Legendary actress Sally Field, 76, recently shared details about her worst on-screen kiss during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live. After some hesitation, she revealed it was with her former boyfriend and Smokey and the Bandit co-star, Burt Reynolds. Though they were dating at the time, Field said the kissing scenes were challenging. She explained, “It just was not something he really did for you,” and humorously recalled “a lot of drooling” during their scenes together

From her sitcom days to her movie stardom, the award-winning actress continues to shape Hollywood with her lasting career

Over five decades, Sally Field has had an iconic career, from her early days in the cute-as-a-button TV roles of Gidget and The Flying Nun to her powerful Oscar-winning performances in Norma Rae and Places in the Heart. She’s made audiences laugh in Mrs. Doubtfire and Soapdish and cry in Forrest Gump and Steel Magnolias, and always kept them guessing about her next role, whether it’s in serious theater on Broadway or a superhero film.

Field has been honored for her work many times over, and she’s still having fun (most recently starring in 80 for Brady with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno); she’s also had some memorable offscreen romances and raised three children.

As she turns 77, look back at her incredible life and career in photos.

The young actress won her first Emmy Award for her leading role in the 1976 TV film Sybil. Field shattered any doubts of her dramatic capabilities in her performance as a young girl suffering from what was then called multiple personality syndrome (now known as dissociative identity disorder). Joanne Woodward played the psychiatrist treating Field’s character’s condition.

Field gained next-level acclaim for her starring performance in Norma Rae. She took home an array of awards, most notably her very first Oscar. She also won the Cannes award, accolades from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and National Society of Film Critics and her first Golden Globe.

Into the ’80s

With her film career fully blossomed, the actress starred in several major features throughout the 1980s. Field acted alongside Paul Newman in Absence of Malice in 1981, and in 1982 she once again played Jeff Bridges’ love interest in Kiss Me Goodbye. She appeared in Murphy’s Romance and, as the decade wrapped up, the 1989 classic Steel Magnolias, with Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and a young Julia Roberts.

At the SAG Awards in 2023, Field received the highest honor of the evening: the Life Achievement Award. Her former Amazing Spider-Man castmate Andrew Garfield introduced the trailblazing star with heartfelt praise, citing not only his experience working with her but other stars’ accounts, as well.

“You’re a North Star for all of us, especially, of course, in inspiring, liberating and empowering women, charting a previously pathless path in an era of often unimaginative and one-dimensional female roles,” said the actor, who played Field’s superhero nephew in the Marvel movie.

Garfield added that Jane Fonda called the night’s honoree “the epitome of greatness,” and he said that Julia Roberts, Field’s former Steel Magnolias costar, called her “a unicorn. That rare type of person who can be a mentor and a best friend all at the same time.”

As Field accepted the milestone accolade on stage, she reflected on her journey to becoming a Hollywood icon and the obstacles she ran into along the way.

“Acting to me has always been about finding those few precious moments when I feel totally, utterly, sometimes dangerously alive. So the task has always been to find a way to get to that. To get to the work, to claw my way to it, if necessary,” Field recalled.

She looked back on her various roles in productions across genres, reflecting on the “fierceness” with which she fought to break out of sitcoms in the ’60s and ’70s. Then, as she wrapped up her speech, Field celebrated her fellow actors who fought their own uphill battles for seats at the table.

“When I look around this room tonight, I know my fight — as hard as it was — was lightweight compared to some of yours. I thank you and I applaud you,” the actress said in her concluding remarks. “And I know that for you, just like for me, it has not been easy. But you know what? Easy is overrated.”

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