top of page
Search

The Best of Sally Field

Who doesn’t love Sally Field? Seriously. Who doesn’t? I mean, if you grew up anytime from the mid-1960s on (and especially if you’re around my age, I'm 60) Sally Field has basically always been there.


Television, movies, sitcoms, prestige dramas, goofy comedies, soap opera satires, giant blockbuster superhero movies, Oscar-winning performances, Emmy-winning performances…she’s one of those rare performers who somehow became both a massive star and completely relatable at the same time.


America fell in love with Sally Field a long, long time ago, and honestly, I don’t think America ever really stopped loving Sally Field.


And now with the release of her new Netflix movie Remarkably Bright Creatures (which, by the way, is a terrific showcase for her talents and another reminder that she can still carry an entire movie on pure charm, honesty, intelligence, and emotional truth), I thought it would be the perfect time to look back at her incredible career. Because it really is an amazing career when you think about it. One of the most fascinating arcs any actress has ever had.


Starting out as a teenybopper TV star that nobody took seriously, getting trapped in goofy sitcoms, becoming tabloid famous because she was dating Burt Reynolds, and then somehow blowing past all of that and emerging as one of the most respected actresses of her generation. That’s not easy. In fact, it almost never happens.


Sally Margaret Field was born in Pasadena, California, in 1946, right in the middle of Hollywood culture. Her mother was actress Margaret Field, her stepfather was actor and stuntman Jock Mahoney, and although the outside image of her upbringing might’ve looked glamorous or at least showbiz-adjacent, the reality was much darker.


Field revealed later in her memoir In Pieces that she suffered abuse throughout her childhood at the hands of Mahoney, trauma that stayed with her for decades. She’s talked openly about depression, anxiety, abuse, and the emotional scars she carried into adulthood.


And honestly, knowing all of that now makes her warmth and vulnerability as a performer even more remarkable because there’s always been this emotional accessibility to Sally Field. You believe her. No matter what role she’s playing, there’s something deeply human about her.


But like a lot of people my age, the first memory I have of Sally Field is Gidget and especially The Flying Nun. Oh my God, The Flying Nun. One of the dumbest television shows ever made. Truly one of the silliest concepts in TV history. It’s literally about a nun who flies. That’s the premise.


A tiny nun whose cornette catches the wind and she floats around. Completely ridiculous. Completely absurd. And yet…I was obsessed with it as a little kid. I absolutely watched it. One of the earliest TV crushes I ever had was Sally Field as Sister Bertrille.


And that’s the thing: she was so appealing. So adorable. So charismatic. Even when the material was ridiculous, Sally Field somehow grounded it with this sincerity and sweetness that made you want to watch her.


Gidget was this goofy surfer teen sitcom. The Flying Nun was pure nonsense. She popped up on shows like Marcus Welby, M.D., Night Gallery, Alias Smith and Jones, and did all kinds of TV work through the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.


She even had a brief singing career connected to The Flying Nun, putting out singles and an album. It was very much that classic teen-idol machine stuff.


But nobody took her seriously. Nobody. She was viewed as this lightweight sitcom actress. Cute, bubbly, harmless television fluff. Then came Sybil in 1976, and suddenly everything changed.


That performance was like a thunderclap. Playing a young woman suffering from dissociative identity disorder, Sally Field just exploded onscreen emotionally in a way nobody expected. She won an Emmy for it and, more importantly, people suddenly realized, “Oh wait a minute…this woman can ACT.”


And a huge part of that transformation came from her studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Strasberg became a mentor to her, helping her break out of that TV image. You can absolutely see the shift happen in real time.


Right around then she also starts appearing in movies, and one of the earliest was Stay Hungry with Jeff Bridges and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Weird movie. Kind of fascinating. She’s very good in it.


But her film career really kicked into high gear with Smokey and the Bandit in 1977, which also coincided with her very high-profile relationship with Burt Reynolds.


Now look, Burt Reynolds in the late ‘70s was one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. Huge. And Sally Field became part of that orbit. She’s in Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, The End, Smokey and the Bandit II—all movies tied directly to Burt Reynolds’ superstardom.


And she’s terrific in those movies, by the way. Funny, charming, completely holding her own opposite one of the biggest personalities in Hollywood.


And then there’s Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. Oh my God. One of the worst movies ever made. I mean truly catastrophically terrible. But also one of the funniest unintentional comedies in cinema history. If you have never seen Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, please do yourself a favor.


Michael Caine screams every single line of dialogue like he’s trapped in a burning building for two straight hours. There’s yelling, hysteria, stupidity, chaos, ridiculous plotting, it is an absolutely glorious disaster. And Sally Field seems to know exactly what kind of movie she’s in. She looks like she’s having a blast in the middle of all the insanity.


But while she was becoming famous and beloved, there was still this sense that she wasn’t “serious.” She was the cute TV star dating Burt Reynolds. Then Norma Rae happened in 1979.


Boom.


Everything changed.


