In 1991, Dolly starred as country singer Thiola Rayfield alongside Gary Busey as her abusive manager in the 1991 made-for-television film "Wild Texas Wind." The film tells the story of Thiola’s country music band’s rise to fame as a murder mystery unravels.
Dolly co-wrote the film as well as several of its songs. Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson appears along with Willie Nelson who makes a cameo.
Dolly appeared on the Feb. 7, 1991, episode (titled 'Hello Dolly') of the Fox television show "Babes." "Babes" was a sitcom about three plus-sized sisters who shared the same apartment in New York City. On the "Hello Dolly" episode, one of the sisters finds herself working for Dolly as a makeup artist while Dolly faces some ugly rumors published in a tabloid. Dolly was also a producer on the show. "Babes" followed Fox’s hit "The Simpsons" during the 1990-1991 television season.
In 1990, ABC aired Dolly’s holiday special "Home For Christmas," occasionally referred to as "Dolly Parton: Christmas at Home." The movie accompanied the release of Dolly’s Christmas album of the same name and features Dolly singing Christmas classics. In the movie, Dolly returns to Sevierville, TN, and visits many people and places she loves.
“I used my mom and dad, my brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles, and my nieces and nephews. We have things like cookie baking, and a hayride, and we just have some wonderful times that I really think people are going to enjoy.”
Dolly takes viewers to her family home, her church, a home for the elderly and Dollywood.
Dolly appeared on the hit CBS show "Designing Women" in a special one-hour episode which aired on Jan. 1, 1990. "The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire 20th Century" centered around the birth of character Charlene’s (Jean Smart) baby Olivia.
*Photos courtesy of Designing Women Online
Dolly came to Charlene in a dream in which she is Charlene’s "guardian movie star" and reassures her about the baby and how the members of Charlene’s family who passed on will be there in spirit to see the child grow up. Later in the episode, Dolly, as a spirit, shows up again, and sings "Somewhere Out There," just as an elderly person in the hospital passes away and baby Olivia is born. The episode was nominated for several awards including an Emmy.
"Kenny, Dolly and Willie: Something Inside So Strong" was taped as part of a live concert for NASA employees and their families. During the show, the three friends took turns singing each other’s hits in a medley of songs which included "Two Doors Down" and "Real Love."
The special’s finale featured Kenny, Dolly and Willie singing "Something Inside So Strong." It became NBC's highest rated variety show and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety or Music Series.
