The Hollywood star Sally Field is speaking out to reveal how her fellow two-time Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson saved her career. Indeed, it seems that Field’s movie career was nearly over before it even began until Nicholson stepped in to save the day.
Field Struggles To Break Through In Movies
Given how prolific Field’s film career has become, it’s easy to forget that she actually got her start in television. She was only 18 years-old when she rose to fame playing the title role in the sitcom Gidget from 1965-1966. Field then starred on the sitcom The Flying Nun from 1967-1970.
Once The Flying Nun came to an end, however, Field was horrified to find that she “couldn’t get in a room to audition. I couldn’t get on the list. They thought they already knew what I was. ‘No, thanks. We don’t want any of that.’”
This forced Field to come up with a career mantra.
“I had to say to myself that if I wasn’t where I wanted to be, I had to get better,” Field, 79, recalled to People Magazine.
Field went on to say that though Hollywood might be “rotten” and “unfair,” she added that “it had to be that it was on me to make it different. I felt if I wasn’t doing that, then I was just handing them all the power.”
Field Meets Nicholson
That’s when Field began studying at the prestigious Actors Studio in Los Angeles, California. There, she met Nicholson, 89, who was among the many “wonderful actors, really working actors” training with its founder and coach Lee Strasberg.
“Everybody used to come,” Field remembered. “It was packed. You couldn’t get in.”
Field started training in performance techniques “constantly, as much as I possibly could.”
“I said to myself, ‘It will change when I’m good enough,'” she recounted. “And ultimately, in a weird way, it happened because I was acting at the studio so much.”
It was then that Nicholson stepped up to help Field when she needed it most. Indeed, Nicholson was so impressed by what he saw from her work with Strasberg that he recommended Field as an “an undiscovered talent” to the late casting director Dianne Crittenden and director Bob Rafelson.
This prompted Crittenden to call Field in for a meeting for Stay Hungry, the Rafelson-directed comedy-drama set at a gym. This was huge for Field, as it was her first actual “interview” since she was cast for Gidget years earlier.
“So in some weird way, my theory was right,” Field admitted. “I worked at the Actors Studio for so long — and it was so hard — that Jack had seen it and the word spread.”
Field’s Hollywood Career Takes Off
Field ended up booking the role in Stay Hungry, which came out in 1976. She starred in the movie alongside Jeff Bridges and then-newcomer Arnold Schwarzenegger. Field concluded by saying that this role “was the beginning of the change” when it came to her Hollywood career.
The same year that Stay Hungry was released, Field won an Emmy for the miniseries Sybil. This led to her film career truly taking off with incredible performances in movies like Smokey and the Bandit, Norma Rae, Places in the Heart and more.
Decades later, Field has two Oscars, two Emmys and a Tony nomination to her name. Though she’s turning 80 later this year, Field has no intention of slowing down. Instead, she’s still looking to the future.
“[Acting] is what I do,” she simply said. “I’m supposed to go into rehearsals for a play at the end of summer. I still have my head down, and I’m always hoping to get better.”
It’s amazing how one small move from someone like Nicholson can change an actress like Field’s life forever. In the end, we’re glad that Nicholson helped Field get her big break, because the world of movies wouldn’t be the same without her!