Sally Field knew the moment that Burt Reynolds wasn’t The One.
The actress scored an Oscar nomination for her role in the 1979 film “Norma Rae,” but her famous boyfriend wasn’t impressed. In Dave Karger’s new book, “50 Oscar Nights,” the 77-year-old recalled how she wanted to attend the Cannes Film Festival in support of the film leading up to the Academy Awards. However, the late actor wasn’t keen on joining her.
“I have a hard time understanding what Sally Field told me about how unsupportive Burt Reynolds was,” the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) host told Fox News Digital. “This was at the time when she was receiving all of this acclaim for ‘Norma Rae.’”
Sally Field admitted that her then-beau, Burt Reynolds, wasn’t supportive after she was nominated for an Oscar. (Getty Images)
“I got the sense in the interview that it all came as a surprise to her,” Karger shared. “But it also showed her that this was not a relationship that was meant to last. I think she realized that she needed to be with someone who was going to be more fully supportive of every aspect of her life.”
For the book, Field told Karger that Reynolds remarked, “You don’t think you’re going to win anything, do you?”
Field said the “Smokey and the Bandit” star also refused to attend the 1980 Oscars as her date.
Director Martin Ritt is accompanied by actress Sally Field and actor Beau Bridges, after the screening of his film “Norma Rae” during the Cannes Film Festival in 1979. (Ralph Gatti/AFP via Getty Images)
“He really was not a nice guy around me then,” she admitted, as quoted in the book.
Karger said that even with Field’s admission, he still wondered why Reynolds couldn’t support the star at the time.
“I can only guess that there were issues of control and jealousy,” he said. “[He] was uncomfortable with the thought of [Field] reaching the pinnacle of success in the industry. I think it’s really unfortunate that [he] couldn’t have been more supportive publicly and privately.”
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Sally Field and Dustin Hoffman show off their Oscars after they won for best actress and best actor at the 52nd Annual Academy Awards. (Getty Images)
Field said she “didn’t know what to do” about not having a date for the 52nd Academy Awards. Ultimately, Field attended the award show with actor David Steinberg and his now-ex-wife, Judy.
“David said, ‘Well, for God’s sakes, we’ll take you,’” Field recalled. “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.”
Field took home the Oscar for best actress that day. She would become a two-time Oscar winner in 1985 for her role in “Places in the Heart.” By then, her romance with Reynolds was over. According to multiple reports, the couple called it quits in 1982.
In 1985, Sally Field won the best actress Oscar for “Places in the Heart.” (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content)
Karger said that to this day, Field’s 1985 Oscar speech is still misquoted. Many believe she said, “You like me. You really, really like me.” What she actually said was, “I can’t deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me.”
Her speech is recognized as one of the most quotable in Oscar history.
“It just stuck,” Karger chuckled. “She never said, ‘You like me, you really like me.’ It was published mistakenly somewhere, and everyone ran with it… I think it’s a little bit unfortunate.”
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Sally Field spoke to Dave Karger for his book “50 Oscar Nights.” (Running Press Adult)
Field and Reynolds met on the set of “Smokey and the Bandit” in 1977. They had a tumultuous on-and-off relationship that lasted for five years. Reynolds went on to marry Loni Anderson in 1988. The marriage ended in 1994.
The actor died in 2018 at age 82.
“There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away,” Field told The Associated Press at the time of his death.
Burt Reynolds died in 2018. He was 82. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
“They stay alive, even 40 years later. My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy.”
In a 2015 interview with Vanity Fair, Reynolds told the magazine that Field was the “love of my life.”
In her 2018 memoir “In Pieces,” which came out days after Reynolds’ death, Field admitted he “was a hugely important part of my life but for a very short period of my life… I really didn’t speak to him for the last 30 years of his life.”
Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in the film “Smokey and the Bandit.” (Getty Images)
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She also alleged that Reynolds was controlling during their time together.
“By the time we met, the weight of his stardom had become a way for Burt to control everyone around him, and from the moment I walked through the door, it was a way to control me,” Field wrote, as quoted by Vanity Fair.
“We were a perfect match of flaws,” she wrote. “Blindly, I fell into a rut that had long ago formed in my road, a pre-programmed behavior as if in some past I had pledged a soul-binding commitment to this man.”
In her memoir, Sally Field alleged Burt Reynolds was controlling. (Warner Brothers)
Field told The New York Times that her time with Reynolds was “confusing and complicated, and not without loving and caring, but really complicated and hurtful to me.” The outlet noted that in her book, she characterized their connection as “immediate and intense” but he was also “controlling of her.” Field alleged he was uninterested and disapproving about certain aspects of her life.
Field admitted to the outlet that she was thankful Reynolds wasn’t around to read her memoir.
“This would hurt him,” she said. “I felt glad that he wasn’t going to read it, he wasn’t going to be asked about it, and he wasn’t going to have to defend himself or lash out, which he probably would have. I did not want to hurt him any further.”
SALLY FIELD SPILLS WORST ON-SCREEN KISSER WAS LONGTIME BOYFRIEND BURT REYNOLDS: ‘A LOT OF DROOLING’
Sally Field admitted Burt Reynolds was her least favorite on-screen kisser. (Michael Buckner/Variety)
In December 2022, Field appeared on “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen” where she admitted that Reynolds was her least favorite on-screen kisser.
“It was just not something he did very well,” said Field. “It was just a lot of drooling.”
Fox News Digital’s Janelle Ash contributed to this report.
