Academy Award Winner Sally Field Steps Out for Rare Public Appearance Near Los Angeles Home

Academy Award winner Sally Field stepped out for a rare public appearance near her Los Angeles home on Wednesday, September 4. 

Sally, 77, was photographed walking her dog Dash in her Malibu neighborhood. The Brothers and Sisters alum kept it casual as she donned a pair of cropped white pants and a blue and white striped button down over a navy blue T-shirt. She protected her skin with a blue wide brimmed sun hat. 

The beloved Hollywood star has largely remained out of the public eye in recent years, but is reportedly in talks to star in Remarkably Bright Creatures, a film adaptation of the Shelby Van Pelt novel on Netflix.

Despite leading a quieter life with her children and grandchildren, Sally is easily recognizable for her roles in such television series as Gidget, The Flying Nun and The Girl with Something Extra. The California native transitioned into film in 1962’s Moon Pilot and later took on leading roles in such films as Smokey and the Bandit, Steel Magnolias, Mrs. Doubtfire and Forrest Gump. 

Her career continued well into the new millennium with a recurring role on NBC’s ER, for which she won an Emmy. She also played the Walker family matriarch in ABC’s Brothers and Sisters for the series’ five seasons, and portrayed Mary Todd Lincoln in 2012’s Lincoln.

“As an actor, she dared this town to typecast her, and then simply broke through every dogmatic barrier to find her own way — not to stardom, which I imagine she’d decry, but to great roles in great films and television,” director Steven Spielberg said of the starlet. “Through her consistently good taste and feisty persistence, she has survived our ever-changing culture, stood the test of time and earned this singular place in history.” 

Sally has many accolades to her name, including two Academy Awards for Best Actress. “I really wasn’t there in my body. I didn’t exist. It was so overwhelming,” she said of winning her first Oscar for her role in 1980’s Norma Rae. “I don’t know that I actually allowed any of it to sink in and feel it. All of that time onstage or hearing my name … I was on some autopilot just to make it through.”

Her iconic line from her acceptance speech is often misquoted as “You like me. You really, really like me,” which Sally said makes her “want to punch them in the nose.”

“To me, what mattered was for that one moment in time I did it. I did it. I landed it, and I thanked them for feeling it. A lot of people didn’t have a clue of what they were talking about,” she told Variety in 2022. “They didn’t know what it is to be a performer and have your nose and your ears and your legs out there to be ridiculed and criticized. They don’t know what that feels like. They’re not in the arena. They’re handing out the deodorant in the stands.”