Field and Williams played estranged spouses in the 1993 comedy, a fan favorite among his performances.

Sally Field recalls Robin Williams’ kind gesture on *Mrs. Doubtfire *set after her dad died: ‘That was Robin’

Field and Williams played estranged spouses in the 1993 comedy, a fan favorite among his performances.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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May 7, 2026 4:13 p.m. ET

Sally Field at the 'Remarkably Bright Creatures' L.A. premiere in 2026; Robin Williams at the 'Monty Python's Spamalot' Vegas premiere in 2007. Credit:

Michael Buckner/Getty; Ethan Miller/Getty

- Sally Field was thankful for Robin Williams' kind gesture after her dad died while they were making *Mrs. Doubtfire *in San Francisco.

- Williams made sure production wrapped so Field could go home, walking her out of the courthouse where they were filming.

- Field said Williams was "very sensitive and intuitive."

Sally Field was thankful for the thoughtful gesture Robin Williams made on the set of *Mrs. Doubtfire* when tragedy struck.

While filming the beloved 1993 comedy in San Francisco — in which Williams and Field played an estranged husband-and-wife duo going through a divorce — Field's father died. The actress' dad had been sick at the time and she had placed him in a nursing home.

"He'd had a massive stroke at one point, and I got a call when I was in the trailer...on the street at the courthouse, where the divorce is happening," the *Remarkably Bright Creatures* star explained to PEOPLE. "And this is the scene, we're shooting the divorce. And I got a call from the doctor that my father had had another massive stroke."

The doctor told Field that her father's "brain is not really functioning," but that they could "keep his heart going."

"I said no, but please lean down and tell him that Sally says goodbye."

She then went out onto the set and realized "this was on me."

"My father, we hadn't been that close, but he was still my father and I was responsible for him," said the actress.**

Sally Field and Robin Williams in 'Mrs. Doubtfire'.

"I went on the set, and we're doing the scene about the kids being taken away from their father," she said. "It was what happened to my father. I was the divorce child. And I'm doing the scene." (Field's parents got divorced in 1950 when she was a child.)

Field said that at one point, Williams — who died by suicide in 2014 —pulled her over to the side and said, "Sally, are you all right?"

She told her costar she was fine, and he said that he "just wanted to ask."

Field then began to cry.

"My father just died, and I was the one to say, 'Go ahead. Let him die,'" she told Williams at the time.

"And Robin turned around and said, 'That's it for the day, guys. We just wrapped here. We're done for the day. Get a few shots of the kids and maybe one of Mrs. Doubtfire, but Ms. Field's going home.'"

Field said that Williams walked her out. "That was Robin," she concluded.

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Sally Field remembers Robin Williams trying to make her laugh on 'Mrs. Doubtfire': 'It wasn't funny'

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Field previously spoke about the way Williams put her first amid the film shoot, getting her off the set as soon as possible when her dad died.

"I was of course beside myself. I came on the set trying with all my might to act," Field told *Vanity Fair** *in 2024.

Williams escorting Field off set and wrapping production for the day for her was "a side of Robin that people rarely knew," she said. "He was very sensitive and intuitive."**

Sally Field and Robin Williams in 'Mrs. Doubtfire'. Everett Collection

On the red carpet at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild awards, Field told PEOPLE and * *about missing Williams, noting that he "should be growing old like me, for God's sake."

As for any memories from the set of* Mrs. Doubtfire*— where Williams' character disguised himself as an old British woman so he could spend time with their children as a nanny — Field said, "What you think about immediately is Robin."

She continued, "There isn't a moment of it that's not filled with my love and joy of being in his presence. He was everything he seemed to be: generous, loving, sweet, talented man. We all miss him."

*Remarkably Bright Creatures*, starring Field and Lewis Pullman, and based on the novel of the same name by Shelby Van Pelt, will be available to stream on Netflix on Friday, May 8.

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