Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget (1965–66) or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun (1967–70); in the 1970s, for Sybil (1976), Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Norma Rae (1979); in the 1980s, for Absence of Malice, Places in the Heart (1984) and Steel Magnolias; in the 1990s, for Not Without My Daughter, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994); and in the 2000s, on the TV shows ER and Brothers & Sisters. She has also performed in numerous other roles.
Field won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a leading role on two occasions, Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984). Field's professional achievements also include winning three Emmy Awards: for her role in the TV film Sybil (1976); her guest-starring role on ER in 2000; and for her starring role as Nora Holden Walker on ABC's series Brothers & Sisters in 2007. She has also won two Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. She also won the Best Female Performance Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, for Norma Rae (1979).
Sally Field was born in Pasadena, California, daughter of Richard Dryden Field, an Army officer, and his wife, actress Margaret Field. Her parents divorced in 1950, and her mother later married actor and stuntman Jock Mahoney.
Field attended Portola Middle School, followed by Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, where she was a cheerleader. Her classmates included infamous financier Michael Milken, actress Cindy Williams (of Laverne & Shirley fame) and Michael Ovitz of CAA and Walt Disney Studios fame.
Field got her start on television as the boy-crazy surfer girl in the mid-1960s surf culture sitcom series, Gidget. She went on to star as Sister Bertrille in The Flying Nun. In an interview included on the DVD release of The Flying Nun, she said that she would have preferred to continue playing Gidget. Field hated being on The Flying Nun because she wasn't treated with respect. After her iconic role on The Flying Nun, she had become typecast. Later, she starred opposite John Davidson in a short-lived series called The Girl with Something Extra (1973–74).
In 1971, Field starred in Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring with David Carradine and a soundtrack by Linda Ronstadt. She played the role of a discouraged teen runaway who returned home after a year on the road with a bearded drug-abusing hippie named "Flack" (David Carradine).
She made several guest appearances, including a recurring role on the western comedy Alias Smith and Jones, starring Pete Duel (with whom she had worked on Gidget) and Ben Murphy, plus the Rod Serling's Night Gallery episode "Whisper".
Field at Expo 67.
Having played mostly comedic characters on television, Field had a difficult time being cast in dramatic roles. She studied with famed acting teacher Lee Strasberg, who had previously helped Marilyn Monroe go beyond the "bimbo" roles with which her career had begun.
Soon afterward, Field landed the title role in the 1976 TV film Sybil, the first of two films based on the book written by Flora Rheta Schreiber. Field's dramatic portrayal of Sybil, a young woman afflicted with Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as multiple personality disorder, in the TV film not only garnered her an Emmy Award (in 1977) but also enabled her to break through the typecasting she had experienced from her television sitcom roles.
Music
While starring on The Flying Nun, Sally tried her hand at singing. Sally Field sang on the Soundtrack for The Flying Nun in 1967 and she even sang The Flying Nun theme song "Who Needs Wings to Fly". The same year, she cracked the Billboard Hot 100 with one single, Felicidad. Sally revived her singing career in 2008 when she sang on the soundtrack for "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning".
Film
Field had made her film debut in 1962 with a small part in Moon Pilot. Her first major film role was in The Way West (1967). In 1977, she co-starred with Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Reed in that year's #2 grossing film, Smokey and the Bandit.[2] In 1979, she played a union organizer in Norma Rae, a successful film that established her status as a dramatic actress. Vincent Canby, in his review of the film for the New York Times, wrote: "Norma Rae is a seriously concerned contemporary drama, illuminated by some very good performances and one, Miss Field's, that is spectacular."[3] She won the Best Female Performance Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Field did three more of Reynolds' films (The End, Hooper and Smokey and the Bandit II), none particularly an acting challenge. In 1981, Field continued to change her image, playing a foul-mouthed prostitute opposite Tommy Lee Jones in the South-set film Back Roads, which received middling reviews and grossed $11 million at the box office. She won Golden Globe nominations for the 1981 drama Absence of Malice and 1982 comedy Kiss Me Goodbye.
Then came a second Oscar for her starring role in the 1984 drama Places in the Heart. Field's gushing acceptance speech is well remembered for its earnestness. She said, "I haven't had an orthodox career, and I've wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn't feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" The line ending in "...I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" is often misquoted as simply, "You like me, you really like me!" which has subsequently been the subject of many parodies. (Field parodied the line herself in a commercial.) The phrase, "You like me" was originally from her wry, understated, famous reply in the film Norma Rae, but many people[citation needed] totally missed the subtle connection in her acceptance speeches, with that point in the film.
