It’s still hard to believe that Dolly Parton is gone, but we can keep her legacy alive by watching her dynamic performance in 9 to 5, the classic comedy where she starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as three working women who exact revenge on their sexist boss. As Doralee Rhodes—the boss’s attractive secretary who fends off his advances again and again—Parton defied the stereotype of the “blonde bimbo.” Doralee tirelessly pushed back against sexual harassment with a smile on her face—until she let the smile drop when he finally went too far, so she threatened to got get her gun and change him “from a rooster to a hen with one shot.” An icon, a legend, forever.
Photo: Everett Collection
