Photo by Adam Brimer

Dolly Parton sits for an interview at Dollywood Thursday, May 7, 2009.

Comments

There are no comments yet. Click here to start the conversation!

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Printer friendly

More Dolly Parton

• Talk show host Wendy Williams goes as Dolly Parton for Halloween
• HBO's 'Curb' reunites 'Seinfeld' cast
• The Insider: Dolly Parton has a sleepover, cooks breakfast for two Gatlinburg fans

Share and Enjoy

Let it never be said that Dolly Parton doesn’t knows how to sell tickets to Dollywood.

The Sevier County singing star has talked up her Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge so much to the cast of “9 to 5: The Musical” that they’re considering a trip down this way soon.

“I want to get a bus and get all of us down there,” says actress Megan Hilty, who plays Doralee in the Broadway show. “I’ve heard so much about it. Sounds like a lot of fun.

“I’m trying to plan a trip on our day off. I tried to go to (Dollywood) when I did a road trip a few months ago, but it was closed. I hear the shows there are fantastic.”

Hilty wants her “9 to 5” co-star Allison Janney to be part of the trip, too. Hilty is blown away by how much Parton has been able to accomplish.

“She’s absolutely wonderful,” Hilty says. “I don’t know if there is anything she can’t do.”

n Obvious spotting. Maybe it’s not such a big deal when East Tennessee native Samuel L. Jackson was spotted at the recent 25th anniversary party for Virgin Airlines. But it was at least a little humorous to see him there considering he starred in “Snakes on a Plane.”

He had no creepy creatures around him, but he did mingle a lot with Whoopi Goldberg, Ashford and Simpson and Hoda Kotb of “The Today Show.” Denise Williams took to the stage and sang “Let’s Hear It For The Boy.”

Jackson is a native of Chattanooga, where his family and close friends still live.

n Crushin’. Rockwood, Tenn., native Megan Fox proudly proclaimed to David Letterman she was from Tennessee and admitted she had a crush on him during a recent visit on his talk show.

“May I tell you something?” she asked Letterman. “I’ve had three crushes my whole life: Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien and you.”

To which Letterman quipped: “What do those other two do?”

Fox, who was promoting “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” lived in Rockwood until she was 10, when her parents split up. She moved to Florida with her mother.

Later, she went to Hollywood. She has done only a few movies in her short career, including “Confessions of a Teen-Age Drama Queen” with Lindsay Lohan and the two “Transformers” movies.

On TV, she did two seasons of “Hope & Faith,” playing Kelly Ripa’s niece.

n Words to live by. “I think she is much-needed in musical theater. She’s a genius. She is able to crawl into each character’s skin.” — Megan Hilty

Terry Morrow may be reached at morrowt@knoxville.com or 865-342-6445. His blog can be found at http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/telebuddy/. He contributes to “Live At Five At Four” on WBIR, Channel 10, and “The Marc & Kim & Frank Show” on WWST-FM, 102.1.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
Want to use this article? Click here for options!