Robin Williams Shut Down Set After Sally Field's Father Died

Sally Field received the worst phone call of her life while sitting in a camper on the set of Mrs. Doubtfire in 1993. Her father had just suffered a massive stroke, and a doctor was asking whether she wanted him resuscitated.

Field already knew her father's wishes. She told the doctor no, asked him to say goodbye for her, then hung up and decided she'd film the custody hearing scene anyway.

But when cameras rolled, Field couldn't deliver. She'd gone so numb from grief that she couldn't produce the tears the emotional courtroom scene required. Her face gave her away before she said anything.

Robin Williams noticed immediately. He pulled her aside and asked what was wrong, and when she told him about her father, his response was instant and decisive.

"Oh my God, we need to get you out of here right now," he said. Then he turned to the entire production and announced they were done for the day. "That's it for the day, guys. We're wrapped here."

Williams had director Chris Columbus rework the shooting schedule so they could film around Field. That meant she could go home, call her brother, and make the arrangements a person needs to make when a parent dies.

"It's a side of Robin that people rarely knew," Field told Vanity Fair three decades later. "He was very sensitive and intuitive."

Sunny's Take

This wasn't an isolated act of kindness. Williams operated this way throughout the Mrs. Doubtfire set, especially with people who were quietly struggling.

Nine-year-old Mara Wilson had recently lost her own mother during filming. Williams later checked on her gently at another event, asking about her family without saying anything that might hurt.

Lisa Jakub, who played the eldest daughter, got expelled from high school for taking time off to shoot the movie. Williams wrote her principal a letter asking the school to reconsider and support a student balancing work and education. The principal framed it and hung it in the office.

Jakub also said Williams was one of the first adults to talk honestly with her about mental health. The man who kept noticing other people's pain across a chaotic comedy set and moving to lift it was carrying plenty of his own.

Field kept the story private for a decade. When she finally shared it, she wasn't talking about the tragedy of that phone call but about the man who saw her face and knew.