India, Nov. 17 -- Dolly Parton was not physically present during the Governors Awards this year, but her words filled the room anyway. The 79-year-old superstar accepted the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award through a video message from her Nashville home, holding her first-ever Oscar - a golden statue she called both "a great honour" and "a blessing of a lifetime."

Parton has been nominated twice for Best Original Song, so the moment carried the weight of a long career finally circling back with something new. She opened with the story she always returns to: growing up in a house packed with 12 kids. "Now, that alone teaches you how important sharing is," she said. Her parents did not have much, but they gave anyway, and that was the exa...