Reba McEntire and Sally Field delivered one of the most emotional moments of the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, joining together to remember Dolly Parton just three weeks after the country music legend’s death.

The tribute at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater on September 14 brought together two women who knew Parton in very different ways. Field remembered the friend and co-star she worked alongside in Steel Magnolias, while McEntire turned to music, performing Parton’s deeply personal “Appalachian Memories.”

Sally Field Remembers The Woman Behind The Icon

Field, 79, opened the tribute by reflecting not simply on Parton’s extraordinary career, but on the person she came to know while they worked together.

“If there are truly angels on earth, then we just lost one,” Field told the audience.

The two actresses shared the screen in the beloved 1989 film Steel Magnolias. Parton played beauty salon owner Truvy Jones, while Field portrayed M’Lynn Eatenton in an ensemble that also included Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts.

For Field, however, Parton’s international fame was only part of the story.

“I adored her from day one – how could you not?” she said.

Field remembered Parton as “blisteringly funny,” with a sharp sense of humor capable of leaving even the toughest person without a response. Her memories offered a glimpse of the personality behind the rhinestones: warm, quick-witted and able to make an impression long after the cameras stopped rolling.

Field described Parton as a “real giant,” emphasizing that her stature came not only from her achievements as a performer but from the way she treated people and the impact she made beyond entertainment.

It was a particularly personal farewell from someone who had witnessed that character firsthand.

After Field finished speaking, the tribute shifted from words to music.

Reba McEntire Performs “Appalachian Memories”

Reba McEntire then stepped onto the Emmy stage to honor her longtime friend and fellow country music icon.

Rather than choosing one of Parton’s most commercially famous songs, McEntire performed “Appalachian Memories,” the autobiographical gospel-folk song Parton recorded in the early 1980s.

The Emmys transitioned into McEntire’s performance after showing archival footage of Parton introducing the song in 1983.

[PHOTO: Reba McEntire performing “Appalachian Memories” as an image of Dolly Parton fills the screen behind her]

The choice carried particular significance because of the song’s connection to Parton’s roots and the experiences that helped shape her.

Parton grew up in rural East Tennessee before building a career that ultimately made her one of country music’s most recognizable figures. Her background remained a recurring presence in her songwriting throughout her life, with family, faith, poverty and her Appalachian upbringing inspiring some of her most personal work.

Against that history, McEntire’s rendition became more than an awards-show performance. It served as a musical remembrance of where Parton came from and the extraordinary distance her life ultimately traveled.

Reba’s Personal Goodbye To A Longtime Friend

McEntire’s appearance came after she had already publicly mourned Parton following her death.

The two country stars shared a friendship that stretched across decades, as well as a professional connection. Among their collaborations was a 2021 version of McEntire’s “Does He Love You.”

After Parton died, McEntire thanked her friend for the music and love she had given to the world, writing that there would “never ever be another you.”

She also reflected on their final conversation and ended her remembrance with a poignant message: “I will always love you.”

Parton died on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80 following a brief battle with cancer. Her death was announced by her nephew Bryan Seaver, and her official website said she died peacefully in Nashville.

The news triggered tributes from across music, film, television and beyond, reflecting the unusual breadth of Parton’s influence.

For McEntire, however, the loss was also deeply personal. The woman being remembered on the giant screen behind her was not simply one of country music’s biggest stars. She was her friend.

Dolly Parton’s Television Legacy

Although Parton will forever be closely associated with country music, the Emmys tribute also reflected an important part of her career that extended far beyond recording and touring.

She became a successful actress and television personality alongside her work as a singer and songwriter, appearing in films including 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Steel Magnolias.

Parton also built a notable Emmy history of her own.

According to the Television Academy, she received five Emmy nominations over the course of her career and won once. Her victory came as an executive producer of the Netflix musical Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, which won Outstanding Television Movie at the 2021 Emmys.

Her first listed Emmy nomination dates back to 1978, when she was recognized for her performance in Cher… Special. Decades later, she received nominations connected to Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: These Old Bones and Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas.

Her ability to move between music, movies and television was only one element of a career that made her influence difficult to confine to a single industry.

A Legacy That Reached Far Beyond Entertainment

Parton’s story also became inseparable from her philanthropic work.

Among her most enduring projects was the Imagination Library, the literacy initiative she founded to provide free books to children. The Television Academy notes that the program has distributed more than 332 million books around the world.

Her official announcement following her death described a seven-decade career defined not only by music and songwriting but by “love, compassion, and resilience.” Her family asked those wishing to honor her to donate to the Imagination Library in lieu of flowers.

That combination of enormous professional achievement and personal generosity was at the heart of Field’s tribute.

For audiences around the world, Parton was the instantly recognizable entertainer behind songs including “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” as well as a movie star, businesswoman and philanthropist.

For Field and McEntire, she was something more intimate.

Field remembered the woman who made her laugh while they worked together on Steel Magnolias. McEntire remembered a friend with whom she shared decades in country music.

Their Emmy tribute brought those two sides of Parton together.

One friend stood onstage and described the warmth, humor and humanity she remembered. Another said goodbye in the language they both knew best: a country song rooted in the Appalachian home that helped shape Dolly Parton long before the rest of the world knew her name.

Weeks after her death, the moment served as a reminder that behind the records, awards, rhinestones and unmistakable public image was a woman whose influence was felt most deeply by the people who had the chance to know her.