The country music star died on August 25, aged 80, after losing a short battle with cancer - leaving the music industry and the world grieving.
Fonda remembered her pal during an interview with Democracy Now!, becoming visibly emotional as she spoke about the Jolene star.
When asked what Parton meant to her, Fonda struggled.
"She meant love. She really did. She loved everyone."
The 88-year-old actress went on to recall an example of how Parton always thought of others, remembering when they were doing a photo shoot together with Grace and Frankie co-star Lily Tomlin.
"For fun", Fonda and Tomlin crossed their eyes in one of the snaps, but Parton didn't approve of the joke.
"She [Dolly] got very upset. She said, 'We never can show this to anybody.' She said, 'It was like we're making fun - I have a relative who's cross-eyed, I don't ever want to see this picture'."
Fonda also remembered how Parton used to interact with her fans, which she saw when they travelled through Tennessee and Arkansas together as the singer prepared to kick off her tour.
"They [the fans] loved her so much [that] they accepted my presence. And it was so clear that she absolutely respected them. That was why there was so much love," she said.
"She never played down. She always was pulled together. She was always who she was, out of respect for her fans."
One of Parton's most admirable features, Fonda concluded, was how she always made everyone laugh.
"If she had gotten to the end of the day without her and her friends laughing so hard they had to cross their legs, then she would create a cause for laughter.
"She laughed all the time and made sure that everybody around her guffawed all the time."
7°C