel Magnolias, the 1989 film in which Dolly played Truvy Jones, the warm-hearted owner of the beauty shop at the center of the story. Field described Dolly as genuine, humble, supportive and extraordinarily funny, remembering that she had adored her from the beginning. She also reflected on something that became clearer to her with time: Dolly was not only an enormously successful entertainer, but a person whose generosity and humanitarian work reached far beyond music and Hollywood. Field said that she had not fully understood then what a “real giant” Dolly was, both as an artist and as a human being. There is something particularly poignant about hearing that from Field in 2026, because Steel Magnolias preserved Dolly at a fascinating moment in her life. She was already an international superstar, yet her performance as Truvy revealed another quality that audiences had always sensed in her: the ability to make warmth, humor and vulnerability feel completely natural.
Then the tribute moved from memory to music. Before Reba appeared, the Emmys showed archival footage of Dolly introducing “Appalachian Memories” in 1983, explaining how deeply connected the song was to her upbringing in the Smoky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains. The song appeared on Dolly’s 1983 album Burlap & Satin, and the archival introduction gave the later performance an almost circular quality. Dolly was heard explaining the personal importance of the song in her own voice, and then Reba stepped onto the Emmy stage decades later to sing it for her. “Appalachian Memories” is not one of Dolly’s most commercially famous songs, which made the choice feel especially intimate. Rather than simply reaching for “9 to 5,” “Jolene,” or “I Will Always Love You,” the tribute returned to Dolly’s childhood landscape and the mountains that remained central to her identity throughout her life. It was a song about memory, home and the places that stay inside us long after we have traveled far beyond them.
For Reba McEntire, the moment carried another layer of personal history. Reba and Dolly had known one another for decades, sharing music and television work as well as a genuine friendship. Dolly later appeared on an episode of Reba’s television series, and the two women had collaborated musically over the years. After Dolly’s death, Reba wrote that Dolly had given so much through her love and music and that there would never be another person like her. At the Emmys, Reba also incorporated Dolly’s presence into the performance through her clothing and jewelry, including a butterfly ring borrowed from Dolly’s family and earrings associated with Dolly. Those details transformed the performance from a straightforward cover into something more personal. Reba was not simply singing a Dolly Parton song. She was surrounded by small pieces of Dolly herself.
And perhaps that is why the tribute works so beautifully. Sally Field remembered the woman, while Reba McEntire remembered the songwriter. One spoke about the friend who could make a film set brighter with humor and kindness; the other stood beneath the lights and allowed Dolly’s own words and melody to fill the room. The Emmy stage, normally associated with competition and celebration, briefly became a place of remembrance. Dolly’s career had always crossed boundaries: country music, pop, film, television, Broadway, comedy, business and philanthropy. The tribute acknowledged that breadth without trying to compress her into a list of achievements. Instead, it returned to something simpler: a friend speaking about a friend, followed by a singer performing a song about the mountains Dolly never really left behind. For anyone who had watched Dolly Parton move from the Appalachian foothills to the biggest stages in the world, hearing “Appalachian Memories” again in 2026 gave the evening a quiet sense of homecoming.