Sissy Spacek, Who Portrayed Loretta Lynn in ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ Pays Tribute to Country Legend

Sissy Spacek is mourning the death of country icon Loretta Lynn. The actress, who was personally selected by Lynn to star in her 1980 biopic, Coal Miner’s Daughter, is “heartbroken” after Lynn passed away Tuesday in her sleep at her beloved Tennessee home at the age of 90. 

“Today is a sad day. The world lost a magnificent human being,” Spacek began her statement to CNN. “Loretta Lynn was a great artist, a strong and resilient country music pioneer and a precious friend. I am heartbroken. I send my deepest sympathies to her wonderful family, her friends, and her loyal fans.”

Spacek previously revealed in a 2018 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment that she nearly turned down Lynn’s offer to play her in the film that would win Spacek a Best Actress Oscar. “Loretta would go on Johnny Carson all the time saying, ‘Sissy Spacek is gonna play me!’” recalled the actress. “I was very reticent about it, [because] I was going to be doing another film that had the same start date. I went to see Loretta at a show in New Orleans, and I was going to tell her, ‘”I’m very sorry, you’re a wonderful person and a great singer, but I’m not doing this.’”

“We missed the whole show because we were late, but she came out the back door in this flaming-red dress, and she was so mad because the drums had been too loud,” Spacek continued. “She was ragging on her band, and I was just dumbstruck. I thought, ‘I have to play this woman!’ And I’m so grateful that I did, because we’re still very close.”

Spacek is just one of many stars mourning the loss of the “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’” artist. Dolly Parton shared a statement to social media Tuesday that read, “So sorry to hear about my sister, friend Loretta. We’ve been like sisters all the years we’ve been in Nashville and she was a wonderful human being, wonderful talent, had millions of fans and I’m one of them. I miss her dearly as we all will. May she rest in peace.”

Singer Martina McBride added on her own social media, “It’s so hard to feel like you have the right words. I can hear Loretta saying ‘Just take your time honey.’ We all loved her so much. There will never be another like her. I am so grateful that I got to know her, to spend time with her, laugh with her…..I was always a little astonished when she called me her friend.”