If there is one person that got very close to Patsy Cline and her family it’s Megan Hilty, who plays the iconic singer in an upcoming Lifetime movie. However, she did get a lot of help from quite the source.

The actress, 38, recently attended a Lifetime’s Patsy & Loretta special screening and touched on many different subjects involving the film, including being able to cross path’s with the music artist’s own daughter, Julie Fudge, who happened to give her advice on how to properly play her late mother. “You know she was really helpful when she surprised me with copies of notes, like letters that Patsy wrote,” Megan exclusively told Closer Weekly. “It was really helpful to hear how she would naturally speak when she wasn’t on the stage. So that was really, really helpful because there isn’t anything, there’s very little to go on as far as footage.”

Meghan Hilty
MediaPunch/Shutterstock

While Julie didn’t really tell Megan a lot of stories of her mother, Megan does reveal a touching letter she read. “One of the nurses from her hospital sent [it to Julie], and I read it in the museum,” the Santa’s Boots star gushed. “It talked about how much all the staff at the hospital missed her, they’re glad that she’s not there because that means she’s well, but she was so kind to everyone that was there — and that really spoke to her true character because that letter is unprompted, didn’t need to be sent but this woman felt such a strong relationship to her.”

The Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce alum also revealed just how much she learned while playing the hitmaker, and how “everything” about the musician “surprised her.”

Patsy Cline
Everett/Shutterstock

“I didn’t know anything about her personal life. I knew who she was and her amazing songs she made that were iconic. But everything was a surprise,” Megan explained. “The thing that I found remarkable is that Loretta [Lynn] really encouraged other females, country artists, and really supported them and taught them how to like really business like anybody else. So she was a natural caretaker. And I found that very inspiring.”

Lifetime’s Patsy & Loretta premieres on Saturday, October 19, at 8 p.m. ET. 

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