Dolly Parton Said She and Everyone Who Worked on ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ Were ‘Losers’: ‘It Was Not a Fun Project’

In the early 1980s, Dolly Parton began working on The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. The film, while perhaps not a critical success, opened at No. 1 in the United States and earned Parton a Golden Globe nomination. It was also a nightmare to make. Parton described the challenge of making the movie at a particularly low point in her personal life. She also admitted that in trying to land a friend a job, she got someone else fired. Parton explained why all of this made her feel that everyone involved in the film were “losers.”

Dolly Parton said ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ was a miserable experience

Parton was extremely close with her bandleader, Gregg Perry. She wanted to bring him in to work on the music for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with her. Unfortunately, Perry’s hiring meant that the sitting musical supervisor lost his job.

“I had great respect for the original music and thought I stood as good a chance as anybody to add to it without the new songs sticking out like a cow patty in a pie contest,” Parton wrote in her book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “The next thing I knew, the musical supervisor of the film, Richard Baskin, had been fired and replaced by Gregg Perry. I certainly didn’t mean to cost the man his job. I had hoped that we could all work together.”

The guilt of this ate at Parton. She was already dealing with health issues and problems with fame-seeking family members. Now, she felt she had contributed to a hostile atmosphere in trying to get Perry hired. 

“We were all ultimately losers in one way or another,” she wrote. “It was not a fun project for anybody involved. Not for Burt [Reynolds], not for me, certainly not for Richard Baskin or Gregg Perry. I still feel responsible for that situation and the pain it caused.”

Dolly Parton said many people involved with ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ lost their jobs

While Parton felt that everyone was walking away from the film worse off, she remained securely in place as one of the stars. Not everyone who worked on the film kept their job. The original directors, Peter Masterson and Tommy Tune, were fired in favor of Colin Higgins. Parton said so many people lost their jobs that it became a bitter joke.

“On top of that, people were being fired right and left,” Parton wrote. “In fact, at one point there was a bumper sticker circulating around Hollywood that read, HONK IF YOU’VE BEEN FIRED FROM ‘BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE.’”

It didn’t help that both she and co-star Burt Reynolds were at low points in their lives while working on the film. Its box office success did little to rid Parton of the disappointment of the working conditions.

Gregg Perry ultimately quit the film

Parton got Perry a job, and he ultimately gave it up. He, like the rest of the cast and crew, was not happy on set, so he decided to leave the music industry altogether.

“Gregg quit altogether,” she wrote. “He told me he couldn’t take the pressure and the B.S. of the business anymore. The joy had gone out of it for him, and I’m sure I was no picnic to live with at that time. I felt responsible and betrayed at the same time. I felt I had done all I could for him. He was put through hell on that project, though. Everybody was.”

Given their closeness, Parton was devastated by his decision to leave. Still, she got a song out of the experience.

“I was crushed when he left, and it inspired me to write one of my favorite songs, ‘What a Heartache You Turned Out to Be.’”