NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) - Dolly Parton wants the upcoming TV movie about her life growing up poor in Appalachia to show viewers the kind of family she thinks is missing on television today.
Parton, 69, is working with NBC on the TV movie, which she expects will be coming out later this year for the winter holidays, based on her hit song "Coat Of Many Colors."
Eight-year-old actress Alyvia Lind has been cast to play the young Parton in the movie set in the 1950s in East Tennessee. Parton may appear as well.
"It really just shows family," Parton said. "I think we're missing that. I don't know if people beside me miss shows like 'The Little House On The Prairie' or 'The Waltons.' But it's kinda like that. It just the simple life back then, back when. It just shows the people who made me who and what I am. It all takes place before I became a star."
The 1971 autobiographical track is about how her mother stitched together a winter coat out of scraps of fabric, but how other kids mocked her for the makeshift coat. The movie will contain music, but it's not a musical.
