Thirty-five years ago this fall, Steel Magnolias filled movie theaters with both sniffles and snickers. And the film itself was packed with star power, including award winners Sally Fields, Olympia Dukakis, and Shirley MacLaine among its luminous leading ladies.
But one celestial light brought extra sparkle. Dolly Parton played sunshine-spreading beautician Truvy, imbuing the role with bubbly charm, delivering lines of homespun wisdom with spunk, and working practical magic in her salon scenes. The performance cemented the musician-actress’s Southern icon status. Yet she was as down-to-earth as the character she brought to life, according to Jacqueline Horton, Parton’s stand-in for Steel Magnolias.
The movie was filmed in Natchitoches, Louisiana, the real-life setting of the play by Natchitoches native Robert Harling. Plenty of townspeople got in on the action, including Horton. “When I got the call to be Dolly’s stand-in, they told me to bring the tallest shoes I had because I was shorter than her,” Horton says. “But I did have the appropriate big hair—loads of it.”
A stand-in’s job is exactly what it sounds like: Standing in the spot to be later occupied by an actor, helping the lighting and sound teams get everything just right for each scene. It also means a lot of standing (or sitting) around between set-up and takes. During downtime, Horton and Parton often chatted, and Horton also watched the actress’s interactions with Hollywood pros and regular townspeople. Here, she recalls some of the highlights.
Working 9 to 5—and Then Some
“Dolly was always the first movie star on set and always ready to shoot,” Horton says. “I remember the director commenting that she always knew her lines.” And even when the cameras were off, Parton was still on. “One night she performed ‘9 to 5’ with the Northwestern State University marching band on the field during a football game,” Horton says. “That was so special for those students.”
A Coke and a Smile
Horton once asked Parton how she kept her weight where she wanted it. “She told me, ‘I fix my plate, eat half of it, and leave the other half for the angels,’” Horton says. And while other movie stars were diving into a new late-1980s trend—bottled water—Parton stuck to her old standby snack. “There were cases and cases of Evian on the set; Daryl Hannah would even pour it into her German Shepherd’s dog bowl,” Horton says, “but Dolly would pop peanuts into a little glass-bottle Coke and drink that.”
Making Up
Getting Parton “camera ready” took some doing, and she arrived in Natchitoches with everything needed to pull it off. “She moved in with multiple trunks of wigs, and she had her own makeup artist, who had a three-ring binder full of drawings of Dolly’s face,” Horton says. “She’d make notes about the foundation, blush, and eye shadow she used for every scene. In case anything needed to be reshot, everything would be consistent.” And despite the embellishments, Horton envied Parton’s “naturally gorgeous skin.” “I found out she used Estée Lauder products, so I started using that brand too.”
Pretty Is as Pretty Does
“Parton was absolutely lovely, inside and out,” Horton says, pointing to the numerous times she’d stop and chat with fans and pose for pictures. “They flocked to her, and she was always gracious amid all that attention,” Horton says. But her bodyguard never strayed far; he even ended up in the movie’s Christmas festival scene.
(Not) Too Hot to Handle
Some of the Steel Magnolias filming took place amid the swelter that is August in Louisiana. “It was approaching 100 degrees some days,” Horton says. The non-Southerners were floored by how sticky and hot it was, but not Dolly. “She’d have on all these heavy clothes, and I never heard her complain. And I never saw a drop of sweat either!”
