Sally Field

Sally Field Career biography

Sally was born Sally Margaret Field on November 6, 1946, in Pasadena, California. In each decade of her career, she has been cast in 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; and in the 2000s, on the TV shows ER and Brothers & Sisters. She has also performed in numerous other roles.

Field has won two Academy Awards, for Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984). She has also won three Emmy Awards: for her role in the TV movie 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 Early life and Family

Sally was born to Richard Dryden, an Army officer, and his wife, actress Margaret Field. Her parents divorced in 1950, and her mother later married actor and stuntman Jock Mahoney.

Sally then attended Portola Middle School, followed by Birmingham High School in nearby Van Nuys, CA, where she was also a cheerleader. Her classmates included infamous financier Michael Milken, actress Cindy Williams (of Laverne and Shirley fame) and Michael Ovitz of CAA and Walt Disney Studios fame.

Relationships

Sally married Steven Craig in 1968. The couple had two sons, Peter Craig, now a novelist, and Eli, now an actor and director. They divorced in 1975. That same year, Sally would become romantically involved with Burt Reynolds, in a whirlwind relationship that would garner much attention (mostly unwanted) from the press and paparazzi for several years, during which time they co-starred in several movies, including Smokey and the Bandit, Smokey and the Bandit II, and The End. The famous couple ended their relationship in 1982. In 1984, Sally then married film producer Alan Greisman. They had one son, Sam. Field and Greisman divorced in 1993.

On October 29, 1988, she and her family survived a crash after their charter plane lost power on takeoff. They all survived, but suffered minor injuries; perhaps partially because the accident, Field has suffered from osteoporosis.