The actors played a couple going through a split in the 1993 comedy.

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

The actors played a couple going through a split in the 1993 comedy.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

EW's editorial guidelines

May 7, 2026 1:05 a.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Sally Field on May 3, and Robin Williams in 2013. Credit:

Dominik Bindl/Getty; Ben Gabbe/Getty

- Sally Field says Robin Williams, her costar in the 1993 movie* Mrs. Doubtfire*, was always trying to make her laugh on the set.

- Everyone else was entertained, but Field said she hadn't found Williams' jokes funny.

- The *Steel Magnolias* star ended up laughing at a fart joke from costar Pierce Brosnan.

The late Robin Williams was best known for making people laugh, but apparently not Sally Field, his costar in the 1993 movie *Mrs. Doubtfire.*

Field said she was the only person who wasn't cracking up and even ruining scenes, and "it drove him mad, actually."

"Because I would never laugh, ever," the actress said Wednesday on *The Late Show With Stephen Colbert*. "And everybody else was laughing and carrying on."

Colbert asked if she had been too professional for that, but that wasn't it.

"It wasn't funny," Field said, to which the comedian enjoyed his own chuckle. "It just wasn't funny."

Another costar eventually managed to amuse the *Steel Magnolias *star.

"Robin was always trying something different to make me laugh. It was so unfunny. I can't begin to tell you," Field said. "And then Pierce — wonderful Pierce Brosnan — we were sitting at a table at the restaurant, and he made a fart noise on his arm. And I was gone. That was it."

Williams' response to her breaking up over Brosnan's childish gag: "That's all it took?"

In the comedy, Field portrayed Miranda, the wife of Williams' character, Daniel, who never took anything seriously, so Miranda always felt like the bad guy while raising their three children and maintaining a career.

Robin Williams’ 'Mrs. Doubtfire' improv yielded 2 million feet of film, says director

Matthew Lawrence wants to revive late 'Mrs. Doubtfire' costar Robin Williams with AI

When they split, Daniel went undercover as an enchanting nanny, Mrs. Doubtfire, in order to spend time with the kids, who were played by Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence, and Mara Wilson.

Brosnan appeared as Miranda's slick new suitor, Stuart.

Looking back on his own experience with Williams, Lawrence recalled in 2025 that he had a fantastic time filming with the *Mork & Mindy* alum. In particular, the birthday party scene when Miranda isn't home was "so much fun" to film, Lawrence said during a June 2025 appearance on his *Brotherly Love* podcast.

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

"First of all, they asked me, 'What would you like at your party?' And I said animals. I gave 'em a list of music, and they just made it happen," Lawrence said. "And then Robin's like, 'We're gonna jump on this table.' It was kind of just impromptu, 'We're gonna jump on this table and dance right now,' and I was like, 'Yeah, heck yeah. I wanna dance with Robin right now.'"

*Mrs. Doubtfire* turned out to be a big hit, earning $441 million worldwide at the box office.

Williams went on to make audiences laugh or even cry in Hollywood film classics like *The Birdcage*, *Night at the Museum*, *Death to Smoochy*, and *Good Will Hunting* until his death in 2014.

- Comedy Movies

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Comedy”