The following year, she co-starred with James Garner in the romantic comedy Murphy's Romance. In A&E's biography of Garner, she cited her on-screen kiss with Garner as the best cinematic kiss she had ever had.
Field appeared on the cover of the March 1986 issue of Playboy magazine, in which she was the interview subject. She did not appear as a pictorial subject inside the magazine, although she did wear the classic leotard and bunny-ears outfit on the cover. That same year she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award.
For her role as the matriarch, M'Lynn, in the film version of Steel Magnolias (1989), she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. She had supporting roles in a number of other movies, including Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) in which she played Miranda Hillard, the wife of Robin Williams's character and the love interest of Pierce Brosnan's character Stuart 'Stu' Dunmyer. She followed this with the role of Forrest Gump's mother in Forrest Gump (1994), even though she is only 10 years older than Tom Hanks, with whom she had co-starred six years earlier in Punchline.
Her other films in the 1990s included Not Without My Daughter, a controversial suspense film, and Soapdish, a comedy in which Field plays the pampered star of a television soap opera. She played Natalie Portman's mother in Where the Heart Is (2000) and appeared opposite Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003).
Recent roles
In November 2009, Sally appeared on an episode of The Doctors to talk about osteoporosis and her Rally With Sally Foundation.
On television, Field had a recurring role on ER in the 2000-01 season as Dr. Abby Lockhart's mother Maggie, who is struggling to cope with bipolar disorder, a role for which she won an Emmy 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 very short-lived 2002 series The Court.
Field's directorial career began with the television film The Christmas Tree (1996). She also directed the feature film Beautiful (2000) as well as an episode of the critically acclaimed TV mini-series From the Earth to the Moon (1998).
Field was a late addition to the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters, which debuted in September 2006. In the show's pilot, the role of matriarch Nora Walker had been played by actress Betty Buckley. However, the producers of the show decided to take the character of Nora in another direction, and Field was cast in the role. She won the 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in her role as Nora Walker. The blockbuster soap also stars familiar actresses such as Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths, in the roles of Nora's adult daughters, Kitty Walker and Sarah Walker, respectively, as well as unfamiliar actors, such as Welsh film actor Matthew Rhys tackling the very American role of Nora's son, Kevin Walker, and Dave Annable as Nora's youngest son, Justin Walker.
Field recently had a voice role as Marina del Rey, the primary antagonist in Disney's The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, which was released in August 2008.
Currently, Field can be seen on television as the compensated spokesperson for Roche Laboratories' postmenopausal osteoporosis treatment medication, Boniva.
She has been cast to portray Aunt May in the upcoming Marvel Comics film The Amazing Spider-Man and Mary Todd Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's upcoming film Lincoln, written by Tony Kushner.
Field won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a leading role on two occasions, Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984). Field's professional achievements also include winning three Emmy Awards: for her role in the TV film Sybil (1976); her guest-starring role on ER in 2000; and for her starring role as Nora Holden Walker on ABC's series Brothers & Sisters in 2007. She has also won two Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. She also won the Best Female Performance Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, for Norma Rae (1979).
Field attended Portola Middle School, followed by Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, where she was a cheerleader. Her classmates included infamous financier Michael Milken, actress Cindy Williams (of Laverne & Shirley fame) and Michael Ovitz of CAA and Walt Disney Studios fame.
Field got her start on television as the boy-crazy surfer girl in the mid-1960s surf culture sitcom series, Gidget. She went on to star as Sister Bertrille in The Flying Nun. In an interview included on the DVD release of The Flying Nun, she said that she would have preferred to continue playing Gidget. Field hated being on The Flying Nun because she wasn't treated with respect. After her iconic role on The Flying Nun, she had become typecast. Later, she starred opposite John Davidson in a short-lived series called The Girl with Something Extra (1973–74).
In 1971, Field starred in Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring with David Carradine and a soundtrack by Linda Ronstadt. She played the role of a discouraged teen runaway who returned home after a year on the road with a bearded drug-abusing hippie named "Flack" (David Carradine).
She made several guest appearances, including a recurring role on the western comedy Alias Smith and Jones, starring Pete Duel (with whom she had worked on Gidget) and Ben Murphy, plus the Rod Serling's Night Gallery episode "Whisper".
Field at Expo 67.
Having played mostly comedic characters on television, Field had a difficult time being cast in dramatic roles. She studied with famed acting teacher Lee Strasberg, who had previously helped Marilyn Monroe go beyond the "bimbo" roles with which her career had begun.
