‘It’s been nearly 12 years since the comedic legend Robin Williams passed away, but he is still missed by millions of fans to this day. He left behind many movies that continue to make audiences everywhere laugh.
One of Williams’ most beloved movies is Mrs. Doubtfire, which he starred in alongside Sally Field back in 1993. In a new interview, Field is revealing what it was really like to work with Williams on the set of this film.
Williams Couldn’t Make Field Laugh
While appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night, Field said that she was the only person who Williams could not make laugh on the set of Mrs. Doubtfire. This didn’t sit well with Williams, who was known for his ability to make everyone crack up. Indeed, Field told host Stephen Colbert that “it drove him mad, actually.”
“Because I would never laugh, ever,” said Field, 79. “And everybody else was laughing and carrying on.”
Colbert responded by asking if Field was too professional for that. However, she fired back by saying that that was not the issue at all.
“It wasn’t funny,” Field said, ironically causing Colbert to burst out laughing. “It just wasn’t funny.”
In fact, it was actually another Mrs. Doubtfire star who was finally able to make Field crack up.
“Robin was always trying something different to make me laugh. It was so unfunny. I can’t begin to tell you,” Field recalled. “And then Pierce — wonderful Pierce Brosnan — we were sitting at a table at the restaurant, and he made a fart noise on his arm. And I was gone. That was it.”
An incredulous Williams responded to this by asking Field, “That’s all it took?!”
Mrs. Doubtfire
This dynamic actually worked out perfectly for the characters that Field and Williams played in Mrs. Doubtfire. They played a married couple, with Williams character of Daniel being someone who never takes anything seriously. This left Field’s character of Miranda, who was a serious businesswoman, feeling like she was always the bad guy to their three children.
When Daniel and Miranda finally split up, Williams’ character goes undercover as an enchanting nanny, Mrs. Doubtfire, so that he can spend more time with his children. Brosnan plays Stuart, who is Miranda’s new suitor. Hilarity ensues, and the movie still holds up to this day.
Mrs. Doubtfire was one of the biggest hits of Williams’ career, making $441 million globally.
Williams’ Touching Gesture Towards Field
Though Williams couldn’t make Field laugh, they were still close on the Mrs. Doubtfire set. Field previously spoke out to reveal the touching thing that Williams did for her on set after she learned that her beloved father had passed away during filming.
“I never shared this story before,” Field told Vanity Fair in 2024. “I was in the camper outside of the courtroom where we were shooting the divorce scene. My father had a stroke a couple of years before, and was in a nursing facility.”
“I got a phone call from the doctor saying my father had passed — a massive stroke,” she continued. “He asked if I wanted them to put him on the resuscitator. I said, ‘No, he did not want that. Just let him go. And please lean down and say, ‘Sally says goodbye.'”
Though Field was understandably devastated, she still headed in for filming as she normally would.
“I was of course beside myself,” Field admitted. She went on to say that she “came on the set trying with all my might to act. I wasn’t crying. Robin came over, pulled me out of the set, and asked, ‘Are you okay?’”
When Field told Williams of her father’s death, he replied, “Oh my God, we need to get you out of here right now.”
“And he made it happen — they shot around me the rest of the day,” Field added. “I could go back to my house, call my brother and make arrangements. It’s a side of Robin that people rarely knew: He was very sensitive and intuitive.”
How sweet is that?!
Williams Passes Away
Williams tragically died by suicide in 2014 at the age of 63. Unbeknownst to him, he was suffering from Lewy Body Dementia at the time.
Field has spoken out in the past about how much she misses Williams. Watch her talk about that in the video below.
Williams was a true legend, and there will never be another one like him. He may not have been able to make Field laugh, but he still won her over in a deeply moving way.
God bless you, Robin Williams, and may you rest in peace.