Jane Fonda remembered her 9 to 5 co-star and longtime friend Dolly Parton in a touching tribute after the prolific performer died Tuesday at the age of 80.
“I am devastated. I just learned that Dolly has moved on. I know that millions are mourning and I want to say this – more than anyone I have ever known, Dolly will always be with us because she was so present, so powerful, so generous and playful that she is woven into all our lives and hearts forever. We have our memories of her, her songs, Dollywood, “9to5,” the millions of books she got into the hands of children, all the iconic images that bring her to us. And they are all blessings,” Fonda wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday afternoon.
Alongside an old photo of the two, she continued: “Let’s be grateful for all that she has left us to ease our sadness now. I never knew anyone like her. She was simultaneously a naughty, playful southern gal from the hollows of Tennessee and a deep, soulful thinker who could see through people right down to their true selves. She was many things…lyricist, songstress, player of many instruments, writer, prankster, visionary, loyal friend, who’d never go to bed before she and her friends had laughed so hard they’d have to cross their legs.”
Fonda called Parton “the voluptuous embodiment of empathy” and ended her post with one final note about how the singer would want her memory to be celebrated.
“To her gay and trans fans, I want you to know that she loved you. You know that without me telling you. She loved all her fans and they are legion. And you know she doesn’t want y’all to mourn now. Dress up and celebrate her spirit. But first, watch the final episode of Grace and Frankie where she’s an Angel, the head honcho working class angel in Heaven.”
9 to 5 is largely responsible for catapulting Parton into mainstream pop culture after she, along with Fonda and Tomlin, played three working women who live out their revenge fantasies on their tyrannical and sexist boss. The 1980 screwball comedy, written by Patricia Resnick and Colin Higgins and directed by the latter, also stars Dabney Coleman, Elizabeth Wilson, and Sterling Hayden.
The film, which of course is also responsible for Parton’s hit song by the same name, grossed over $100 million, and a television series based on it ran for five seasons on ABC through the early 80s. A musical stage adaptation with new songs from Parton opened on Broadway in 2009.
Both the song and the film got their title from the 9to5 National Association of Working Women, which was founded in 1973 to improve working conditions for women in the United States.
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