Soon afterward, Field landed the title role in the 1976 TV film Sybil, the first of two films based on the book written by Flora Rheta Schreiber. Field's dramatic portrayal of Sybil, a young woman afflicted with Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as multiple personality disorder, in the TV film not only garnered her an Emmy Award (in 1977) but also enabled her to break through the typecasting she had experienced from her television sitcom roles.
Music
While starring on The Flying Nun, Sally tried her hand at singing. Sally Field sang on the Soundtrack for The Flying Nun in 1967 and she even sang The Flying Nun theme song "Who Needs Wings to Fly". The same year, she cracked the Billboard Hot 100 with one single, Felicidad. Sally revived her singing career in 2008 when she sang on the soundtrack for "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning".
Film
Field had made her film debut in 1962 with a small part in Moon Pilot. Her first major film role was in The Way West (1967). In 1977, she co-starred with Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Reed in that year's #2 grossing film, Smokey and the Bandit.[2] In 1979, she played a union organizer in Norma Rae, a successful film that established her status as a dramatic actress. Vincent Canby, in his review of the film for the New York Times, wrote: "Norma Rae is a seriously concerned contemporary drama, illuminated by some very good performances and one, Miss Field's, that is spectacular."[3] She won the Best Female Performance Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Field did three more of Reynolds' films (The End, Hooper and Smokey and the Bandit II), none particularly an acting challenge. In 1981, Field continued to change her image, playing a foul-mouthed prostitute opposite Tommy Lee Jones in the South-set film Back Roads, which received middling reviews and grossed $11 million at the box office. She won Golden Globe nominations for the 1981 drama Absence of Malice and 1982 comedy Kiss Me Goodbye.
Then came a second Oscar for her starring role in the 1984 drama Places in the Heart. Field's gushing acceptance speech is well remembered for its earnestness. She said, "I haven't had an orthodox career, and I've wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn't feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" The line ending in "...I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" is often misquoted as simply, "You like me, you really like me!" which has subsequently been the subject of many parodies. (Field parodied the line herself in a commercial.) The phrase, "You like me" was originally from her wry, understated, famous reply in the film Norma Rae, but many people[citation needed] totally missed the subtle connection in her acceptance speeches, with that point in the film.
The following year, she co-starred with James Garner in the romantic comedy Murphy's Romance. In A&E's biography of Garner, she cited her on-screen kiss with Garner as the best cinematic kiss she had ever had.
Field appeared on the cover of the March 1986 issue of Playboy magazine, in which she was the interview subject. She did not appear as a pictorial subject inside the magazine, although she did wear the classic leotard and bunny-ears outfit on the cover. That same year she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award.
For her role as the matriarch, M'Lynn, in the film version of Steel Magnolias (1989), she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. She had supporting roles in a number of other movies, including Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) in which she played Miranda Hillard, the wife of Robin Williams's character and the love interest of Pierce Brosnan's character Stuart 'Stu' Dunmyer. She followed this with the role of Forrest Gump's mother in Forrest Gump (1994), even though she is only 10 years older than Tom Hanks, with whom she had co-starred six years earlier in Punchline.
Her other films in the 1990s included Not Without My Daughter, a controversial suspense film, and Soapdish, a comedy in which Field plays the pampered star of a television soap opera. She played Natalie Portman's mother in Where the Heart Is (2000) and appeared opposite Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003).
Recent roles
In November 2009, Sally appeared on an episode of The Doctors to talk about osteoporosis and her Rally With Sally Foundation.
On television, Field had a recurring role on ER in the 2000-01 season as Dr. Abby Lockhart's mother Maggie, who is struggling to cope with bipolar disorder, a role for which she won an Emmy 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 very short-lived 2002 series The Court.
Field was a late addition to the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters, which debuted in September 2006. In the show's pilot, the role of matriarch Nora Walker had been played by actress Betty Buckley. However, the producers of the show decided to take the character of Nora in another direction, and Field was cast in the role. She won the 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in her role as Nora Walker. The blockbuster soap also stars familiar actresses such as Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths, in the roles of Nora's adult daughters, Kitty Walker and Sarah Walker, respectively, as well as unfamiliar actors, such as Welsh film actor Matthew Rhys tackling the very American role of Nora's son, Kevin Walker, and Dave Annable as Nora's youngest son, Justin Walker.
Field recently had a voice role as Marina del Rey, the primary antagonist in Disney's The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, which was released in August 2008.
Currently, Field can be seen on television as the compensated spokesperson for Roche Laboratories' postmenopausal osteoporosis treatment medication, Boniva.
She has been cast to portray Aunt May in the upcoming Marvel Comics film The Amazing Spider-Man and Mary Todd Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's upcoming film Lincoln, written by Tony Kushner.
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