Those of us who have been around long enough watched Sally Fields grow up on camera. Some of us, in fact, grew up right along with her. The year was 1965 and Sally had become a TV icon by way of her successful portrayal of the irrepressible California teenager, “Gidget,” even though the show lasted only one season. Her youthful appearance and flair for comedy could easily have allowed her to remain stuck in the role of an ingénue for a decade or more, but this serious actress had more serious goals in mind. So after the run of another successful TV comedy hit, this time as  “The Flying Nun,” she began to move on with the caliber of her roles. By 1976 she was playing the title role of “Sybil,” a student with a multiple personality disorder. Eventually she broke into feature motion pictures, and won her first Oscar for her role as a union organizer in “Norma Rae” and then a second for her part as a Southern widow in “Places in the Heart.” Over the years, she also collected a few Emmys and a couple of Golden Globes. 

These days, Sally is hardly resting on her 61-year old laurels. She is seen regularly on TV commercials as spokesperson for Boniva, the once-a-month therapy for osteoporosis, but her goal to be what she considers a “great actor” in the tradition of Katharine Hepburn has perhaps still eluded her. She said to Oprah Winfrey in a recent interview for the March issue of O The Oprah Magazine, “…I’ve always felt like a mutt standing on the sidelines, panting and saying, ‘Me, too! How about me?’ That’s just part of my personality.”

Currently sharing her Malibu home with her mother, Sally is divorced twice and has three grown sons. Her career continues with praiseworthy work, mainly on TV. She won an Emmy most recently for her role as the matriarch Nora Walker on ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters.” Despite her often-ebullient demeanor, she admits to not knowing what happiness is, but she has learned to be at peace with herself. She confided to Oprah that in her late 50s she began to embrace herself in a way she had not been able to do previously. At this stage of her life, the two things that matter most to her are her family and acting.