As with many in the entertainment business, Sally Field had many personal challenges along the way. In her biographical novel, In Pieces, she is very candid about her inadequacies and how they both contributed to and detracted from her successful acting career. She played a 17 year old wholesome teen with the idyllic family life. Her own reality was anything but idyllic.
The shy and anxious little girl who would become a Hollywood and TV star, played every character she was given with everything she had. One of the most moving and emotional of her major works is the made for TV drama, Sybil. She portrayed a schizophrenic of extreme proportions, who like her own reality, had a very tumultuous relationship with her mother. Sybil’s mother was horrendously and violently cruel, performing vile acts against her daughter. Sally Field’s own mother was an alcoholic who was always angry and refused to believe her young daughter that her father was sexually assaulting her. It would seem to make sense that her personal experience would contribute to such a role. Before that serious role of a lifetime, Fields played 17 year old Gidget on TV followed later by The Flying Nun series. Other notable works are Norma Rae, Smokey and the Bandit, Steel Magnolias, Forrest Gump, Lincoln, and the remake of Sybil. She has given each role careful and thoughtful attention. She always receives critic acclaim for her work.
It has been said that Sally Field has written In Pieces with candor and honesty. That is usually a very difficult task for those who are entertainers. They hide behind project roles for much of their life, so when they write about their true selves, it can seem surreal. Those like Sally, who are successful and who speak from a safe height in their career and life, can serve to give guidance to new professionals just beginning. Sally Field hid her shyness and anxiety from the public, but has accomplished much in spite of feeling like her life was at times, In Pieces.
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