In Pieces

Field’s second TV show, The Flying Nun, aired from 1967 to 1970. In this situational comedy, Fields starred as Sister Bertrille, a nun who could fly. Field recounts how the production studio Screen Gems courted her for the role and had created the part specifically for her, but she turned it down repeatedly since she didn’t like the part. She changed her mind when her stepfather, Jocko, urged her to accept it, insisting that if she did not, she might never work as an actor again. Field portrays her decision as a regrettable, fear-based choice she made because of Jocko’s intervention.

Her passages about The Flying Nun highlight the boredom she felt working on the formulaic, superficial show. She admits, “The most difficult task of all was simply getting through the day, every day […] At the time, all I could see was this character, a one-dimensional girl whom I was embarrassed to be playing, and an endless string of days in which I was powerlessly trapped inside her” (264).

Sybil was Field’s first TV movie, in which she starred as Sybil, a young woman with a mental illness that presented as multiple personalities. Field describes her excitement to play such a complex role: “This was it. The fact that it was a television project didn’t matter. I had worked my whole life—lived my whole life—to play this role, and as I read the two-part screenplay, my hands shook. I knew her. She belonged to me” (420).

Field’s role as Sybil allowed her to use her method acting training from the Actors Studio and proved to audiences and industry professionals that she was a capable dramatic performer. She recalls how her critically acclaimed performance helped undo years of typecasting after her roles in Gidget and The Flying Nun. Field recalls her surprise and delight that Sybil touched audiences deeply and contributed to new discourse on child abuse and mental health: “The response in the country was enormous and impossible for me to wrap my brain around […] I got letters, not only from fans but from doctors, psychiatrists, and social workers and from the people who were struggling to pull their fragmented selves together, to heal” (467-68).

In the 1979 film Norma Rae, Sally Field stars as the titular character, Norma Rae Wilson, a factory worker at a cotton mill in Alabama. The film is based on the real-life experiences of Crystal Lee Sutton. Field explains how the film’s director, Marty Ritt, lobbied for her to be cast. The two had a productive collaboration in which Ritt guided Field’s performance but also allowed her to make her own creative choices.

Field recalls how playing Norma Rae became a source of inspiration to her. Her character’s confidence and ability to stand up for her rights prompted Field to overcome some of her own self-doubt: “When she found her voice, I found mine. By standing in Norma’s shoes, I felt my own feet. If I could play her, I could be me” (510).