She’s not just one of country music’s most legendary divas; no, Reba McEntire is a renaissance woman, who has sung, danced and acted her way into the hearts of millions of fans over the years.
From a gun-slinging cowgirl to the voice of a cow, from a coma survivor to a small-town deputy, and, most recently, as Colonel Sanders himself, McEntire has portrayed a wide variety of roles onstage and in front of a camera. She caught the acting bug following her first role, in 1990’s Tremors, and went on to star in the TV movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw with Kenny Rogers and Burt Reynolds, and in the Rob Reiner film North.
McEntire has also appeared in a TV movie called Is There Life Out There?, based on her hit single of the same name; acted on Broadway; and earned her own sitcom, which ran for several years on the WB network. Read on to remember a few of her very best acting roles:
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‘Buffalo Girls’ (1995)
As Annie Oakley
McEntire was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the 1995 TV miniseries Buffalo Girls. She plays Annie Oakley, the best friend of Calamity Jane (portrayed by Anjelica Huston) — a role she’d later reprise. But we’ll get to that.
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‘Reba’ (2001-2007)
As Reba Hart
McEntire had a great run on the WB network with her eponymous sitcom, which aired from 2001 until 2007. Her character, Reba Hart, was a single mother of three (four, if you count oldest daughter Cheyenne’s boyfriend-turned-baby daddy-turned-husband).
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‘The Fox and the Hound 2’ (2006)
As Dixie
In 2006, McEntire lent her legendary voice to a singing dog named Dixie for Disney’s The Fox and the Hound 2. The same year, she voiced a cow in the live-action version of Charlotte’s Web, which also starred Kathy Bates and Julia Roberts; more recently, McEntire has also voiced a dinosaur (The Land Before Time: Journey of the Brave).
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‘Annie Get Your Gun’
As Annie Oakley
McEntire can do anything better than you — including singing and dancing as the title character of the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. McEntire portrayed Oakley from January 2001 until June of the same year, and won a Drama Desk Award and a Theatre World Award for her work.
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‘Tremors’ (1990)
As Heather Gummer
McEntire proved she had acting chops in her first role ever. Her character, Heather Gummer, is part of a survivalist couple who helps protect a small town from the deadly creatures. In this role, McEntire also demonstrated her versatility with firearms, which has come in handy several times throughout her acting career.