"I'm too young to play Miss Mona." says 34-year-old Dolly Parton of her role as the madam in the film version of the ribald Broadway musical hit The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. But Dolly, with her usual Tennessee mountain temerity, is determined to play the hell out of the character—a woman who runs the "chicken ranch" (a whorehouse so named because its farmer clientele often pays in chickens). "I look enough like a hooker to do it, though," adds Dolly with a laugh. "Not that I am one, you understand, but I always wanted to look like that, with outrageous makeup, hair, tight clothes, pointed toes, spiked
heels and all those things you can't really get away with." Of course, Dolly herself has been gelling away with that and more for years. The fourth of 12 children, she left her first home in the Great Smokies near Sevierville, Tenn., the morning after she graduated from high school. Her destination: Nashville and stardom. In short order, she became country music's queen of sequins and flash. Now, the Parton sound is once again on display in her new album, Dolly
Dolly Dollv, destined for heavy airplay on pop as well as country stations.
But these days Dolly has a new, destination: Hollywood. She's just finishing up her first movie role, as a secretary in Nine To Five, co-starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. After that, she'll keep the ball rolling with Whorehouse, It's an exhausting schedule, and some advised her not to rush from one film to another. But Dolly had a special inducement to lake on Whorehouse, Her co-star
is Burt Reynolds, and she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity of playing
love scenes with Mr. Macho himself. Recently, Dolly saw the play in New York (when? she keeps an apartment overlooking Central Park) and was stunned to find that the relationship between Miss Mona and Sheriff Dodd was more talked about than acted upon. "In the play, the two never even touch," says Dolly, aghast. She immediately started scribbling changes. "There should be more of a direct personal thing between us, not just shared memories of what was," she explains. "I am not going to miss my chance with Burt Reynolds." Dolly and Burt expect to ignite plenty of romantic sparks, but Burt's lady, Sally Field,
needn't worry about the sparks catching fire off the set. Dolly's been happily hitched for 14 years to Carl Dean (whom she met in a laundromat on her first day in Nashville). Dean, 37, owner of an asphall paving business back home, has been visiting his wife in Tinseltown for the past eight weeks. As a result, the Hollywood wolves have been effectively kept at bay. In any event, Dolly insists that her husband is not the jealous type. "His business depends on nice weather, so he's just wailin' out the winter here," she reasons. In Hollywood, the Deans pursue the same casual life style that they enjoy in Tennessee. "If I'm up wrilin', he'll swap rooms with my girlfriend Judy, who's also my
secrelary. If I go to the beach to write songs, he don't think that's no big deal and he'll leave me notes sayin', 'I'm going to San Diego for three days.' That's good. I don't like people crowdin' my space and stranglin' me, and I don't like stranglin' nobody. Creative people need a lot more space, and Carl's creative, so he knows." Good times on her own include Dolly's recent pajama party with Nine To Five co-stars Fonda and Tomlin. "It was to get to know each other for our scenes as pals in the movie," she explains. Dolly also likes going to Lucy's El Adobe restaurant wilh her hair- dresser and wardrobe people for a rainy afternoon of "margarilas, playing Password and telling dirty jokes.
We look a limousine 'cause we knew we were gonna get a litlle blitzed."
Nonetheless, Dolly is still a little wary of the Hollywood scene. She had leased a house in Los Angeles but dumped it quickly for the safety and simplicity of a hotel suite. "A country girl gels scared at night in a big city," she says, "especially wilh so many crazies runnin' around. I didn't want to hire a maid lo live in because I don't like people in my face when I come home at night tired. I like the simple life in the country. My farm in
Tennessee is where my heart is." In the meantime, Dolly screens movies at
friends' homes or goes with Judy to beauty supply houses to pick up enormous quantities of cosmetics. Dolly dons full makeup at 4:30 a.m. before she goes to the studio, only to have it rubbed off and reap-plied by the union makeup man. One of her worst fears is being caught with her image down: "I have a responsibility to my public." With a wink, she adds, "Besides, I'm ugly as
hell." Unlike most stars, who hide from the crowds, Dolly enjoys her forays in-
to the outside world. "I still have fun meeting people," she says. "I have a lot of sisters and friends who are the same size and who could go out and buy for me, but i just like to get out." The only thing Dolly won't do is join co-star Fonda's physical fitness class. "I need the exercise," she giggles, "but I don't like group things and I'm funny about who I sweat with." Nevertheless,
she considers Fonda a friend and a mentor. "I really just play Dolly as a
secrelary from Texas—even the accent's the same," she notes of her role. "But
Jane is very proud of what I've been able to accomplish on screen. After all, I walked into this just like a blind bull." At 34, Dolly is a late starter for a movie star. "I didn't want to do it until I could make some sense out of it and feel comfortable in myself that I was ready," she says. "It's worked out real good. If all movies are like this, then I'm going to love it. Of course, my hair is still big and the boobs and the rear end are about (the same size as they were three years ago, but I feel like everything else in my life is in
pretty good order. I feel like I've started a whole new life and it's opened so many doors." Dolly's country music admirers and crossover converts needn't worry that she's forsaken them for the big screen. Dolly considers film "a great outlet for my music." She'll write songs for Nine To Five and sing over the sound track, plus she'll add a few of her own numbers to the score of Whorehouse. "I like acting," she says, "but I miss the road, the concerts and the people, the band and the travelin". I'm too much of a gypsy to stay too king on my fat ass, and this going back and forth to the studio every day is
too much of a rouiine. Music—writin'and performin' the songs—will always be my first love." Dolly intends to spend her time between movies writing songs for her next album. Typically, she's used her experiences in Hollywood as inspira-
lion. To illustrate, she sings a few bars of a new one:
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