Sketch profiles for Sally Field's quintessential characters. Click EasyEdit to update this page!
(Don't see the EasyEdit button above? You need to log in.) |
|
| 
Character name:
Norma Rae
Appears in:
Norma Rae
Date:
1979
Awards Won:
1979
Oscar
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Cannes Film Festival
Best Actress
LAFCA Award
Best Actress
National Board of Review, USA
Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Best Actress
1980
American Movie Awards
Marquee
Best Actress
Golden Globe
Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA
Best Actress
| | Character back story: Norma Rae is a lively, but dependable, wife and mother in an Alabama mill town. Like her father, her mother and most of her friends, she works at the Henley mill, spinning and weaving cloth as the days go by without much apparent purpose. Her "nothing special" life changes when she and her coworkers meet Reuben, a dedicated, smart-mouthed labor organizer down from New York. After hearing his speech, Norma Rae decides to join the effort to unionize her shop. This causes tension at home when Norma Rae's husband, Sonny, assumes that her activism is a result of a romance between herself and Reuben. A few days after Reuben is soon chased out of town, Norma Rae shuts down her machine and stands on top of it striking. Soon the whole factory is with her and a union starts. | | Inspiration for character: Sally Field researched her role by working in a factory. | | Age/Occupation: Mill Worker | | Personality type: Dependable/Courageous | | Resides: Alabama | | Character connections: Sally Field and her character, Norma Rae, were both young mothers at the time. | Fun facts/trivia:
The movie is based on a true life union organizing campaign at J.P. Stevens Mill. The real life Norma Rae is named Crystal Lee Sutton. It took 10 years to get a union contract at J.P. Stevens after the workers won the election.
In the scene where Norma Rae is fighting against being put into the police car, Sally Field struggled so hard that she actually broke the rib of an actor playing one of the policemen.
|
| | Character Quotes & Catchphrases | - Norma Rae: "Forget it! I'm stayin' right where I am. It's gonna take you and the police department and the fire department and the National Guard to get me outta here!"
- Norma Rae: Reuben, you need yourself a woman.
Reuben : Funny you should mention it- tonight's the night.
Norma Rae: My my, what would Dorothy say?
Reuben : Wear a rubber.
|
|
Character name:
Edna Spalding
Appears in:
Places in the Heart
Date:
1984
Awards Won:
1985
Oscar
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Golden Globe
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
| | Character back story: Edna Spalding finds herself alone and broke on a small farm in the midst of the Great Depression when her husband the Sheriff is killed in an accident. A wandering black man, Moses, helps her to plant cotton to try and keep her farm and her kids together. She also takes on a blind border, Mr. Will, who lost his sight in the first World War. She endures storms and harsh labor to try and make her mortgage payment on time. | | Age/Occupation: Cotton Farmer | | Personality type: Determined | | Signature look: Dresses/Hair always up | | Resides: Waxahachie, Texas | Fun facts/trivia: At the 1985 Academy Awards ceremony Field earned a permanent place in the lexicon of comedy writers, talk show hosts, and impressionists everywhere by reacting to her Oscar with a tearful "You LIKE me! You REALLY LIKE me!"
Tag-line: The story of a woman fighting for her children, for her land, for the greatest dream there is...the future. |
| | Character Quotes & Catchphrase | - Edna Spalding: [seeing her daughter's doll at the dinner table] Possum, put that up now.
Royce Spalding: Our Heavenly Father, bless this meal and all those who are about to receive it. Make us thankful for Your generous bounty, and Your unceasing love. Please remind us, in these hard times, to be grateful for what we have been given, and not to ask for what we can not have. And make us mindful of those less fortunate among us, as we sit at this table with all of Thy bounty. Amen.
