People: Mar. 18, 1985

Choosing a star to play the late C. and W. Singer Patsy Cline proved a simple gambit: you take the girl out of Country, and you will get a lot of country out of the girl. Jessica Lange, 35, also got something out of Sweet Dreams, due at theaters in the fall. After a series of roles in which "a lot was internalized," Lange enjoyed playing someone whose "personality was so external that she held nothing in." To look as well as emote the part, Lange tucked her blond locks under a series of brunet wigs, and Cline's mother pronounced Lange "superb" after watching her film a stage singing performance. Movie audiences, however, will only see Lange lip-syncing. The voice belonged to the real Cline.