A resurfaced interview shows country music legend Dolly Parton recounting the moment she pulled out a firearm while confronting a persistent man and warned him against touching her again. Parton said the encounter was “scary as it could be” as the man continued coming on to her despite her resistance. Her armed response later helped inspire one of the most memorable lines from the 1980 comedy “9 to 5.”
The story resurfaced following Parton’s death Tuesday at the age of 80. Parton discussed the encounter during a 2021 interview with Nashville Soundbite after she was asked about the scene in which her “9 to 5” character, Doralee Rhodes, confronts her lecherous boss, Franklin Hart Jr. Parton revealed that the threat delivered by Doralee had roots in an experience from her own life.
Parton said the man repeatedly came on to her and left her frightened by his refusal to stop. She explained that, as a country girl accustomed to having a gun available, she decided to draw the weapon and make her warning crystal clear. “If you touch me one more time I’ll change you from a rooster to a hen with one shot,” Parton recalled telling him.
The threat was nearly identical to the one her character later delivered in “9 to 5.” As the Daily Caller reported, Parton said she had told the story years before the movie was made and believed it provided the basis for the scene. The encounter happened well before the film’s 1980 release, and Parton did not identify the man or give a precise date for the confrontation.
The moment became particularly memorable when transferred to “9 to 5,” which followed three women attempting to get even with an abusive and dishonest boss. Parton starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, while Dabney Coleman portrayed Hart. In the film, Doralee tells Hart she has a gun in her purse after confronting him over his sexual advances and false claims that the two were having an affair, then delivers a nearly identical threat.
Watch Parton describe the real-life encounter that helped inspire the scene here:
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Parton had spoken openly about carrying a firearm long before the 2021 interview. During a 1978 interview with Playboy, she said she carried a .38-caliber pistol and had obtained a Nashville permit. She explained that the handgun made her feel safer because she did not want to find herself completely helpless if confronted by a threat.
Obtaining and carrying a handgun in Tennessee was considerably more restrictive during that period than it is today. The Tennessee Firearms Association’s history of the state’s permit laws says civilians generally needed a special police commission or appointment as a deputy to carry an ordinary handgun concealed before the laws began changing in 1989. Tennessee moved toward a “shall issue” permit system in 1994, centralized the process under the Department of Safety in 1996, and enacted permitless carry for qualifying adults in 2021.
Parton’s comments revealed that her public image and the armed country woman she portrayed in “9 to 5” were not entirely separate creations. She had carried a pistol for protection decades before permitless carry became common across much of the country, and she made no apology for wanting the ability to defend herself. Her stance in the 1978 interview was matter-of-fact: “I always carry a gun.”