That movie made Sally Field a legitimate dramatic force overnight. Playing a working-class Southern textile worker who becomes a union organizer, she carried the film completely. It’s passionate, emotional, tough, vulnerable, it is just an extraordinary performance. She wins the Academy Award for Best Actress, and suddenly Sally Field isn’t just likable anymore. She’s respected.


And from there, the career just takes off in every direction imaginable. She does sexy, edgy stuff like Back Roads with Tommy Lee Jones. She’s terrific in Absence of Malice, one of the great journalism movies, opposite Paul Newman.


She does romantic comedy beautifully in Kiss Me Goodbye. Then she wins another Oscar for Places in the Heart in 1984, delivering that immortal acceptance speech that got endlessly parodied: “You like me! Right now, you like me!” Which, by the way, people always quote wrong.


And honestly? She earned every bit of that love.


Then come the classics. Punchline, where she plays a suburban housewife trying stand-up comedy opposite Tom Hanks. Steel Magnolias, one of the all-time tearjerker ensemble movies.


Not Without My Daughter. Mrs. Doubtfire. Forrest Gump, where she somehow convincingly plays Tom Hanks’ mother despite only being about ten years older than him...even though she had played his love interest in Punchline just a few years earlier.


And then there’s Soapdish.


Now let me just say this clearly: I think Soapdish contains Sally Field’s greatest performance. Period.


I absolutely adore her in that movie. One of the funniest performances by a lead actress I have ever seen. Soapdish itself is one of the funniest movies ever made, a brilliant, savage satire of daytime television and soap operas with an unbelievable cast: Kevin Kline, Robert Downey Jr., Cathy Moriarty, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Shue…everybody firing on all cylinders.


But Sally Field is the center of it all as this narcissistic, insecure, hilariously self-absorbed soap opera diva. She’s phenomenal. The comic timing, the vanity, the desperation, the physical comedy: it’s flawless.


People sometimes underestimate how brilliant Sally Field is at comedy because the dramatic work became so celebrated. But she has always been an extraordinary comic actress. Timing, rhythm, reactions, vulnerability...she can do broad comedy, subtle comedy, screwball comedy. She can do anything.


And the career just keeps evolving. She voices Sassy in the Homeward Bound movies. She’s wonderful in Eye for an Eye. She pops up on King of the Hill. She supports Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde 2.


She wins another Emmy for her heartbreaking recurring role on ER as Abby Lockhart’s bipolar mother. She directs movies and television. She anchors Brothers & Sisters and wins another Emmy.


She plays Aunt May in the Amazing Spider-Man films. Then she gets an Oscar nomination for playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Spielberg’s Lincoln, where she’s absolutely fantastic.


And over the years she’s become something even bigger than just a movie star. She’s become this deeply respected public figure. Honest, outspoken, politically active, passionate about women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, climate activism.


She got arrested protesting climate change with Jane Fonda. She’s spoken openly about abortion rights and the trauma she endured as a teenager. She’s advocated for osteoporosis awareness after her own diagnosis. She’s never hidden from who she is.


And that honesty is part of why people love her.


She’s also just incredibly funny and candid in interviews. If you’ve watched any of the press she’s done recently promoting Remarkably Bright Creatures, she’s still got that warmth and wit and self-awareness. She’s one of those stars who feels real. There’s no fake Hollywood polish with Sally Field. Never has been.


And what’s fascinating about her career is how unlikely it all was. Starting as this lightweight TV teen idol nobody respected, becoming attached to one of the biggest movie stars in the world through her relationship with Burt Reynolds, then completely stepping out of that shadow and becoming a two-time Oscar winner and one of the most beloved actresses in American history.


So Sally Field remains one of the most lovable, reliable, talented, and enduring actresses in the history of television and movies. Which leads me into my 10 favorite Sally Field performances and movies.


Now, these are not ranked in order…although I WILL say this: her performance in Soapdish is probably my favorite Sally Field performance of all time.


But the list itself is in chronological order.


So without further ado, here are my 10 favorite Sally Field movies and performances of all time.


TOP 10 SALLY FIELD MOVIES (in chronological order):



This is the movie that made Sally Field a genuine movie star. Directed by Hal Needham and starring Burt Reynolds at the absolute peak of his cool-guy popularity, this thing is pure 1970s entertainment magic, it is fast cars, great stunts, hilarious one-liners, Jackie Gleason screaming his head off, and nonstop charm. Sally plays Carrie, aka “Frog,” the runaway bride who jumps into Bandit’s car and instantly becomes one of the most lovable characters in the movie.


What makes Sally so terrific here is that she isn’t just “the girl along for the ride.” She’s funny, smart, sexy, sarcastic, and completely capable of holding her own opposite Burt Reynolds. Their chemistry is undeniable, probably because they were together in real life, and she brings warmth and personality to what could’ve just been a disposable role in a goofy car-chase comedy. It’s still one of the most entertaining movies of the 1970s.


This is one of Sally Field’s most underrated movies and one that not enough people talk about anymore. Co-starring Henry Winkler right around the height of his Happy Days fame, it’s a bittersweet road movie about a troubled Vietnam veteran trying to reconnect with life after returning home. Sally plays the young woman who joins him on his strange emotional journey.


