Today, Sally Field is among the older celebs who were gorgeous when they were young, but the “Smokey and the Bandit” star said her looks were denigrated in the past. Field recalled early in her career when she told an agent that she wanted to explore acting in movies. “[H]e said, ‘Well that’s ridiculous. You can’t do that, you can’t get into film. You’re not pretty enough. You’re not good enough,'” Field recalled while speaking at the Simmons Leadership Conference, per People. “And I said, ‘You’re fired,'” she added.
In 1976, Field gave a riveting performance as the lead in the TV movie “Sybil” about a troubled woman who developed multiple personalities. While her performance was celebrated, not all the reviews were positive. “‘Sybil’ was coming out, and everyone said, ‘Whoa, the work is extraordinary … but man is Sally Field ugly!'” Field told The Academy of Achievement in 2008.
Field established herself as a film actor by the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s, but she was continually nudged to consider surgery. “After you’re in the spotlight for a long time, people, both men and women, are forever whispering names of surgeons in your ear,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. Field said at the time she did have a cosmetic procedure to fix a sagging eyelid that was caused by injury. Later in her career, she became a shining example of aging in Hollywood without going under the knife.
