Sally Field Says She Couldn't Understand This Hollywood Actor on Set: 'I Couldn't String Two Words Together'
Sally Field Says She Couldn't Understand This Hollywood Actor on Set: 'I Couldn't String Two Words Together'
Kimberlee SpeakmanTue, June 16, 2026 at 4:28 PM UTC
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Robert Mitchum smiles as Sally Fields holds her finger to his lips in a scene from the film 'The Way West', 1967Credit: United Artists/Getty -
Sally Field revealed on the Talking Pictures podcast that she struggled to understand Robert Mitchum while filming The Way West in 1967
Despite communication issues, Field said Mitchum "was accepting" of her and later affirmed to her that she belonged in Hollywood
The Way West starred Kirk Douglas as a senator heading west in search of greener pastures
Sally Field had a special dynamic with her The Way West costar Robert Mitchum.
The Flying Nun actress, 79, revealed on the latest episode of the Talking Pictures podcast on June 11 that she had a difficult time understanding Mitchum when they starred together on the 1967 movie about a senator (Kirk Douglas) who heads west for greener pastures.
"Mitchum would sit with me, and I never could understand a single word he said," Field recalled of the late actor who died at the age of 79 in 1997. "I didn't know what he was saying!"
"I don't know if he was stoned or what, but I couldn't string two words together. And I would go, 'Yeah, yeah,' and [laugh] and pretend I understood most of what he said," she jokingly added.
Sally Field in The Way WestCredit: Harold Hecht/United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock
Despite this, the actress shared that she "adored" Mitchum, and while she would only "sometimes" get the "gist" of what he was saying to her, the two were able to build a bond. She said that he felt that he "was accepting of me and he was good to me."
"The only thing that I understood that he said to me — and then I thought, did I understand that right? — he said to me, 'You know, you're one of us,'" Field said. "And I went, 'Well, okay.' "
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Sally Field at Watch What Happens Live with Andy COhenCredit: Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty
The Norma Rae star said she "didn't really know" what he had meant when he said that at the time, noting that "it certainly wasn't overly sentimental or overly flattering," but it "just was a fact."
She said it wouldn't be until decades later that she finally discovered the meaning behind his words after they reunited at an award show.
"In the early '80s, I had to join a table at the People's Choice Award… And I went to sit down at this table, and Mitchum was across the table," she said. "He was still alive — older, obviously — and he stood up, and we looked at each other, and he said, 'I told you so.' "
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Podcast host Ben Mankiewicz chimed in, saying that Mitchum's words were "literally the best thing you could say" and even better than "you're great."
"This is a community, and you're in it. You belong here," he said, to which Field agreed, "Yeah."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
