Sally Field Finally Gets Her Star

Sally Field received the 2,524th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, honoring a nearly 50-year career that has brought her two Academy Awards and three Emmys.

Fellow actors Jane Fonda and Beau Bridges were on hand for the ceremony, which came three days after the release of Field's latest movie, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," in which she reprises her role as Peter Parker's Aunt May.

"I have flown on wires, and surfed in the ocean, and rode on horses, in covered wagons and in fast cars," Field said. "I've worked in mills, and picked cotton, and done stand up. I've done a love scene with a pelican, but then I've also done a love scene with Paul Newman."

Field said does not regret her career choice.

"In these past 50 years, I have never, not once, considered changing my mind," she said.

Fonda praised Field's acting skill.

"She plunges so deep into her characters that she allows us to see new parts of humanity," Fonda said.

Field began her career shortly after graduating from Birmingham High School in the San Fernando Valley in 1964, starring in the ABC comedy "Gidget," which aired during the 1965-66 season. Her next series was the ABC comedy "The Flying Nun," which aired from 1967-70.

Field won her first best actress Oscar in 1980 for her portrayal of a union organizer in "Norma Rae."

Actor Beau Bridges, who played Field's husband in that film, said Field was fearless in her role.

"I think you were the heart and soul of 'Norma Rae,' my dear," Bridges told her.

Field won her second Academy Award five years later for "Places in the Heart," playing a Depression-era Texas widow who tries to save her family farm with the help of a blind white man and a black man.

Field also received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination in 2013 for her portrayal of first lady Mary Todd Lincoln in "Lincoln."

Field's other films include "Forrest Gump," playing the mother of the title character; "Punchline"; "Absence of Malice"; "Steel Magnolias"; "Mrs. Doubtfire"; "Soapdish"; "Not Without My Daughter"; "Stay Hungry"; and four films alongside then-boyfriend Burt Reynold, "Smokey and the Bandit," "The End," "Hooper" and "Smokey and the Bandit II."

Field won an Emmy Award in 1976 for her portrayal of a woman with multiple personality disorder in the NBC miniseries "Sybil."

Her second Emmy -- for outstanding guest actress in a drama series -- came in 2001 for her portrayal of the bipolar mother of a doctor on NBC's "ER." She also received an Emmy nomination for the role in 2003.

Field was named best actress in a drama series in 2007 for playing family matriarch Nora Walker on ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" and also got Emmy nods for the role in each of the next two years.

She received Emmy nominations in 1995 for her work in the NBC miniseries "A Woman of Independent Means," for which she was also was the executive producer, and in 2000 for Showtime's "A Cooler Climate."

Field said she was proud to be part of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which "shows the eclectic, wonderful nature of what Hollywood and show business is."

--City News Service