Robin Williams’ Mrs. Doubtfire co-star recently shared a heartwarming story about his kindness during a difficult time in her life.
Sally Field, who starred alongside Williams in the 1993 comedy as his character’s ex-wife and mother of their three children, revealed the thoughtful gesture in a recent interview.
A few years prior to the filming of Mrs. Doubtfire, Field’s father had a stroke and was moved to a nursing home.
While on set, Field received a call informing her that her father had suffered another severe stroke.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, which gathered over 20 of Williams’ colleagues to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his passing, Field shared the poignant memory.
She mentioned that it was a story she had ‘never shared before,’ highlighting Williams’ ‘sensitive and intuitive’ nature.
Field recounted: “I was in the camper outside of the courtroom where we were shooting the divorce scene. My father had a stroke a couple of years before, and was in a nursing facility. I got a phone call from the doctor saying my father had passed, a massive stroke.”
“He asked if I wanted them to put him on the resuscitator. I said ‘No, he did not want that. Just let him go. And please lean down and say, ‘Sally says goodbye’.”
Field described feeling ‘beside [herself]’ but still tried to maintain her composure.
“I came on the set trying with all my might to act,” she noted. “I wasn’t crying. Robin came over, pulled me out of the set, and asked, ‘Are you okay?’.”
Despite her attempts to assure him she was fine, Williams persisted, saying he ‘just thought [he’d] ask’.
When Field finally confessed the truth, Williams responded: “Oh my God, we need to get you out [of] here right now.”
“And he made it happen—they shot around me the rest of the day,” Field explained.
“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.”
This compassionate side of Williams was also evident to Mara Wilson, who portrayed his youngest child in Mrs. Doubtfire.
After Wilson lost her mother in 1996, she met Williams again during a table read for the film What Dreams May Come.
She remembered: “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.”
Robin Williams passed away on August 11, 2014, at the age of 63.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact The Compassionate Friends at (877) 969-0010.