Sally Field shared a heartbreaking memory of her time on the set of “Mrs. Doubtfire” with beloved actor Robin Williams.
The “Steel Magnolias” star’s father, Richard Dryden Field, passed away just moments before she was set to return to the set. Williams, sensing something was wrong, immediately rushed to her rescue.
Field’s Sweet Memory
While filming the beloved family film, “Mrs. Doubtfire,” in San Francisco, Field received a call from the nursing home where her father lived. The former World War II Army officer had suffered a second massive stroke and was not expected to make it.
“I was in San Francisco when I was doing ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’. My real father, who had been ill, and I had put him in a nursing home—he had had a massive stroke at one point. And I got a call while I was in the trailer on the street at the courthouse where the divorce is happening. This is the scene, we’re shooting the divorce,” she explained in a new interview with People.
Field continued, “I got a call from the doctor that my father had another massive stroke. I said, ‘Is he—’ and he said, ‘No, it’s a massive, massive stroke again and his brain is not really functioning. We could keep his heart going.’ And I said, ‘No. But please lean down and tell him that Sally says goodbye.'”
With little time to compose herself or grieve, Field returned to the set to film the pivotal courtroom scene.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my God. This is on me. And my father, we hadn’t been that close, but he was still my father and I was responsible for him.’ I went on the set, and we’re doing the scene about the kids being taken away from the father,” she shared. “It was what happened to my father. I was the divorced child and I’m doing the scene. And Robin at once point pulled me over to the side. He said, ‘Sally.’ I said, ‘Yeah?’ He said, ‘Are you alright?’ I said, ‘Yeah, why?’ He said, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I just wanted to ask.'”
Field recalled that she began to cry before informing her costar of her father’s death.
“Robin turns around and said, ‘That’s it for today, guys. We just wrapped here. We’re done for the day. You can get a few shots of the kids and maybe one of Mrs. Doubtfire, but Ms. Field’s going home.’ And he walked me out and that was Robin,” she shared.
Remembering Robin Williams
The “Good Will Hunting” actor tragically took his own life in August 2014 at his home in Paradise Cay, California.
“He was such a diamond of a soul. I adored him,” she shared of her “wonderful” costar. “He’d also drive you mad because he wouldn’t stop. We’d have to do the scene, we did the scene exactly how it was, it was wonderful, it was done.”
She continued, “He would say, ‘How about this time if I’m crawling through the kitchen window, and then…?’ ‘Robin, why would you be crawling through the kitchen window?'”
Sally Field Remembers How Robin Williams Helped Her Through the Passing of Her Father