Sally Field was born on November 6, 1946, inPasadena, California, to actressMargaret Field (née Morlan) (1922–2011) and pharmacist Richard Dryden Field (1914–1993), who served in the Army during World War II.[2] Her brother isRichard Dryden Field Jr., a physicist and academic. Her parents were divorced in 1950; on January 21, 1952, in Tijuana, Mexico, her mother marriedJock Mahoney, an actor and stuntman.[3] Her ancestry includes English, Irish and on her father's side Italian from the island of Sicily.[citation needed] Field said in her 2018 memoir that she was sexually abused by Mahoney during her childhood.[4][5]
Field got her start on television as the boy-crazysurfer girl in the sitcomGidget (1965–1966). The show was not an initial success and was cancelled after a single season; however, summer reruns garnered respectable ratings, making the show a belated success. Wanting to find a new starring vehicle for Field, ABC next producedThe Flying Nun with Field cast as Sister Bertrille for three seasons, from 1967 to 1970.[10] In an interview included on the Season One DVD release, Field said that she thoroughly enjoyedGidget but hatedThe Flying Nun because she was not treated with respect by the show's directors. Field was thentypecast, finding respectable roles difficult to obtain. In 1971, Field starred in the ABCtelevision filmMaybe I'll Come Home in the Spring, playing a discouraged teen runaway who returns home with a bearded, drug-abusing hippie (played byDavid Carradine).[11][12] She made several guest television appearances through the mid-1970s, including a role on the WesternAlias Smith and Jones, a popular series starringGidget co-starPete Duel.[13] She also appeared in the episode "Whisper" on the thrillerNight Gallery.
In 1973, Field was cast in a starring role oppositeJohn Davidson in the seriesThe Girl with Something Extra that aired from 1973 to 1974.[14] Following the series' cancellation, Field studied at theActors Studio with acting teacherLee Strasberg. Strasberg became a mentor to Field, helping her move past her television image of the girl next door. During this period, Field divorced her first husband in 1975.[1][15][16]
In the 1984 dramaPlaces in the Heart, she starred as Edna Spalding, a farm widow struggling to weather theGreat Depression.[23] She won her secondGolden Globe Award and secondOscar. Field's acceptance speech has since been both admired as earnest and parodied as excessive, mainly the line, "And I can't deny the fact that you like me...right now...you like me! (applause) Thank you!"[24] Field later parodied herself when she delivered the line (often misquoted as "You like me, youreally like me!")[25] in aCharles Schwab commercial.
In 1985, she co-starred withJames Garner in the romantic comedyMurphy's Romance.[26] The following year, Field appeared on the cover of the March 1986 issue ofPlayboy magazine, in which she was the interview subject. She did not appear as a pictorial subject in the magazine, although she did wear the classicleotard and bunny-ears outfit on the cover. That year, she received theWomen in FilmCrystal Award.[27] For her role as matriarch M'Lynn in the film version ofSteel Magnolias (1989), she was nominated for a 1990 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.[28]
In the early 1990s, Field had supporting roles in a number of films. These includedDisney's live-action filmHomeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993), where she voiced the role of Sassy. InMrs. Doubtfire (1993), she played the wife ofRobin Williams's character and the love interest ofPierce Brosnan's character. She then playedTom Hanks's mother inForrest Gump (1994), even though she was only 10 years older than Hanks, with whom she had co-starred six years earlier inPunchline. For Forrest Gump, she receivedBAFTA andSAG nominations.
Field had a recurring role onER in the 2000–2001 season as Dr.Abby Lockhart's mother, Maggie, who suffers frombipolar disorder, a role for which she won anEmmy Award in 2001. After her critically acclaimed stint on the show, she returned to the role in 2003 and 2006. She also starred in the 2002 seriesThe Court.
Field's directorial career began with the television filmThe Christmas Tree (1996).[30] In 1998, she directed the episode "The Original Wives' Club" of the critically acclaimed TV miniseriesFrom the Earth to the Moon, also playing a minor role as Trudy, the wife of astronautGordon Cooper.[31] In 2000, she directed the feature filmBeautiful.
In 2017, Field reprised her role as Amanda Wingfield inThe Glass Menagerie onBroadway at theBelasco Theatre. Performances began on February 7, 2017, in previews, and officially opened on March 9. The production closed on May 21, 2017, after 85 performance and 31 previews. Field had previously played the role in theKennedy Center production in 2004.[36] She was nominated for aTony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance.[37] Her memoir,In Pieces, was published byGrand Central Publishing in September 2018.[38]
Field was married to Steven Craig from 1968 to 1975, though they separated in 1973.[43] The couple had two sons:Peter Craig, a novelist andscreenwriter (b. 1969); andEli Craig, an actor and director (b. 1972).
Field wrote in her memoir that she suffered from "severe depression" in her late teens. She stated that taking acting classes helped her overcome "this urgency, this anxiety, this need to find something that was festering in me."
In 2005, Field was diagnosed withosteoporosis. Her diagnosis led her to create the "Rally with Sally for Bone Health" campaign[50] with support fromRoche andGlaxoSmithKline that controversially co-promotedBoniva,[51][52] abisphosphonate treatment for osteoporosis. Field's campaign encouraged the early diagnosis of such conditions through technology such as bone-density scans.[53]
In 2005, Field received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement presented in recognition of her lifetime of contributions to the arts as well as her dedication as a social activist.[54][55]
During her acceptance speech at the 2007Emmy Awards, when she won for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Field said: "If the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamn wars in the first place."[56]Fox Broadcasting Company, which aired the show, cut the sound and picture after the word "god" and did not return camera/sound to the stage until after Field finished talking.[56] An e-mail statement from the company the day after the incident explained that thecensorship of Field's speech (among two other censorship incidents during the award ceremony) occurred because "some language during the live broadcast may have been considered inappropriate by some viewers. As a result, Fox's broadcast standards executives determined it appropriate to drop sound and picture during those portions of the show."[56]
Field is also an advocate for gay rights, and won theHuman Rights Campaign's Ally for Equality Award in 2012. Her youngest son, Samuel Greisman, is gay.[59]
Field was arrested on December 13, 2019, while attendingJane Fonda's weekly Friday climate change protests in Washington, D.C.[60]
^Collins, Bob; Collins, Sandy, eds. (August 2016).Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project(PDF). Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Unified School District. pp. xx, 17.
^"2008 Summit Highlights Photo". 2008.Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. RetrievedDecember 27, 2020.Legendary songwriter Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys receives the Golden Plate Award from actress Sally Field.
^California for Hillary Clinton Rally. Digital Jami (YouTube). March 8, 2008.Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. RetrievedNovember 12, 2014. Video of Cal State Los Angeles rally of February 2, 2008, with Field and actorBradley Whitford.
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