Dolly Parton's Chicago connections, from "Straight Talk" to the Imagination Library
Dolly Parton was a native and lifelong resident of Tennessee, but she made numerous visits and forged numerous ties to Chicago over the years — from filming the 1992 movie "Straight Talk" to launching her Imagination Library in Illinois.
Parton died Tuesday, Aug. 25, at the age of 80.
"Straight Talk" filmed in Chicago, Lemont
Parton starred in the movie "Straight Talk," released in the spring of 1992. She played Shirlee Kenyon, a dance instructor from Arkansas who divorces her husband Steve — played by the late Chicago actor Michael Madsen — and moves to Chicago.
Kenyon is mistaken for a local radio station's new call-in therapist named Dr. Kendall, and ends up going on the air under questionable pretenses.
Much of the filming of "Straight Talk" was filmed in the southwest Chicago suburb of Lemont, Illinois, reports note. Parton's Kenyon character lived in a residential hotel on Wabash Avenue in the South Loop, while radio station WNDY was represented as being at the corner of Lincoln and Marshfield avenues and School Street in Lakeview — the present-day location of the Arthur Murray Lakeview Dance Center.
Kenyon also attends a gala at the Field Museum of Natural History, and visits a TV studio represented as being at the old CBS Chicago headquarters at 630 N. McClurg Ct. in Streeterville, reports noted.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library gives books to Illinois kids
In 2023, Parton launched her Imagination Library program statewide in Illinois, in an effort to make sure children in Illinois had books before they even started school.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library partnered with the State of Illinois in June 2023, supported with $1.6 million from the state to support early childhood education. The program provides free books to kids 5 and under.
In December 2023, Gov. JB Pritzker announced the statewide expansion of the program.
The Imagination Library was launched in 1995 by Parton's nonprofit, The Dollywood Foundation, and became the world's preeminent early-childhood book gifting foundation.
The program is active in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland.
A mural in Edgewater
In 2019, a mural honoring Parton was painted on a gate on the west side of Broadway between Catalpa and Balmoral avenues in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood
The gate stands in front of The Lytle House, an event venue with indoor-outdoor space. Owner Michelle Lytle, who operates the space with her wife, Robyn, told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2019 that she chose to honor Parton because of Parton's commitment to LGBTQ+ rights and simply because she was a big fan of Parton's music.
Concerts in the Chicago area over the years
Parton took the stage numerous times at venues in the Chicago area over the decades.
Back in 1977, reports note, Parton appeared at the Ivanhoe Theatre at Clark Street and Wellington Avenue in Lakeview, later a stage theater venue and since taken over by Binny's Beverage Depot.
Parton also appeared at the Mill Run Theater in north suburban Niles in 1977.
In the ensuing decades, Parton made appearances at numerous high-profile local venues, including the Rosemont Horizon, now the Allstate Arena; the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Indiana; the House of Blues; the Chicago Theatre; and the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park.
A sold-out concert at Ravinia in 2016, part of Parton's "Pure & Simple" tour, was her last in the area.
Chicagoans mourn Dolly Parton's death
With such a long and rich history, it's no surprise outpourings of grief from Chicago institutions and personalities alike poured forth after the superstar's death was announced.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Dolly Parton, the beloved 'Queen of Country Music.' Thank you for the memories you made with us at our venues and for a legacy that will live on forever," the Chicago Theatre posted on their social media.
Chicago Animal Care and Control memorialized the singer's love for animals and her advocacy for animal rights.
"Today, we join so many around the world in remembering the incomparable Dolly Parton… a legendary entertainer, generous philanthropist, and longtime animal advocate," they wrote on their Facebook page. "Dolly has had a little place at CACC for many years. We've named countless shelter animals after her, and even today, you can still find a few Doggy Parton toys and pieces of clothing that have been donated over the years and shared with the animals in our care. Her love for animals was just one small part of an enormous legacy of kindness, generosity, and joy. We'd like to think there were plenty of wagging tails waiting to greet her."
The Chicago branch of the Human Rights Campaign, posted a tribute to her music and her decades of advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community.
"Today, the world lost Dolly Parton—a once-in-a-generation talent and a champion of kindness, inclusion and equality," they wrote in part. "Dolly understood something powerful: you don't have to look, live or love the same to treat one another with love and respect. She embraced her LGBTQ+ fans, stood up for LGBTQ+ people in her own community, and refused to let criticism change her belief that everyone deserves to be welcomed."
