Sally Field Says She Was ‘Sort of Numb’ After Winning Her First Best Actress Oscar: ’It Was Almost Too Much’
Sally Field Says She Was ‘Sort of Numb’ After Winning Her First Best Actress Oscar: ’It Was Almost Too Much’
Meredith WilshereSun, May 3, 2026 at 9:58 PM UTC
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Sally Field with her Oscar in 1980Credit: Barbara Rosen/IMAGES/Getty -
Sally Field admitted her transition from TV to film was a struggle in a new interview with Parade
She recalled feeling overwhelmed and “numb” during her first Oscar win for Norma Rae in 1980
"That whole year was almost too much for me to calculate, to put in my head," she said
Sally Field was “numb” when she won her first Oscar.
In an interview with Parade, the 79-year-old actress reflected on the years leading up to the big night. When asked what it was like to hear her name called for the coveted Best Actress award, she admitted, "It's hard to describe how all of that had gone down."
“I worked so hard to get out of television. People wouldn't let me in a room to audition. It was such a battle to even get onto a list," Field explained. "But I told myself that I had the power to change within myself. I had to get better. Sybil was the beginning of the transition."
While 1977's Smokey and the Bandit was her first big box-office hit, she made her dramatic film breakthrough in 1979's Norma Rae, in which she played a Southern textile worker who fights for labor union representation in her factory.
The movie premiered in Cannes and she "had won a lot of awards for it" when the 1980 Academy Awards came around.
Sally Field attends the 57th Academy Awards in 1985.Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
“By the time I got to the Oscars, I was sort of numb. I couldn't feel anything, and it was almost like too much," she shared. "That whole year was almost too much for me to calculate, to put in my head. I really am not good at that part. I'm not good at doing the whole glam stuff."
The movie also starred Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman, Pat Hingle, Barbara Baxley and Gail Strickland.
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Field recounted her time at the 1980 ceremony for the book 50 Oscar Nights, which focused on actors' experiences at the awards show, saying, “I remember I went someplace and had my hair done."
"I don't believe I had anybody do my makeup. In those days, you just did it yourself," she noted.
Sally Field attends the 52nd Academy Awards circa 1980Credit: Barbara Rosen/IMAGES/Getty
Legendary designer Bob Mackie, she added, created her outfit for the night — a white strapless dress with a sheer floral cover. “He offered to do it and he was such a lovely guy," she said.
But, continued Field, “it was a little white suit. And I remember thinking, 'Oh, don't I get a princess dress?' He said he thought I wasn't that fancy. So I put that on.”
While that night marked the first time Field won an Oscar, it was not her last. The actress won the Best Actress award again in 1985 for Places in the Heart, and in her speech, she addressed the mixed emotions she had been feeling while winning five years prior, famously saying, "The first time I didn't feel it, but this time I feel it — and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!"
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