Sybil: The Many Faces of Sally Field

It’s been a very long time since a barely twenty-one-year-old Sally Field soared as the Flying Nun. For years she was defined as a “cute” TV actress, a girl-next-door type, but her determination to be taken seriously sent her to the Actors Studio for intensive training with the noted drama coach, Lee Strasberg. Soon thereafter, she auditioned for a TV movie based on a true-life story that had mesmerized the American public. Sybil was the written account of a young teacher caught in the grip of what was then known as “multiple personality disorder.” (The condition, exceedingly rare, is now called dissociative identity disorder). Sybil, the product of a ghastly upbringing, was apt to morph without warning into one of thirteen alternate personalities. But a kindly therapist managed to help Sybil reintegrate herself into a functioning adult, so the story ultimately ended in triumph.

 Having admired Field’s work as a fairly young actress (1979’s Norma Rae).and a fairly old one (2026’s Remarkably Bright Creatures), I was curious to see her in the role that elevated her into Hollywood superstardom. The two-disc DVD edition of Sybil I got from my local library contains fascinating behind-the-scenes interviews with the film’s screenwriter and others. I was fascinated by the presence of Joanne Woodward, who had won an Oscar for starring as three distinct personalities in a 1957 film on a similar topic, The Three Faces of Eve. In Sybil, Woodward plays not the patient but the warm and nurturing psychiatrist who makes the young woman whole again. Woodward’s explanation of how she came to play this role is a fascinating example of the way Hollywood works. The TV network behind the project was apparently eager to attach a major star to it, maybe someone of the caliber of Audrey Hepburn or Natalie Wood. Woodward, as a close friend of the screenwriter, knew all about the project, and wanted to see it go forward. That’s why she proposed herself as someone with enough credentials to (perhaps) attract a viewing audience. It worked, and she gave a lovely performance.

 But of course a project called Sybil must have a really strong actress in the title role. Screenwriter Stewart Stern remembers seeing a number of young hopefuls parade through the casting office. Eventually lunchtime came and went, and everyone was more than ready to take a break. That’s when Sally Field entered, and to everyone’s total surprise BECAME the character in all her complexity. From that point on, no one else was considered, and Field’s on-screen 1976 triumph won her both an Emmy and the industry’s full respect.  Within three years she won her first Oscar for Norma Rae, and the second one—for Places in the Heart—followed eight years later. Then Steven Spielberg eventually cast her opposite Daniel Day-Lewis as Mary Todd Lincoln, surely no one’s idea of a cute ingenue. (She’s said she DEFINITELY has no desire to play Mrs. Lincoln again via Cole Escola’s outrageous Broadway hit, Oh, Mary!)    

 In reading up, after the fact, on Sybil, I had a bit of a shock. It seems that in a 2011 book called Sybil Exposed, author Debbie Nathan uncovered the fact that the real Sybil—actually named Shirley Mason— later in life admitted to deliberately concocting the multiple  personalities she claimed were taking over her body. This was, apparently, her way of keeping her therapist, Dr. Connie Wilbur, deeply involved in her case. So in a sense, we’ve all been bamboozled, right? I’d love to see Sally Field  next play the real-life Dr. Wilbur, taken in by the masquerade concocted by her patient.