Sally Field Recalls How Robin Williams ChangedMrs. DoubtfireFilming Schedule After Her Dad's Sudden Death

Mar. 15, 2025

Robin Williams and Sally Field in Los Angeles on June 22, 2008.Photo:Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Sally Fieldis remembering a touching gesture from herMrs. DoubtfirecostarRobin Williams.

The actress was one of several costars of Williams who spoke withVanity Fairfor a story ahead of the10th anniversary of his deathand revealed that the late actor once prioritized her mental health while they were in the middle of shooting the 1993 family dramedy.

And while she was “of course beside myself,” the two-timeOscarwinner “came on the set trying with all my might to act” and “wasn’t crying.” But Williams could clearly tell something was amiss as he “came over, pulled me out of the set and asked, ‘Are you okay?’ "

Once she told him her father had just died, Williams said, “ ‘Oh my God, we need to get you out [of] here right now.’ ”

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“And he made it happen — they shot around me the rest of the day,” Field recalled. “I could go back to my house, call my brother and make arrangements.”

“It’s a side of Robin that people rarely knew: He was very sensitive and intuitive,” she added.

CostarringPierce BrosnanandHarvey Fierstein,Mrs. Doubtfirefollows voice actor Daniel Hillard (Williams), a devoted father of three to Lydia (Lisa Jakub), Chris (Matthew Lawrence) and Natalie (Mara Wilson) who is struggling to find work and whose personality is at odds with that of his wife, Miranda (Field).

When Miranda asks for a divorce, Daniel goes to great lengths to spend time with their children, eventually donning an elaborate getup to become “Mrs. Doubtfire,” a nanny and housekeeper whom Miranda hires to watch over the kids — before things go haywire.

The cast of the film, which inspired a 2021Broadwaymusical of the same time, has reunited in the past, sharing fond memories of working together and withWilliams, who died in 2014 at age 63.

Matthew Lawrence (left), Lisa Jakub, Robin Williams, Mara Wilson and Sally Field in ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’.Snap/Shutterstock

Snap/Shutterstock

While he had his fair share of dramatic roles, Williams was known for his comedic chops, both on screen and of the stand-up variety. And in real life, he contained multitudes.

“People are always surprised when I tell them that Robin could be very quiet,” Wilson, now 37, toldVanity Fair. “When I was 9, we did a table read ofWhat Dreams May Come, shortly after my mother had died.”

“He came up to me and very gently asked how I was, and how my family was, but didn’t bring up anything that could have been painful. He was just very sweet,” she added.

And despite it being nearly a decade since Williams' own death, Field told the outlet, “I keep thinking of him as ‘is,’ " as opposed to " ‘was.’ "

“He can’t have left; he can’t. He’s still here. I feel him,” she added.

source: people.com