Dolly Parton Was Secretly Offered $7 Million To Play The Villain In Supergirl, Her Reason For Saying No Is Pure Dolly
Following Dolly Parton's passing in August 2026, a 1992 interview she gave to the Chicago Tribune resurfaced and immediately circulated everywhere, because it contained a piece of Hollywood history that most people had never heard and that is entirely, perfectly Dolly. Parton revealed that she had been offered $7 million to play the villain in the 1984 DC film Supergirl, the role that ultimately went to Faye Dunaway, who played the power-hungry witch Selena opposite Helen Slater's title character. The offer would have been one of the largest paydays of Parton's career at the time. She turned it down. Her explanation was characteristically direct: she said she would not play an evil part, and that she was kind of insulted by the offer. She was impressed with the money, she said, but she told the producers: why are you asking me to play an evil witch? Do I come across as an evil witch to you? She acknowledged, with the kind of self-awareness that made her so beloved, that she could be an evil witch at times. But it was not her real nature, and she said she did not have a desire to do anything like that.
In hindsight, the decision looks like one of the cleaner calls in Hollywood history. Supergirl holds a 19 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and appears on the site's curated list of the worst superhero movies ever made, with critics citing cheesy effects, aimless plotting, and dull action sequences as its defining qualities. Dunaway's performance as Selena has been described as campy, which was probably the kindest thing that could be said about the film's overall execution. Parton went on instead to make Steel Magnolias and other projects far better suited to who she actually was, which is the version of her career that the world remembers and that has held up across the decades since. It is also worth noting that a 2026 Supergirl reboot starring Milly Alcock drew mixed reviews and earned $126 million against a budget of over $170 million, suggesting the franchise has not gotten dramatically easier to crack in the 42 years since the original. Dolly said no in 1984 because playing an evil witch felt wrong to her. The evidence since has consistently suggested she was right.
