Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1490579
67 • SAG-AFTR A SPECIAL ISSUE 2023 • sagaftra.org We Really Do! We Like Her! 67 • SAG-AFTR A SPECIAL ISSUE 2023 • sagaftra.org ikability and "Hollywood icon" don't always go hand-in-hand. When it comes to Sally Field, however, one would be hard-pressed to find a peer, colleague or fan who doesn't hold the petite star with the big talent close to their heart. Field's 60-year career is so varied and rich that Baby Boomers who identified with her bubbly, Gidget girl-surfer or haphazard flying nun are equally as adoring as Generation X, who grew up with Smokey and the Bandit and Steel Magnolias, and millennials and Z's who see her as the nurturing mom in Forrest Gump and supportive Aunt May in The Amazing Spider-Man. In short, Sally Field offers something for everyone. For SAG-AFTRA — as a labor union — Field is esteemed not only for her years of dedicated artistry, but for her brilliant, Oscar-winning turn as the titular character in Norma Rae, a working-class mother who puts it all on the line to bring equity and safety to her fellow laborers in a small-town textile mill. Based on a true story, Rae's depiction of what union organizers historically faced when they shed blood, sweat and tears to achieve equity for workers is a powerful and timeless statement. In fact, at SAG-AFTRA's national headquarters in Los Angeles, Field in that courageous role appears as the centerpiece of a large cinematic painting featuring other irrefutable icons and legends (see page 99). SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher sees Field as champion both onscreen and off. "Sally is an amazing actor with an enormous range," said Drescher. "She has an enduring career because she is authentic in her performance and always projects likability and humanity — she just connects … and has never stopped being extraordinary." Born in Pasadena, California, Sally Margaret Field was 12 when she made her acting debut in a junior high school production of Born Yesterday, playing the part of Billie Dawn. "I wasn't good. I knew I wasn't," she wrote in her 2018 New York Times bestselling memoir In Pieces. "It was like Heidi, the little goat girl, had taken a stab at Hedda Gabler."