Sally Field has revealed that one of her most famous co-stars was nearly impossible for her to understand.
The 79-year-old actress said that while filming 1967’s The Way West, she often had no idea what Robert Mitchum was saying. Field, whose son recently spoke publicly about his sexuality, recalled being baffled by the screen legend’s speech during production.
‘Mitchum would sit with me, and I never could understand a single word he said,’ she said while appearing on the Talking Pictures podcast last week.
The Oscar winner explained that she simply could not make sense of his words. “I didn’t know what he was saying! I don’t know if he was stoned or what, but I couldn’t string two words together,” she said, adding that she would often nod along, laugh, and act as though she understood him.
Even so, Field said she was able to pick up on his tone and came away feeling that Mitchum was, in his own way, welcoming toward her.
“He was good to me,” the Mrs. Doubtfire star added.
Sally Field has named the famous co-star whose speech she could not understand; pictured in April 2026
Field’s first movie credit was for the role of Mercy McBee in the 1967 western The Way West; pictured in May
The Way West marked Field’s first feature film role, and she remembered feeling intimidated by the more seasoned cast around her, including Mitchum, Richard Widmark, and Kirk Douglas.
She managed to make out one particular message from Mitchum, which was, ‘You know, you’re one of us.’
‘And I went, “Well, okay,”‘ she Field told podcast host Ben Mankiewicz.
And she confessed she ‘didn’t really know’ what her co-star’s comment meant.
‘It certainly wasn’t overly sentimental or overly flattering. It just was a fact,’ she mused.
She emphasized, ‘He said, “You know what, you’re one of us.” And I just said thank you.’
It took 20 years for Mitchum’s statement to click for the actress in a full-circle moment.
‘In the early 80s, I had to join a table at the People’s Choice Awards. And I went to sit down at this table, and Mitchum was across the table,’ she recounted. ‘He was still alive – older, obviously – and he stood up, and we looked at each other, and he said, “I told you so.”‘
The 79-year-old actress admitted she never knew what Robert Mitchum was saying when they were filming 1967’s The Way West. ‘Mitchum would sit with me, and I never could understand a single word he said,’ she said while appearing on the Talking Pictures podcast last week
Despite struggling to comprehend him, Field said she understood the tone behind his words and felt ‘that he was somehow accepting of me’
Mitchum was around 50-years-old in The Way West, and the actor passed away in 1997 at age 79.
‘He was a wonderful, wonderful actor,’ Field said fondly of her late co-star, who was 30 years her senior.
In the years after The Way West, she went on to have an illustrious career
She starred in 1979’s Norma Rae, which won her a Best Actress Oscar, and worked with Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton on 1989’s Steel Magnolias.
Field was born in Pasadena, California, and began her career on television, appearing in the comedies Gidget (1965–1966), The Flying Nun (1967–1970), and The Girl with Something Extra (1973–1974).
She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for the NBC television film Sybil (1976).
Her second Best Actress Academy Award win came in 1985 for her role in Places in the Heart.
