Sally Field claims ex Burt Reynolds refused to attend 1980 Oscars because of her success: ‘Not a nice guy’
Sally Field claims ex Burt Reynolds was jealous of her movie stardom back in the day.
The two-time Oscar-winning actress reveals in the upcoming book, “50 Oscar Nights,” via People, that Reynolds, her boyfriend at the time, couldn’t handle the buzz she was receiving for her breakout performance in 1979’s “Norma Rae.”
When Field, 77, wanted to go to the Cannes Film Festival in support of the film, she says he pooh-poohed the planned trip.
“He said, ‘You don’t think you’re going to win anything, do you?'” she recalled.
Reynolds continued the childish behavior.
“He really was not a nice guy around me then,” she added, claiming he even refused to accompany her to the 52nd Academy Awards ceremony.
Field “didn’t know what to do” about not having a date to the ceremony, she shared. The “Steel Magnolias” star ended up going with actor and comedian David Steinberg and his then-wife, Judy.
“Then David said, ‘Well, for God’s sakes, we’ll take you.’ He and Judy made it a big celebration. They picked me up in a limousine and had champagne in the car. They made it just wonderful fun.”
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The actress won the Oscar for Best Actress and then again in 1985 for “Places in the Heart.”
She and Reynolds dated off and on for five years in the late ’70s and early ’80s after meeting on “Smokey and the Bandit,” the first of four movies in which they co-starred.
It’s not the first time Field has criticized the actor, who died in 2018 at age 82.
During a 2022 appearance on “Watch What Happens Live,” she said he was a lousy kisser.
“It was just not something he really did very well,” the “Mrs. Doubtfire” star admitted before explaining that “a lot of drooling was involved.”
The “Deliverance” star always maintained that Field was a special love, writing in his memoir “But Enough About Me” that he regretted not fighting hard enough for the relationship.
However, Field denied his assertions.
“He was not someone I could be around. He was just not good for me in any way,” she told Variety.
“He had somehow invented in his rethinking of everything that I was more important to him than he had thought, but I wasn’t. He just wanted to have the thing he didn’t have. I just didn’t want to deal with that.”
Following the “Gunsmoke” star’s death, Field did not attend his funeral, but did release a statement.
“There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away. They stay alive, even 40 years later,” the “Amazing Spider-Man” actress told Page Six at the time.
