United Kingdom, June 15 -- Sally Field thought she would "pass out" with nerves before her first date with Burt Reynolds.

The 79-year-old actress got her big break in ABC sitcom Gidget as a teenager, which she followed up with TV movie Sybil, and was amazed when she got a call from the actor to discuss potentially working with him on Smokey and the Bandit, but despite her feeling of anxiety, she agreed to meet with him so they could get to know one another better.

Speaking on TCM's Talking Pictures podcast, she joked: "I got this phone call, and it was from Burt Reynolds, and he wanted me to do this film, and the script was really, really bad, he said. And it was really, really bad.

"I was so shocked that he would call me, and I though...