Sally Field Says Robin Williams Was ‘Sensitive’ & ‘Intuitive’
Sally Field recently opened up about a tough time in her life and how the late Robin Williams helped her get through it. When they were filming the iconic ’90s film Mrs. Doubtfire, Field’s father passed away. At the time, she didn’t want to disrupt production because it was a personal matter, so she just tried to keep working as usual. However, she said that Williams could tell something was wrong and got it worked out so she could get some time off.
Field explained, “I never shared this story before. 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. 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.’”
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
She continued, “I was of course beside myself. I 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 OK?'” She told Williams that her father died, and he made it his mission to get her off the set. Williams worked with the director Chris Columbus to shoot around her for the day so she could go home and make arrangements, adding “It’s a side of Robin that people rarely knew: He was very sensitive and intuitive.”
Remind Sadly, Williams died 10 years ago on Aug. 11, 2014, but before that, he changed the lives of so many of his costars and fans. Not only did he share his gift with the world and make some incredible movies, but he was also known for being a loving friend on set.
Everett Collection
One of his other costars, Lisa Jakub, who was a teenager during the filming of Mrs. Doubtfire, said that he helped her deal with mental health struggles. She shared, “He would talk to me about his struggles and the things that he went through. And it was the first time that I felt like, ‘Oh, I’m not a freak. I don’t have to hide this about myself. This is just something that some of us have to deal with.'”
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Williams also helped her when she was kicked out of school for taking time off to film the movie. She said, “The amazing thing was Robin saw that I was upset — he asked me what was going on. He wrote a letter to my principal saying that he wanted them to rethink this decision and that I was just trying to pursue my education and career at the same time, and could they please support me in this. The principal got the letter, framed the letter, put it up in the office and didn’t ask me to come back. Amazing.”
February 2021
1990s Rom-Coms
Pop some popcorn and cozy up to feel-good movies and TV shows from a generation ago.
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