78th Emmy Awards Honour Dolly Parton With Emotional Tribute By Sally Field And Reba McEntire

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards broadcast featured a dedicated segment celebrating the country songwriter and actress Dolly Parton. Sally Field and Reba McEntire paid an emotional tribute to the late legend on Monday.

The segment revisited that screen legacy and paused the ceremony to honour her work beyond music.

Sally Field tribute to Dolly Parton

Parton's career on the small screen spanned decades, beginning on The Porter Wagoner Show and continuing through numerous holiday specials and films.

Sally Field, Parton’s longtime friend who starred with her in the 1989 film Steel Magnolias, remembered her as “genuine and humble, supportive, and blisteringly funny, with a bawdy sense of humour that would send any rude guy looking for a place to hide.”

Field also spoke about Parton’s impact off screen. “There are truly angels on Earth, and we just lost one,” Field said. “Though we lived very far apart, I adored her from day one. How could you not? She was a humanitarian whose contributions have made a profound difference in the lives of so many in her home state of Tennessee and across our country,” Field added

Reba McEntire performance

Reba McEntire followed with a string-orchestra-backed rendition of Parton’s song, “Appalachian Memories.”

“I love you Dolly,” McEntire concluded. “So much.”

The track was chosen as the tribute because Dolly had performed it at the 1983 Emmy Awards.

An archival clip from the broadcast was shown before Reba's rendition.

In the clip, Dolly said, “I grew up in the smoky mountains, the Appalachian Mountains. I have written a song that touches me very deep. I’m sure in your own way, you will to this. This song, like I say, is very important to me. And I hope you don’t like it. If you don’t like it, if you don’t mind, I would rather not hear about it later.”

Dolly Parton died at the age of 80 on August 25, 2026, after a brief battle with cancer