NAMES IN THE NEWS : Co-Stars Got Dolly Giggling

NEW YORK —  The other actresses performed risque, off-camera gags to make Dolly Parton laugh during a scene in “Steel Magnolias,” according to Sally Field.

“There was one scene where Dolly was by herself, and she was supposed to be looking off-camera and giggling,” Field said in December’s Redbook.

“To help her laugh, we did things that would have caused us to be blackmailed forever! . . . They should have filmed us and released the footage to porno shops. The crew crawled away in mortification,” she said.

Parton said the director, Herbert Ross, seemed to have a hard time adjusting to the predominantly female cast, which also includes Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis and Daryl Hannah.

“I think he was really scared working with all these women--scared that we’d all have PMS (premenstrual syndrome) at the same time!” Parton said. “Herbert was hard on me because I wasn’t as skilled in acting as the others. He told me I couldn’t act.”

Parton, characteristically, handled the criticism with aplomb.

“I said, ‘Well, hell, I know I can’t act. It’s your job to teach me how. You hired me to make money for you.’ ”