Sally Field's 3 Sons: All About Peter, Eli and Sam

Sally Field is the proud mother of her sons: Peter, Eli and Sam.

Over the years, Flying nun the star spoke about her love for her children. Speaking at the Human Rights Campaign’s 2012 annual national dinner, Field said, “The three things I’m most proud of in my life are Peter, Eli and Sam. My sons.”

The Oscar winner added: “They are kind and loving, productive human beings. Each very different from the other.”

Field shares her older sons, Peter and Eli, with her first husband, Steven Craig, and her youngest, Sam, with her second husband, Alan Greisman.

Sally Field’s life in photos

The Forrest Gump the actress was in her early 20s when she became a mom for the first time. Field told PEOPLE in 2023 that she apologized to her older sons for being a “young parent” while also recognizing how they motivated her.

“I had two young children to take care of,” she said, “I didn’t have the luxury of throwing up my hands and saying, ‘Forget the whole acting thing — I’m going to go and open a boutique in Pasadena.’ My children were the fuel.”

Field added, “More than once, they literally picked me up when I was just feeling down.”

Here’s everything you need to know about Sally Field’s sons: Peter, Eli and Sam.

Peter Craig, 55

Peter Craig attends the 95th Annual Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on February 13, 2023. Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock

Field and her then-husband Steven had their first child, son Peter, on November 10, 1969.

“At the very end of the second year [The Flying] a nunbefore the third even started, I was pregnant with my first child,” Field told PEOPLE in 2016, noting that she was focused on “what was going on inside her” at the time.

According to Los Angeles TimesDuring his childhood, Peter was transferred between his mother’s film sets and his father’s commune. When he was 28, Peter confessed Entertainment Weekly that he knew early on that his “mom wasn’t like other moms” and that his father “wasn’t really like other dads.”

Peter said: “In a way, my whole life has been full of extremes.” Part of that lifestyle included events with his mom — in 1982, he accompanied Field to the 8th annual People’s Choice Awards.

Driven by his unique upbringing, Peter became a writer. According to his biography from Hachette Books, he attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and wrote two novels in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Hot plastic and Martini Shot.

Sally Field and sons Sam Greisman and Peter Craig.

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection/Getty

In addition to being a novelist, Field’s firstborn is also a screenwriter. Peter is the co-writer of the 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverickwhich earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the co-author of the script for 2022 Batman and the 2010s City.

Field supports Peter’s career, and he said Entertainment Weekly 1998 that “being the son of a famous person is a strange and difficult thing, and I think [writing] maybe that’s the best way to handle it.”

Peter is also a parent: he shares two daughters with ex-wife Amy Scattergood and a son with ex-wife Jennifer DeFrancisco.

Speaking to Oprah Winfrey in 2008, Field said, “My oldest son is a wonderfully loving parent to his two little girls. When I look at him with them, I think, ‘Boy, I wish I had that comfort.’ ”

The actress added: “They will have no problem knowing how to love or be loved. Raising children who will become great parents is an achievement – it’s an Oscar moment in life.”

Eli Craig, 52

Sally Field, her son Eli Craig and her grandson at her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in California. Eric Charbonneau/Shutterstock

Field and Steven celebrated the arrival of their second child together, son Elio, on May 25, 1972.

Similar to his older brother’s career, Eli is a writer and director who worked on films in 2017. A little evil starring Adam Scott and Evangeline Lilly. He also directed Tucker & Dale vs. Evil and an episode of his mom’s show Brothers & Sisters.

Eli married his wife Sasha, who played the Yellow Ranger Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, in 2004. They are the parents of two sons.

Field told Winfrey in 2008 that her son Eli would say she “was a good, loving mom” but that she didn’t “do a lot of things well.”

The Sybil star explained: “It’s true; when he was growing up, he told me I didn’t discipline him enough. Can you believe it? I said, ‘I wish you’d try to discipline the boy you were. You were absolutely unstoppable!’ ”

Sam Greisman, 36

Sally Field with her son Sam Greisman at the 2017 Actors Fund Gala Walter McBride/WireImage

Sam, who was born on December 2, 1987, is Field’s first and only child with second husband Alan.

Mother and son have a strong bond. Field’s youngest wrote a personal essay for PEOPLE in 2023 about his experience coming out to his mother as gay and revealing more about their dynamic.

“I’ve always been a mama’s boy – painfully, occasionally shamefully. Maybe too obsessed with her,” Sam wrote. “Maybe because I’m the youngest, at sixteen. Maybe because I was a little shy kid and my mom was the safe place; the hip I was attached to.”

He added: “Maybe it’s because gay men feel a certain undeniable affection for award-winning actresses. Who knows! Whatever it is, we’ve always been incredibly close.”

Sam said he grew up “so connected” to his mother and can trace his life through her career. He remembered their time in California when Field was working Mrs. Doubtfirea toy store in South Carolina where she filmed Forrest Gump and how she moved her schedule because of him in the middle Brothers & Sisters shooting.

Sally Field and her son Sam Greisman pose at the 2017 DKC/O&M Tony After Party on June 11, 2017 in New York City.

Bruce Glikas/Bruce Glikas/Getty

She and her youngest son teamed up in 2019 to support the Equality Act as part of HRC’s Americans for Equality Act campaign. Years earlier, in 2012, Field received the Ally for Equality Award, and Sam presented her at the ceremony.

“When I came out, she didn’t bat an eye. In fact, she was overjoyed,” he said from the podium. “Being gay was just another thing she loved about me. She couldn’t have been more supportive of me, if anything, I wish she’d been a little less supportive.”

Field memorably tried to set Sam up with his “Olympic crush” Adam Rippon in 2018.

In her remarks at the event, Field said: “He was always, always Sam. Magnificent, smart, funny, sweet Sam. And finally at 20, long after he’d beaten his brothers at tennis and knew more than anyone about basketball, at 20 he could finally stand up proudly and say: ‘I am a gay man.’ ”

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