''Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors'' is a 2015 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

based on a true story by

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

, written by Pamela K. Long and directed by Stephen Herek. The film premiered on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

on December 10, 2015. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

''Coat of Many Colors'' details Dolly Parton's upbringing in 1955 as her family struggles to live in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Great Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...

, putting a strain on love and faith. Dolly (

Alyvia Alyn Lind Alyvia Alyn Lind (born July 27, 2007) is an American actress. She is known for playing the roles of Faith Newman on the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' from 2011 to 2021, 9-year-old Dolly Parton in the made-for-television ...

) aspires to be something greater but must cope with family troubles, including the premature birth and death of a baby brother. Dolly's mother, Avie Lee Parton (

Jennifer Nettles Jennifer Odessa Nettles (born September 12, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer. Nettles is the lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush, and prior to this she fronted the Atlanta-based band ...

) uses the baby's blanket to make Dolly her patchwork coat of many colors. Although Dolly is at first proud of it, she changes her mind after school bullies make fun of her. Meanwhile, Dolly's father, Lee Parton (

Ricky Schroder Richard Bartlett Schroder (born April 13, 1970) is an American actor and filmmaker. As a child actor billed as Ricky Schroder he debuted in the film '' The Champ'' (1979), for which he became the youngest Golden Globe award recipient, and went o ...

) suffers a personal crisis brought about by the baby's death combined with the depression of his wife and a drought which threatened his

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

crop. Eventually, faith brings the family together again.

Cast

, a precocious nine-year-old who hopes to be a famous singer *

as Avie Lee Parton, the devout matriarch of the Partons living in the mountains *

as Robert Lee Parton, the hard-working patriarch of the Partons with faith issues *

Gerald McRaney Gerald Lee McRaney (born August 19, 1947) is an American television and film actor. McRaney is best known as one of the stars of the television shows ''Simon & Simon'', '' Major Dad'', ''Promised Land'' and ''House of Cards''. He currently stars ...

as Rev. Jake Owens, Avie Lee's father and preacher * Carson Meyer as Willadeene Parton, Dolly's oldest sister * Hannah Nordberg as Judy Ogle, Dolly's schoolmate-turned-friend * Mary Lane Haskell as Miss Moody, school teacher who is firm yet supportive of Dolly's aspiration *

Stella Parton Stella Mae Parton (born May 4, 1949) is an American country singer and songwriter widely known for a series of country singles that charted during the mid-to-late-1970s, her biggest hit being "I Want to Hold You in My Dreams Tonight" in 1975. Sh ...

as Corla Bass, owner of the town market and a gossip * Forrest Deal as Rudy Sanders, a school bully * Kennedy Brice as Gloria Sanders, Rudy's sister and another bully * Farrah Mackenzie as Stella Parton, Dolly's younger sister * Parker Sack as David Parton, Dolly's oldest brother * Dylan Rowen as Denver Parton, Dolly's second-oldest brother * Blane Crockarell as Bobby Parton, Dolly's younger brother * Jennifer D. Taylor as Aunt Dorothy Jo *

as the narrator *Christopher Ryan Lewis as Claude Sanders, Rudy and Gloria's brother

Production

Filming

''Coat of Many Colors'' was filmed in Covington and

Conyers, Georgia Conyers is an Atlanta suburb, the county seat of and only city in Rockdale County, Georgia, Rockdale County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The city is 24 miles (38.6 km) east of Atlanta, downtown Atlanta and is a part of t ...

, and

Sevier County, Tennessee Sevier County ( ) is a county of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 98,380. Its county seat and largest city is Sevierville. Sevier County comprises the Sevierville, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which i ...

, the latter at

Dollywood Dollywood is a theme park jointly owned by entertainer Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment. It is located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near the gateway to The Great Smoky Mountains. Hosting nearly 3 ...

for introductory and closing scenes from Dolly Parton.

Casting

Parton, whose childhood is told in the film's story written by her, is also executive producer. She spoke about the casting process, beginning with singer

, who plays her mother: "When she started reading I thought, Oh my lord, that's momma. And, she is incredible ... I didn't even know she acted." For her father, Parton already had someone in mind,

, because "he reminds me so much of my daddy." In casting the younger Dolly, several hundred children auditioned. Parton stated "God's going to send her."

auditioned and could "sing...act" and "cry on cue", said Parton, adding, "When she came in, it just kind of blew it all out of the water and she got the part." In addition, Dolly's younger sister

appears in the film, playing town gossip Corla Bass.

Reception

Critical reception

''Coat of Many Colors'' received favorable reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it has received a 78% rating from nine critics. Among eight reviews at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it holds a "generally favorable" score of 65 out of 100.

Ken Tucker Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and non-fiction book writer. Early life and education Tucker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a ...

of Yahoo TV gave the film its highest praise, stating "The pastoral nostalgia that this TV-movie taps into is powerful, if maudlin, stuff. This is the time of year when sentimentality can be a warming thing, and ''Parton's Coat '' will keep an awful lot of people warm this winter." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' Brian Moylan commented on the film's faith storyline: "For those who don’t regularly visit the house of the Lord, it will make your eyes roll like loose marbles in the back of a station wagon."

David Wiegand Robert David Wiegand (May 19, 1947 – April 30, 2018) was an American journalist and short-story writer, head of arts and entertainment for the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. Life and career Wiegand was born in Rochester, New York, where he gradua ...

of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' was the most critical but commented: "Although it's a struggle at times, you do suspend disbelief and go with it because Lind is so adorable, and you want to accept that the saccharine story line could have played out in real life just the way it's depicted in the film."

Ratings

In its initial December 10, 2015 broadcast, ''Coat of Many Colors'' was seen by 13.03 million viewers and received a 1.8/6 rating/share in the 18-49 age demographic. This marks the highest viewership for any television film (made for TV or theatrical) or miniseries on the broadcast networks since 2012.

Awards

On April 3, 2016, ''Coat of Many Colors'' was honored during the

Academy of Country Music Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

ceremony with the Tex Ritter Award, which is presented to a film released in the previous year that features country music. Dolly Parton accepted the award. At the

6th Critics' Choice Television Awards The 21st Critics' Choice Awards were presented on January 17, 2016 at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, honoring the finest achievements of filmmaking and television programming in 2015. The ceremony was simulcast on A&E, Lifetime a ...

was nominated for Best Actress in a Limited Series or Television Movie.

Sequel

In May 2016, it was announced that a sequel to the film was in the works. In '' Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love'', Jennifer Nettles, Ricky Schroder, Gerald McRaney and Alyvia Alyn Lind reprised their roles. Stephen Herek returned to direct the sequel written by Pamela K. Long. Dolly Parton herself also had a cameo. The film aired on NBC on November 30, 2016.

References

External links

* * {{Dolly Parton 2015 television films 2015 films 2015 drama films NBC network original films

Coat A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a ...

Films about religion Films set in the 1950s Films directed by Stephen Herek Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state) Films shot in Tennessee Films set in Tennessee Films based on songs Biographical films about singers American drama television films 2010s American films