Photos: Actress Sally Field

In pictures: Actress Sally Field

Sally Field poses for a portrait in 2016.

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Updated 5:21 PM EDT, Fri March 17, 2023

By Brook Joyner and Kyle Almond, CNN

Sally Field, a decorated actress whose career has spanned nearly 60 years, received a Life Achievement Award at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The award is given annually to an actor who upholds the "finest ideals of the acting profession." The past three winners have been Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro and Alan Alda.

"Sally is an amazing actor with an enormous range and an uncanny ability to embody any character," said Fran Drescher, the president of SAG-AFTRA. I joyfully watched her early career when she portrayed Gidget and the Flying Nun and then, in ever more challenging roles, as Sybil and Norma Rae. ...

"She has an enduring career because she is authentic in her performance and always projects likability and humanity — she just connects. That's part of why she has sustained her massive fandom and incredibly rich and layered career."

Field circa 1964. She grew up in Los Angeles and was raised in a show business family. Her mother, Margaret, was also an actress.

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Field appears as the titular character in the television series "Gidget" in 1965. The show was her first starring role. She was adventurous, sassy and charming, and the surfing character was a departure from the mothers and housewives that made up many of the female characters duing the 1950s.

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Field listens to records circa 1965.

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Field attends a film premiere with Steve Craig in 1965. The two were married from 1968 to 1975 and had two children together.

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Field starred as Sister Bertrille in the TV sitcom "The Flying Nun" in 1967.

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Field holds her first son, Peter Craig, in 1969.

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Field exercises on a row machine alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1976. They began training together while working on the film "Stay Hungry."

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Field, bottom, and Joanne Woodward star in the miniseries "Sybil" in 1976. Field won an Emmy Award for her role as a young woman with dissociative identity disorder.

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Field and Burt Reynolds were the lead actors in the 1977 film "Smokey and the Bandit." After meeting on the set, they dated on and off for five years.

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Field plays the titular character in the film "Norma Rae" in 1979. She earned a best actress Oscar for her role as a textile worker turned union organizer.

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Field poses for a portrait circa 1979.

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Field holds the hand of Crystal Lee Sutton at a benefit in 1980. Sutton's life story was the basis for "Norma Rae."

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Field and Paul Newman talk at a news conference for their 1981 film "Absence of Malice."

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Field stars in "Back Roads" in 1981.

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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II greets Field at the London premiere of "Absence of Malice" in 1982.

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Field accepts the Oscar for best actress in 1985. It was her second Academy Award, and she won it for her role in "Places in the Heart." During her speech, she said: "I can't deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me!" The memorable moment is often misquoted today.

From left, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Field, Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts attend the "Steel Magnolias" premiere in 1989.

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Field poses for a portrait while promoting her film "Soapdish" in 1991.

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Field married Alan Greisman in 1984, and the couple had one son together, Sam. They divorced in 1994.

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Field appears on "Sesame Street" in 1992.

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Field stars in "Mrs. Doubtfire" with Matthew Lawrence, Lisa Jakub, Robin Williams and Mara Wilson in 1993.

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Field played the mother of Tom Hanks' "Forrest Gump" in the 1994 film that won the Oscar for best picture.

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Jay Leno shows a photo of Field's "Flying Nun" character on "The Tonight Show" in 1996.

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Field made her directorial debut with the TV movie "The Christmas Tree" in 1996.

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Field and Reese Witherspoon appear in the 2003 film "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde."

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Field attends a rally for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008.

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Field accepts a Screen Actors Guild award for her role in the drama series "Brothers & Sisters" in 2009.

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Birmingham High School in Los Angeles honored Field in 2010 by naming their performing arts center after her. She graduated from the school in 1964.

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Field and Daniel Day-Lewis portray Mary Todd Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln in the 2012 film "Lincoln." Field received many award nominations for her role as the former first lady.

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Field attends the Vanity Fair Oscar Party with her son Sam Greisman in 2013.

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Field was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.

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President Barack Obama presents Field with a National Medal of Arts during a White House ceremony in 2014.

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Field poses for a portrait in 2017.

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Field discusses her memoir "In Pieces" at an event in Philadelphia in 2019. In her book, she wrote that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/09/19/intv-amanpour-sally-field.cnn" target="_blank">she suffered abuse during her childhood</a>.

Field discusses her memoir "In Pieces" at an event in Philadelphia in 2019. In her book, she wrote that she suffered abuse during her childhood.

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Field, front center, is recognized at the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors. Behind her, in the back row from left, are Earth Wind & Fire members Philip Bailey, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson, and "Sesame Street" characters Abby, Big Bird and Elmo. In the front row, from left, are Michael Tilson Thomas, Linda Ronstadt, Field, Joan Ganz Cooney and Dr. Lloyd Morrisett.

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<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/13/entertainment/sally-field-arrested-climate-protests-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">Field is arrested</a> in Washington, DC, during one of Jane Fonda's "Fire Drill Friday" climate protests in 2019. In what she said was an unrehearsed speech, Field urged attendees to get out of their comfort zones and embrace drastic change to protect the environment.

Field is arrested in Washington, DC, during one of Jane Fonda's "Fire Drill Friday" climate protests in 2019. In what she said was an unrehearsed speech, Field urged attendees to get out of their comfort zones and embrace drastic change to protect the environment.

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Field and her "80 for Brady" co-stars attend the film's premiere with NFL legend Tom Brady in January 2023. From left are Rita Moreno, Brady, Field, Lily Tomlin and Fonda.

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Field accepts the life achievement award at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards.

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