What I love about Sally in this movie is how natural and grounded she feels. This was right around the time she was transitioning from lightweight TV star into respected actress, and you can really see it happening here. She brings sincerity and emotional honesty to the role, and the chemistry between her and Winkler is incredibly sweet and believable.


This movie is completely insane. Burt Reynolds directed it himself, and it’s one of the darkest mainstream comedies of the 1970s. Reynolds plays a man who learns he’s terminally ill and repeatedly tries to kill himself, with disastrous and bizarre results. Somehow it becomes this weird, uncomfortable, hilarious black comedy that only could’ve existed in the late ‘70s.


Sally Field is terrific in it because it once again shows how sharp her comic timing really is. She plays Burt’s increasingly frustrated girlfriend and reacts beautifully to all the chaos around her. The movie itself is gloriously messy and uneven, but I love that about it. It’s one of those deeply strange personal studio comedies Hollywood simply doesn’t make anymore.


This is the performance that changed Sally Field’s career forever. Directed by Martin Ritt and loosely based on the real-life story of union organizer Crystal Lee Sutton, Norma Rae finally proved beyond any doubt that Sally Field was one of the best actresses of her generation. Her portrayal of a working-class Southern woman who becomes involved in labor activism is emotional, raw, vulnerable, and completely authentic.


The famous “UNION” scene is one of the most iconic moments in American cinema, but the entire performance is extraordinary. Sally never turns Norma into some idealized hero. She feels like a real person, she is messy, exhausted, funny, emotional, and brave. It’s a terrific movie overall, but Sally Field absolutely carries it, and deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Actress.


This is one of the smartest movies Sally Field ever made and one of the great journalism dramas of the 1980s. Directed by Sydney Pollack and co-starring Paul Newman, the movie explores ethics in journalism, government manipulation, and the damage caused when the media publishes information without understanding the consequences.


Sally Field plays reporter Megan Carter with real complexity and intelligence. She’s not portrayed as evil or malicious, just flawed and caught inside a system spinning out of control. The chemistry between her and Paul Newman is excellent, and Sally does a wonderful job showing the gradual emotional unraveling of a woman realizing she may have ruined lives without meaning to.


I’ve always thought this movie was underrated. Co-starring James Caan and Jeff Bridges, it’s a romantic fantasy comedy about a widow trying to move on with her life while being haunted (literally) by the ghost of her dead husband. It’s funny, charming, emotional, and very much one of those sophisticated adult romantic comedies Hollywood used to make regularly.


Sally Field is absolutely delightful in this movie. She brings warmth, humor, and emotional sincerity to every scene, and she has terrific chemistry with both James Caan and Jeff Bridges. It’s one of those movies that quietly sneaks up on you, and Sally carries it effortlessly with her natural likability and comic timing.


This is just a lovely movie. Directed by Martin Ritt and co-starring the great James Garner, Murphy’s Romance is one of the warmest and sweetest romantic comedies of the 1980s. Sally plays a divorced mother trying to start over in a small Arizona town, where she slowly develops a relationship with Garner’s charming older widower.


The chemistry between Sally Field and James Garner is absolutely wonderful because it feels honest and mature. Nothing about the movie feels forced or artificial. Sally gives such a warm, grounded performance, and Garner is fantastic opposite her. It’s funny, gentle, smart, and emotionally sincere in a way that feels increasingly rare now.


This is my favorite Sally Field performance of all time. Soapdish is one of the funniest movies ever made. It is a brilliant satire of daytime television and soap operas with an incredible ensemble cast including Kevin Kline, Robert Downey Jr., Cathy Moriarty, Whoopi Goldberg, and Elisabeth Shue.


But Sally Field is the center of the whole movie, and she is absolutely flawless. As narcissistic soap-opera queen Celeste Talbert, she delivers one of the greatest comic performances by any actress in modern movies. Every reaction, every line reading, every emotional meltdown is hilarious. It’s a perfect showcase for how brilliant Sally Field is at comedy.


People sometimes forget how emotionally important Sally Field is to Forrest Gump. Tom Hanks may be the center of the film, but Sally Field provides the emotional heart and soul as Forrest’s mother. Her warmth and sincerity ground the movie completely.


What makes the performance so effective is how honest she plays it. Those famous lines about life and destiny could’ve felt unbearably sentimental in the wrong hands, but Sally delivers them with complete emotional truth. She makes every moment believable, and the relationship between Forrest and his mother becomes the emotional foundation for the entire movie.


Sally Field received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for her performance as Mary Todd Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. While Daniel Day-Lewis gives a very good performance as Abraham Lincoln, Sally provides much of the movie’s emotional intensity and volatility.


Her Mary Todd Lincoln is smart, grieving, emotionally fragile, politically aware, and fiercely protective of her family. Sally refuses to simplify the character, leaning fully into all the contradictions and pain. The scenes between her and Day-Lewis are extraordinary, and it’s another reminder of how consistently excellent Sally Field has remained throughout her entire career.



Thanks for reading, and please SUBSCRIBE to my weekly NEWSLETTER!

bottom of page