I’m really surprised “The Flying Nun” is getting so many votes in this thread since even though it had a successful run, it nearly brought Sally Field’s career to a dead stop. She lost a lot of choice roles because of that show (e.g., Mattie Ross in the original True Grit) and it took nearly a decade before anyone in Hollywood took her seriously as an actress.
Incidentally, are they still showing “The Flying Nun” in reruns? I haven’t seen it anywhere in years. I would’ve thought Field saved all her money, bought all the episodes of the show, and burned them.
The first thing I thought of is Steel Magnolias, but that’s probably because it was on tv last night. I think her most iconic is Gidget and her best is* Soap Dish*.
I was never a big fan of the Flying Nun or Gidget, so they were never the most iconic role to me. I did enjoy her in Smokey and the Bandit and have never seen Norma Rae.
For me, her iconic moment was in a movie she didn’t star in (or at best was the co-star): Absence of Malice. She had to carry out the 'ruthless (and at times clueless) reporter with a heart of gold who was able to romance Paul Newman and still in the end have you cheering for her.
IMHO, her best acting in a movie that is undervalued.
I clearly don’t have the broad Sally Field base the rest of you have. When I think Sally Field, I think Sassy the Himalayan and then M’Lynn Eatenton and that’s it. I know intellectually that she was the flying nun but I never saw it.
I went to the movies yesterday and saw a preview for her new movie Hello, My Name Is Doris, which got me thinking about her. My first thought was “Mom in Forrest Gump,” followed by “You like me, you really like me,” followed by The Flying Nun/Gidget. Since I was too young to see *The Flying Nun *or Gidget when they originally ran, my first introduction to Sally Field was as The Girl with Something Extra. Like Dustin Hoffman, I think she has had so many iconic roles that there isn’t just one that can be identified with her.
Of course they hit syndication. Not that that negates the fact that I’m old, but they were produced in the '60s and I was watching them in the '80s and '90s.
I’ve never seen a single episode of The Flying Nun, and yet when I read the question that’s immediately what I thought of. I do find it odd that I most identify her with a role I’ve never seen, and I quite liked her in other roles such as Norma Rae, but there you go.
See, that’s symptomatic of how Hollywood treats older women. In 1988, Sally played Tom Hanks’ love interest; six years later, she’s cast as his mother!
Iconic? TFN
Best TV? Gidget
And MeTV carried both Gidget and TFN back to back at least as recently as last year. Still could be carrying them, but I’ve seen all the Gigdets twice so I quit checking. And the show Gidget was much better than the films, even if the films came first.
