Emmys 2026: Sally Field Remembers Dolly Parton Weeks After Her Death
Sally Field will always love Dolly Parton.
Several weeks after the country icon’s death from cancer at the age of 80, Field honored her Steel Magnolias costar in her first red carpet appearance since Parton’s Aug. 25 passing.
Speaking exclusively to E!’s Keltie Knight during Live From E!: 2026 Emmys on Sept. 14, the Oscar winner called the “9 to 5” singer’s death “everybody’s loss” before insisting she couldn’t pick a favorite memory of Parton throughout their nearly 40-year friendship. (See every star on the Emmys red carpet here.)
“I don’t have one,” Field confessed to Knight. “Just every minute of being with her. You can’t just have one.”
Of course, Field’s Parton tributes didn’t end there.
Later that night, she took to the Emmys stage inside Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater to lead an emotional recognition of the music legend.
“If there are truly angels on earth, then we just lost one: Dolly Parton,” Field said. “It was my great good fortune to have worked with Dolly in a film called Still Magnolias and, over the years, I never stopped loving her.”
