Betty Field (February 8, 1916 – September 13, 1973) was an American film and stage actress.
Early years
Field was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to George and Katharine (née Lynch) Field. She began acting before she reached age 15, and went into stock theater immediately after graduating from high school. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
Stage
Field began her acting career in 1934 on the London stage
Her final stage performances were in three productions at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1971.
Field's role as Curly's wife, Mae, the sole female character in Of Mice and Men (1939) established her as a dramatic actress. She starred opposite John Wayne in the 1941 movie The Shepherd of the Hills. Field played a supporting, yet significant role as Cassandra Tower in Kings Row (1942).
A life member of The Actors Studio, Field preferred performing on Broadway and appeared in Elmer Rice's Dream Girl and Jean Anouilh's The Waltz of the Toreadors, but returned to Hollywood regularly, appearing in Flesh and Fantasy (1943), The Southerner (1945), as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (1949) with Alan Ladd, Picnic (1955) with William Holden and Kim Novak, Bus Stop (1956) with Marilyn Monroe, Peyton Place (1957) (for which she was nominated for a Laurel Award), Hound-Dog Man (1959) with Carol Lynley and Stuart Whitman, Butterfield 8 (1960) with Elizabeth Taylor, Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) with Burt Lancaster, 7 Women (1966) with Anne Bancroft and How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968) with Dean Martin and Stella Stevens. Her final film role was in Coogan's Bluff with Clint Eastwood and Susan Clark in 1968.
TV and radio
Field made many guest appearances on series television including Route 66, The Untouchables, General Electric Theater, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, The Defenders and several others. Field portrayed Barbara Pearson on the radio series The Aldrich Family. On radio, she also appeared on Old Gold Comedy Theater, Studio One and Suspense.
Personal life
Field's first marriage, to playwright Elmer Rice, ended in divorce in May 1956. The couple had three children, John, Paul, and Judith. John became a lawyer and died in a swimming accident at age 40. Field's second marriage, to Edwin J. Lukas, lasted from 1957 to 1967. Her third marriage, to Raymond Olivere, lasted from 1968 until her death in 1973.
Field died from a cerebral hemorrhage on September 13, 1973, at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts, aged 57. (Another source says she was 55.)