Sally Field Describes Loving Burt Reynolds as Both Wonderful and Frightening

Sally Field said loving Burt Reynolds was both wonderful and frightening.

The actress, 79, spoke to People magazine about key moments in her life and career. She was shown a photo of herself with the late actor from the set of their 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit. "It was a very complicated relationship," Field said. "There were parts of Burt that were so wonderful and lovable, and then there were parts that were really frightening, and he was very much like my stepfather. It doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a part of me that loved Burt to pieces, but then I loved my stepfather too."

"That’s the complication of what loving a very complicated person is, especially when you’re a child, because my stepfather was both wonderful and evil," she added. "So, he taught me that love is wonderful and dangerous."

Field and Reynolds met on the Smokey and the Bandit set. Their on-and-off romance lasted five years. Reynolds later married Loni Anderson in 1988; the marriage ended in 1994. He died in 2018 at age 82.

Field has said Reynolds was controlling. Her breaking point came with the script for 1979’s Norma Rae. "It was the beginning of me pulling away when he didn’t want me to do ‘Norma Rae,’" she said. "[He] called her a whore because she had some sexual past, and he threw the script at me because I was standing up. He said, ‘Boy, you’re letting this get the better of you.’ And I said, ‘This is the better of me.’ And I went, and I did meet with [director] Martin Ritt."

"I did the film, but it was the beginning of me finding my legs," Field said. "And I really think the roles that I’ve been lucky enough to have … they changed me. They affected me. They changed who I am. And being Norma at that time was exactly what I needed, because to learn how to stand in her shoes, I could feel my own legs."

Field earned an Oscar nomination for Norma Rae, but Reynolds was not impressed. In Dave Karger’s book 50 Oscar Nights, she recalled wanting to attend the Cannes Film Festival to promote the film before the Academy Awards. Reynolds refused to go with her.

Karger, host of Turner Classic Movies, told Fox News Digital: "I have a hard time understanding what Sally Field told me about how unsupportive Burt Reynolds was. This was at the time when she was receiving all of this acclaim for ‘Norma Rae.’"

"I got the sense in the interview that it all came as a surprise to her," Karger said. "But it also showed her that this was not a relationship that was meant to last. I think she realized that she needed to be with someone who was going to be more fully supportive of every aspect of her life."

Field told Karger that Reynolds said, "You don’t think you’re going to win anything, do you?" He also skipped the 1980 Oscars as her date. "He really was not a nice guy around me then," she said, as quoted in the book.

Karger added: "I can only guess that there were issues of control and jealousy. [He] was uncomfortable with the thought of [Field] reaching the pinnacle of success in the industry. I think it’s really unfortunate that [he] couldn’t have been more supportive publicly and privately."

Field said she "didn’t know what to do" without a date for the 52nd Academy Awards. She went with actor David Steinberg and his then-wife Judy. "David said, ‘Well, for God’s sakes, we’ll take you,’" Field recalled. "He and Judy made it a big celebration. They picked me up in a limousine and had champagne in the car. They made it just wonderful fun."

Field won the best actress Oscar that night. She won a second in 1985 for Places in the Heart. The couple split in 1982, according to reports.

In a 2015 Vanity Fair interview, Reynolds called Field the love of his life. In her 2018 memoir In Pieces, released days after his death, Field wrote: "He was a hugely important part of my life, but for a very short period of my life … I really didn’t speak to him for the last 30 years of his life."

"By the time we met, the weight of his stardom had become a way for Burt to control everyone around him, and from the moment I walked through the door, it was a way to control me," she wrote, as quoted by Vanity Fair. "We were a perfect match of flaws. Blindly, I fell into a rut that had long ago formed in my road, a pre-programmed behavior as if in some past I had pledged a soul-binding commitment to this man."

Field told The New York Times their time together was "confusing and complicated, and not without loving and caring, but really complicated and hurtful to me." The outlet noted their connection was "immediate and intense," but he was controlling and disapproving of parts of her life.

Field said she was glad Reynolds did not live to read her memoir. "This would hurt him," she told the outlet. "I felt glad that he wasn’t going to read it, he wasn’t going to be asked about it, and he wasn’t going to have to defend himself or lash out, which he probably would have. I did not want to hurt him any further."

After Reynolds’ death, Field told The Associated Press: "There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away. They stay alive, even 40 years later. My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy."