Dolly Parton Turned Down an Exciting Career Opportunity After a Series of Death Threats
While Dolly Parton has enjoyed nearly everything her career has thrown at her, she still has to deal with the less glamorous sides of celebrity. Over the years, Parton has received a series of death threats. Her method of handling these has varied, but early in her career they greatly alarmed her. She turned down an exciting opportunity because of a series of threats to her life.
Dolly Parton turned down a chance to further her career because of death threats
In 1976, Parton prepared to play a show in West Virginia when she learned that someone had made a death threat against her. To protect herself and her band, Parton decided she could not go on with the show.
“We had our stuff backstage, unpacked and ready to go,” guitarist Tom Rutledge said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “I was next door eating, and word came down that we weren’t going to play. We packed all our stuff up and put it in the bus and took off. Dolly was real upset. She couldn’t go on stage thinking that someone would actually try that and maybe shoot one of us or something. It just really freaked her out.”
The band traveled to Louisville for a concert the following day. When they arrived, they received another threatening phone call. Parton proceeded with the concert, but everyone was alarmed.
Shortly after this, Parton received an offer to appear in Starsky and Hutch as a country singer being stalked by a fan. This would have been Parton’s first acting job, a prospect that excited her, but it felt a bit too close to real life. She turned the role down.
“Dolly wanted to do the role, which would have been her first TV role of any kind,” talent agent Charlene Bray said. “But since she’d already had this sensationalism around her, she did not do the role. Lynn Anderson ended up doing it.”
She eventually made her way onto the screen
Four years later, Parton was a movie star. In 1980, she kicked off her film career with a role in 9 to 5. While she had appeared on television before, she wasn’t sure how to be an actor. Luckily, the cast of the film was happy to help her.
“Jane [Fonda] said, ‘Don’t worry about acting,” Parton wrote in the book Dolly Parton, Songteller. “Just be yourself. The director will tell you what to do, and you’ll learn.’ Dabney Coleman [who played Mr. Hart] taught me a lot, too. He’s a Texas guy, and we had a great connection. They all knew it was my first time in the movies, so they were all helpful. People are generous.”
Parton went on to star in a number of movies over the course of her career.
Dolly Parton said she has received threats on her life all throughout her career
Parton says she has continued to receive threats over the years. She cleared out a theater ahead of a concert because of a bomb threat, and she received renewed threats on her life in the 1980s. She said this has continued to happen to her in recent years.
Parton hosted “Gay Days” at her Dollywood Theme Park, which drew the attention of the Ku Klux Klan.
“When it first started there were people giving us threats, I still get threats,” Parton told ABC News. “But like I said, I’m in business. I just don’t feel like I have to explain myself. I love everybody.”
