After over five decades in Hollywood and two Oscar wins, it’s hard to think of Sally Field as anything other than a movie star. But at a recent event, she said that she was actually told that she wasn’t “pretty enough” to be a movie star in the ‘60s.
Field first broke into Hollywood on TV, starring in Gidget and The Flying Nun. After those shows wrapped at the end of the ‘60s, Field tried to break into movies, but her agent was sceptical about her chances.
“When I decided I needed to back out of TV altogether, I told him, 'I'm not going do any more TV' and he said, 'Well that's ridiculous,’” Field recalled at the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston Thursday, reports People. “‘You can't do that, you can't get into film. You're not pretty enough. You're not good enough.’”
Field then fired the agent. “And at the same time, I also left my husband because he was like, 'Well, what will we do? We don't have any money,’” she said. “And I said, 'Well get out.’”
Field’s new movie is Hello, My Name Is Doris, which premiered at SXSW last month. The film stars Field as the title character, who becomes obsessed with a younger man, played by New Girl’s Max Greenfield.
While at the event in Boston, Field also discussed her son, Sam, 27, who is openly gay. “It wasn't until he was about 21 or 22 that he sat and cried and cried and cried and said he was gay and said, 'What'll I do? What'll I do? I won't have a family, I won't have the dreams that I want,’ and I said, 'Yes you will!'” Field said.
Field has Oscars for Norma Rae and Places in the Heart She finally earned another Oscar nomination for her supporting role in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.
image by Daniel S Levine