Sally Field boasts a trio of Emmys. With her nominated performance as Tova Sullivan in the Netflix adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures — you know, “the octopus book” — she could easily snag a fourth. But statuettes are a lot like being smitten: You never forget your first time.
For Field, that came courtesy of 1976’s Sybil. Not yet 30, the actress transformed herself from goofy TV sweetheart (Gidget, The Flying Nun) into a serious and layered performer by playing a woman suffering from dissociative identity disorder — and the 16 multiple personalities that came with her diagnosis.
Reviewing the telepic at the time, THR‘s Richard Hack wrote that Field “dominates the screen, switching from personality to personality like a sparrow hopping from branch to branch in a maple.” In the end, the two-night NBC special received a total of four Emmys and a nomination for Joanne Woodward, who played the title character’s psychiatrist.
The impact on Field’s career was immediate. She’d be seen on the big screen, riding shotgun with Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit within a year of Sybil premiering. (Field has since won two Oscars, for Norma Rae andPlaces in the Heart.) ButSybil‘s true legacy may be in how it shifted the face of a misunderstood diagnosis from Norman Bates doing mommy cosplay in Psycho to a young actress who was and remains one of the most likable (really!) women in Hollywood.
This story first appeared in a July stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
