Steel Magnolias

On the other hand, Steel Magnolias (1989), adapted by Robert Harling from his own play, was generally well received by the critics and a hit at the box office. The titular southern belles in this star-studded comedy set in Louisiana included MacLaine, Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, and Sally Field

…played another strong-willed matriarch in Steel Magnolias (1989).

…played grumpy Ouiser Boudreaux in Steel Magnolias (1989), a feisty former first lady in Guarding Tess (1994), and a wealthy woman surprised by her daughter-in-law’s mistaken identity in Mrs. Winterbourne (1996). In 2000 MacLaine directed her only feature film, Bruno (also released as The Dress Code), about a young boy…

…principal role in the comedy-drama Steel Magnolias, a weeper about a close-knit group of Southern women who rally around a friend (Sally Field) whose daughter (Julia Roberts) dies after complications from diabetes. Parton had a short-lived television variety show called Dolly from 1976–77 and again in 1987–88, and in the…

…after she was cast in Steel Magnolias (1989), which featured such veteran actresses as Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, and Sally Field. Roberts received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress for her heartrending portrayal of Field’s diabetic daughter. In 1990 she starred in Pretty Woman, an upbeat comedy about…

…to the 1980s stage and film productions on which it was based, featured a predominantly African American cast. Her other notable television movies included Life Support (2007), about a former addict turned AIDS activist; Bessie (2015), in which she starred as the pioneering blues singer Bessie Smith; and The Wiz…