Photo by Michael Patrick, copyright © 2012 // Buy this photo
Dolly Parton performs on opening day of the Dollywood season Friday in Pigeon Forge. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)
Hollywood can't get enough of Dolly Parton.
Though she isn't particularly interested in doing television right now — she tells me she's taking the next year off to do some writing — Parton could certainly get work in Tinsel Town if she wanted. Everybody from show business peers to executives want to use her.
Old buddy Reba McEntire wants to use Parton in her new ABC sitcom "Malibu Country," which co-stars another Parton pal, Lily Tomlin ("9 to 5").
"Who would I want to see on my show? Dolly Parton is at the top of my list," McEntire tells me. "I've always loved Dolly. I've always been a huge fan."
And Parton did appear on "Reba," the WB sitcom starring McEntire.
As a long-time friend of Parton's, NBC Entertaiment CEO Robert Greenblatt is eager to put her on NBC.
"The problem with trying to get Dolly is that she is so busy all the time," he says. "But I am going to find something we can work on."
Greenblatt and Parton even worked together as producers on the Broadway musical "9 to 5."
Not swinging the doors open for Parton is, oddly enough, the new ABC soap opera "Nashville," which will premiere this fall. The series stars Connie Britton ("Friday Night Lights") and Hayden Panettiere.
The show is even shot in Nashville. So, what gives?
"We really want to focus on our regular characters right now," said Steve Buchanan, the Oak Ridge native who is an executive producer on "Nashville." "I don't think we'll be (introducing) any guest stars anytime soon."
If Parton really wanted to pop up on "Nashville," she'd have a clear line to it. The show has ties to Gaylord Entertainment, which is also Parton's partner in the new Nashville theme park she's helping create.
Outside the acting scene, Parton's name came up while talking to T-Bone Burnett at an ABC party in Beverly Hills. He's helping with the music on "Nashville," with his wife, Academy Award winner Callie Khouri.
Burnett would love to work with Parton. Why hasn't he produced an album of hers before?
"I want to know that, too!" he said with a smile. "If we worked together, I'd concentrate on her storytelling because she's one of our great storytellers.
"She's such a sensitive writer. She has written mind-blowing lyrics, especially being a backwoods girl from Sevierville, Tenn."
Movie work. Bearden native Dale Dickey has not had a minute to slow down lately.
"I did a small role with Kate Beckinsale on her new film with Nick Nolte (called) 'The Trials of Cate McCall,' directed by indie darling, Karen Moncreiff.
"What a blast of fresh air (Beckinsale) was! So lovely, and such a raunchy sense of humor that also kept everyone happy in hot, stuffy conditions," Dickey tells me.
Dickey is at work on "IronMan 3" right now with Robert Downey Jr. and will appear in "Sweeney Todd" at the Clarence Brown Theater in September.
Terry Morrow may be reached at 865-342-6445 or morrowt@knoxville.com. Follow him on Twitter at@Telebuddy.
© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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