Sally Field Reminds Every School Why They Need a Drama Department at 2023 SAG Awards

Sally Field will never forget where she came from.

During the 2023 SAG Awards on Feb. 26, the 76-year-old actress received a standing ovation after Andrew Garfield presented her with the Lifetime Achievement Award. When she accepted her trophy, Sally looked back on her inspiring journey into Hollywood.

"I first found this stage when I was 12 years old in the seventh grade and after that, I never left the drama department," she told the audience inside the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, Calif. "You know, back when schools actually have drama departments."

Field described the magic she felt on stage, calling it "the one place I could be really me."

"When I got off stage, I felt shy and careful and hidden," she said. "I would think and rethink everything before I could say or do anything. But on stage, I never knew what I would say or do. I would surprise myself."

In the fall of 1964, a then-17-year-old Field said her first lines of dialogue as a professional actor.

"I didn't have an agent and I was working under what's called the Taft Hartley law," she said. "A few months later, this show ['Gidget'] was picked up and all of a sudden I was a star of a television series. And I became a member of the Screen Actors Guild."

During her acceptance speech, Field joked about all the characters she has taken on, including Mrs. Doubtfire's employer, Forrest Gump's mother, Abraham Lincoln's wife and Spider Man's aunt.

But when celebrating her career, which has spanned close to 60 years, Field said she never lost a sense of gratitude.

"Acting to me has always been about finding those few precious moments when I feel totally, utterly and sometimes dangerously alive," she said. "There is not a day that I don't feel quietly thrilled to call myself an actor."

Earlier this month, the SAG Awards explained why Field would be the recipient of their annual award. 

"Sally is an amazing actor with an enormous range and an uncanny ability to embody any character," SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said. "She has an enduring career because she is authentic in her performance and always projects likability and humanity—she just connects. That's part of why she has sustained her massive fandom and incredibly rich and layered career."

The recipient of the Life Achievement Award is a well-established performer who has contributed to improving the image of the acting profession and has a history of active involvement in humanitarian and public service endeavors.

Past winners included Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Lily Tomlin. 

Photos: The 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards Red Carpet