April 16, 1999

Dolly Parton will be getting her angel wings a little early.

In one of three made-for-TV movies coming from her new production company this year, Parton will play a gospel singer in a CBS made-for-TV movie, Heavens to Betsy.

The concept is based on a situation comedy Parton has pitched to the networks but never got off the ground.

For the Lifetime network, she will star in a comedy film called "Trouble in Jerusalem" about a romance between a Southern country woman and a New York Jewish man.

* Parton, whose Trio II with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt is at No. 8 this week on Billboard magazine's country album chart, has agreed to host a country music special later in the year for CBS.

* Also, she and Elton John are collaborating on some of the music for a new feature film being produced by John.

Note: Although the title of the third film from her production company, Sandollar, has not been released, she had late last year agreed to make a film for Lifetime out of her song "Blue Valley Songbird" from the Hungry Again album.