Sally Field revealed that when she won an Oscar for best actress in 1980, her then-boyfriend, Burt Reynolds, refused to attend the ceremony with her.
Field, 77, was nominated for her role in Norma Rae, which also earned her a Golden Globe Award. In the new book, 50 Oscar Nights, to be published Tuesday, January 23, Field claimed that Reynolds was “not happy” about the publicity she was receiving, according to People.
“He really was not a nice guy around me then,” the actress said, adding that Reynolds “was not going to go” with her to the Academy Awards.
Field and Reynolds, who died from a heart attack in 2018 at age 82, were in a relationship from 1977 to 1980. Following their 1980 breakup, they continued to date on and off before splitting permanently in 1982.
In 1979, Field also received a best actress nomination for Norma Rae at the Cannes Film Festival. She won that award, but Reynolds allegedly was not supportive of her success.
“He did not want me to go to Cannes at all,” Field said in the book. “He said, ‘You don’t think you’re going to win anything, do you?’”
One year later, when Field was nominated for an Academy Award, she faced the dilemma of who to attend the ceremony with after Reynolds made it clear he was not going with her. Fortunately, comedian David Steinberg and his then-wife, Judy Marcione, offered to attend the Oscars with her.
“He and Judy made it a big celebration,” Field recalled. “They picked me up in a limousine and had champagne in the car. They made it just wonderful fun.”
Field met Reynolds while filming Smokey and the Bandit in 1977. They starred together in three more films: The End in 1978, Hooper in 1979, and Smokey and the Bandit II in 1980.
In her 2018 memoir, In Pieces, Field wrote that Reynolds was domineering in their relationship, “teaching me what was allowed and what was not.” He was also very jealous of men that she was previously involved with.
“I knew early on never to mention the men who had been in my life, and later became terrified of running into somebody I might have known, whether sexually or not,” she continued. “Burt would pinch my face in his hands, demanding I tell him who the guy was and what kind of relationship I’d had with him.”
During a September 2018 appearance on The View, Field said that she had very little contact with Reynolds after their split.
“He was a hugely important part of my life but for a very short period of my life,” she said. “I really didn’t speak to him for the last 30 years of his life.”
