Sally Field: Robin Williams Couldn’t Make Me Laugh on Set

Robin Williams could make almost anyone laugh. Sally Field was not almost anyone.

The two-time Oscar winner stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week to promote her upcoming film Remarkably Bright Creatures, and the conversation took a delightful detour into the behind-the-scenes world of Mrs. Doubtfire — specifically, her complete immunity to Williams’ legendary improvisational chaos.

“I would never laugh, ever,” Field told Colbert. “And everybody else was laughing and carrying on.”

Williams, who was notorious for going off-script and watching his scene partners dissolve into giggles, apparently met his match in Field — and it got to him. “It drove him mad, actually,” she said, chuckling at the memory. “It wasn’t funny. It just wasn’t funny.”

She doubled down: “Robin was always trying something different to make me laugh. It was so unfunny. I can’t begin to tell you.”

Pierce Brosnan Did What Robin Williams Couldn’t

Here’s where it gets really good. After an entire production of Williams throwing everything he had at her, it took Pierce Brosnan approximately one fart noise to finish her off.

“We were sitting at a table at the restaurant, and he made a fart noise on his arm,” Field recalled. “And I was gone. That was it. I laughed so hard they had to redo my makeup.”

Brosnan played Stu, Miranda’s new love interest in the film, while Field played Miranda Hillard — the composed, responsible ex-wife to Williams’ chaotic Daniel, who famously disguised himself as an elderly British nanny to stay close to his kids. Knowing that Field was essentially playing a version of herself on set — completely unmoved by Williams’ antics — adds a layer of accidental method acting to the whole thing.

Zelda, Grief, and the Side of Williams Most People Never Saw

Field’s memories of Williams aren’t just comedic. In a separate interview promoting Remarkably Bright Creatures, she revealed that one of her favorite memories from the production was Williams coming to her rented apartment between takes to play The Legend of Zelda together.

“We’d play the early games of Zelda together. Zelda, the computer game, that I still play with my grandsons,” she said. “Even when my grandsons aren’t there, I pretend they are there. I play them.” She even has a Nintendo Switch 2 now to keep the tradition going — and playfully scolded her Remarkably Bright Creatures costar Lewis Pullman when he admitted he’d never played. “What the hell is the matter with you?! It’s so fun,” she laughed.

Williams’ love of Zelda was well-documented — he was such a devotee of the original game when it launched in North America in 1987 that he named his daughter after the franchise’s Princess Zelda. Nintendo later had father and daughter star together in commercials for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. After his death, fans believed they spotted a tribute to Williams in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom through a character named Dayto — though Nintendo has never officially confirmed it.

Field also shared, in a previous interview with Vanity Fair, that her father passed away during the filming of Mrs. Doubtfire. She came to set devastated, trying to hold herself together. Williams noticed immediately. “Robin came over, pulled me out of the set, and asked, ‘Are you OK?’” she recalled. When she told him what had happened, he didn’t hesitate. “Oh my God, we need to get you out of here right now,” he told her — and then made it happen, getting the crew to shoot around her for the rest of the day.

So no, he never made her laugh. But he made her feel seen when it mattered most.

Williams was found dead at his home in Tiburon, California in August 2014 at age 63. Mrs. Doubtfire remains one of the most beloved comedies of the ’90s and a cornerstone of his legacy — right alongside Good Will Hunting, which earned him his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Dead Poets Society, Good Morning, Vietnam, Aladdin, and The Birdcage.

Field stars in Remarkably Bright Creatures alongside Lewis Pullman, who she called “one of the best leading men” she’s ever worked with. Whether he’s made her laugh yet — that part she kept to herself.