- Sally Field (upon accepting her 1985 Best Actress Oscar for Places in the Heart): This means so much more to me this time, I don't know why. I think the first time I hardly felt it because it was all too new. But I want to say 'thank you' to you. I haven't had an orthodox career. And I've wanted more than anything to have your respect. 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. Thank you.
|
|
Character name:
Sybil Dorsett
Appears in:
Sybil
Date(s):
1976
Award(s):
1977 ~ Win
Emmy
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special
2006 ~ Nominated
TV Land Award
Blockbuster Movie of the Week
| Character back story: Sybil Dorsett is a shy young graduate student, suffering from dissociative identity disorder as a result of the psychological trauma she suffered as a child. With the help of her psychiatrist, Sybil gradually recalls the harrowing childhood abuse that led to the development of 13 different personalities, including some
which made her appear psychotic, and even one that made her want to kill herself. | | Age/Occupation: Early 20's/Teacher | Personality type: Disturbed
Multiple Personality Disorder | | Signature look: Pale/Timid | | Resides: New York | Fun facts/trivia: Based on actual events.
Flora Rheta Schreiber wrote the book, Sybil, in 1973 about a woman named Shirley Ardell Mason, who is referred to in the book by the pseudonym Sybil Dorsett. Mason was born on January 25, 1923 in Dodge Center, Minnesota. Her story is the most famous case of multiple personality disorder
(dissociative identity disorder) on record. A movie was also made in 1976 based on the book, starring Sally Field in the title role and Joanne Woodward as her therapist, Dr. Cornelia B. Wilbur. In 2007 the film was remade starring Tammy Blanchard as Sybil and Jessica Lange as Dr. Wilbur. It was released on CBS television in June 2008. |
| | Character Quotes & Catchphrases | - Sybil Dorsett: Who dat?
Richard J. Loomis: Who dat who say who dat?
Sybil Dorsett: Who dat who say who dat who say who dat?
- Sybil Dorsett: Curiosity killed the cat, so don't wonder.
- Sybil Dorsett: [singing] In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it. I'll be the grandest fellow in the Easter parade. Fifth avenue... uh-ah, uh-ah. Fifth avenue... uh-ah, uh-ah...
[slumps down and begins crying like a child]
Dr. Cornelia Wilbur: Vanessa, what's the matter?
Sybil Dorsett: [in a child's voice] I'm NOT Vanessa!
Dr. Cornelia Wilbur: I'm sorry Peggy but you popped out so fast...
|
| 
Character name: Sister Bertrille
Appears in: The Flying Nun
Date(s): 1967-1970
Award(s):
2004 ~ Nominated
TV Land Award
Favorite "Fish Out of Water"
2005 ~ Win
TV Land Award
Favorite Airborne Character    | | Character back story: Sister Bertrille is a novice nun. Known as Elsie Ethrington in her civilian life, Elsie became Sister Bertrille and devoted herself to a new life in the Catholic Church helping others. She was assigned to a small hilltop convent near the town of San Juan, Puerto Rico which is run by the Sisters of San Tanco. During Sister Bertrille's stay in this beautiful tropical environment, she earned the nickname of "The Flying Nun." Why? Because, one day, her petite 5' 2" 90 pound body was lifted off the ground by a gust from the trade winds - courtesy of the aerodynamic design of her Order's stiff, starched cornete. Sister Bertrille soon learned to use the wind and her Order's headgear to travel about the town of San Tanco and other destinations. Her gift enables her to aid others, whether they wish it or not. | | Age/Occupation: Early 20's/Nun | | Personality type: Spunky, Spirited, and Warm Hearted | | Signature look: Wide-Winged Cornet | | Resides: San Juan, Puerto Rico | | Character connections: Both in their 20's | Fun facts/trivia: The Flying Nun was inspired by a book titled, "The Fifteenth Pelican".
In one episode, Sister Bertrille is looking at home movies of herself from when she was a teenager. The home movies were actually footage from Sally Field's previous series "Gidget" (1965).
During much of the filming schedule of The Flying Nun's third (final) season, Sally Field was noticeably pregnant with her first child. This was a nightmare for a series in which Field's character was supposed to be a religious celibate, and skinny enough to fly away in the wind. The show solved the problem by using props and scenery to block view of Field's body below the chest, and using long shots of Field's stunt double for the flying sequences.
|
| | Character Quotes & Catchphrases | - Sister Bertrille: Could you please help? I'll give you five percent of the profit!
Carlos Ramirez: Sister Bertrille. Five per cent of nothing is still nothing!!
|
|
|
|
