her portrayal of mary todd lincoln in steven spielberg's "lincoln." the film, of course, also stars daniel day-lewis and tommy lee jones, and so here now, a scene from "lincoln." ♪ >> you think i am ignorant of what you are up to because you have not discussed it with me? when high -- when have i ever been so easily baffled? i believe you when you insisted that amending the constitution and abolishing slavery would end this war. instead, you're sending my son to war. woe unto you if you fail to pass the amendment. >> he does not want me leaving my big, muddy footprints over town. >> no one has ever lived who knows better than you the proper placement on paths. if you fail to acquire the necessary votes, woe unto you, sir. you will answer to me. tavis: all righty then. i'm trying to juxtapose the clip that we just saw with all the high-quality, award-winning work academy award-winning work that you've done, sally field. if the story is true, you fought really hard for this part. so i raise that because they say that for so many of us, life is a perpetu

and career highlights, let's take a look back at some scenes from her terrific performance as mary todd lincoln in the new film, "lincoln." >> we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under god, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. >> we cannot tell our people they can vote yes on abolishing slavery on less, at the same time, we can tell them that we negotiated peace. >> either the amendment or this confederate peace, you cannot have both. >> how many hundreds of thousands have died during your administration? declaring equal those who god created unequal. >> we have stepped out upon the world stage. the fate of human dignity in our hands. now, now, now. >> abraham lincoln has asked us to work with him to accomplish the death of slavery. >> nobody has ever been a loved as much by the people. do not waste that power. >> we fight for the united states of america. >> do we choose to be born? are we fitted into the times we're born into? >> you may be. tavis:

mary todd lincoln. she we are the country on her back. >> she did. she did.t she wasn't invited to a lot of parties either. >> stephen: she wasn't. thank you so much for joining me, sally field.

in the movie "lincoln," was mary todd lincoln portrayed correctly? i think, yes. mary todd lincoln was a fascinating woman. she was flirtatious, loved politics, witty, controversial, but she was also high maintenance, chronically depressed. she loses almost all of her male relatives during the war. she lost her mother when she was a child just like lincoln did. a lot of male relatives fight for the confederacy. the north doesn't trust her because her family were pro-south. the south doesn't trust her, she marries lincoln. she loses three of her four sons in her life, her husband's killed next to her in her arms, you know, who wouldn't, right? she was high maintenance. the movie, i think, depicted that. they had a strange marriage. it was almost like abe and mary couldn't live with one another and couldn't live without one another. animal instincts, yet they fought all the time. they were political confidants, and he did value her opinion. he called her mother, she called him father, he sometimes called her molly. at one moment she'd be offering sage advice, the nex

how much did you learn about mary todd lincoln in that whole period?ng, some things about mary, from a long time ago. as i told you before, i was always tracking mary. the great julie harris told me when i was in my mid-20s, someday i should play mary todd lincoln. and i had always had it in my mind and always tried to read things about her and keep track of if there was a project happening with her. so, i knew something. but then, when i delved in and really researched her, you know, i will -- she will always be embedded in me somewhere. and i have a strong, strong feeling for her. and honestly, all the women who then, even then and now, are just not allowed to come to the table, who have no place to put their brilliance and their contributions. >> well, we are so happy for you. and so happy for us, that this passion project that you thought about for so long time through. congratulations, sally. >> thanks, george. thank you so much. >> great to hear from sally field. the oscars will be live on abc, sunday, february 24th. >>> just ahead, we'll hear fr

and mama gump and mary todd lincoln. thank you so much. >> she's an actress and a great one at that. meanwhile there was a police chase going on in englewood last night. a guy driving a stolen car ran from police for two hours. this is something i have never seen before. this is what i call an interactive television experience. >> there they are all. he is in the wrong lanes of traffic once again. part of this is a familiar pattern we've gotten to see with this guy. he is making his way back off to the left toward l.a.x. and thankfully for the helicopters -- holy -- >> these 3-d tvs are unbelievable. worth every penny. president obama held the final press conference of his first term in office this morning talking mostly about the debt ceiling. he announced if congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling america will go into default on its loans and we might have to say good bye to florida. an economist named paul krugman is supportive of an idea as a stopgap. he is suggesting that the treasury mint a trillion dollar county a

[laughter] >> in the movie lincoln was mary todd lincoln portrayed correctly? i think yes. flirtatious, loved politics politics, a witty, a controversial but also chronically depressed depressed, timing and stand loses almost all male relatives during though war. she lost her mother and the north does not trust her and the south does not trust her. she loses three at a four sons and her husband is killed next to her. she was high maintenance the movie depicted that that they had a strange marriage like they had been married and it could not live with each other or without each other. they were political confidante he called her mother sometimes molly but she would offer it advice but then she would embarrass him in public. i and robert watson in the book is "affairs of state" thank you for your attention at. [applause]

. >> congratulations on the nominee playing mary todd lincoln. i red something about you earlier and it said at the age of 65 you decided that you were going to rewrite the chapters of your life. >> no, i never said that. >> no, i'm not going to rewrite the chapters of my life. no. i wouldn't rewrite anything. my life has been what my life is, and that's who -- that's what informs me as to who i am today. no, i mean, i would want to be able to have other chapters and to continue to have chapters in my life, but i would never want to rewrite any of the chapters of my life. >> tell me this, what does it mean to you when you are honored by the other people in your field, the people you work side by side with every day and who know kind of what it means to have those long hours on the set and all of that? >> well, i have always been so proud to be a member of this tribe, an actor, and i will never not be somewhere inside me sort of tickled every time i get to say, oh, well, i'm an actor. what do you do? i'm an actor. really? what's your profession? i

louis before she moved to washington, d.c., the friends mary todd lincoln the first day of the first and is hired by mary todd lincoln to be her personal seamstress. and there's something about the way this woman, from what i had read, in a short amount i had read about her, her incredible fortitude and strength and the way she was able to survive extraordinary things that really i felt connected to emotionally. >> that was gloria reuben talking about elizabeth keckley. talk about elizabeth keckley to talk about in the book, clarence lusane, in "the black history of the white house." >> what was disturbing to me about "lincoln" is that elizabeth keckley, the butler and the woman associated with bette stephens, their histories were really not there. in some ways, it was the story -- many people who i've spoken to that watched the film came out of the film believing that elizabeth keckley was a maid in the white house. gloria reuben points out, she was an independent businesswoman who had a very clients relationship with me mary lincoln. what is really missing that is important is that

sally field is mary todd lincoln.elen hunt for the sessions, jacki weaver from "silver linings playbook," and anne hathaway, who might be getting the most early oscar buzz for "les mis." >> not just affleck, but catherine biglow and tom hooper shut out the oscars, natalie, will be given out on february 25th. >> thanks. >>> chief correspondent, dave, that is the biggest headline right there. >> ben affleck not getting in for "argo." that movie had so much buzz leading up to this. >> people outraged? >> all over the twitter sphere, but one thing i'm happy for, this actress who's 85, she's been acting for 50 years. the oscars take place on her 86 birthday. it will be a great, special celebration for her. >> dave, thank you. >>> coming up, much more on the oscars. this is "today" on nbc these sweet honey clustery things have fiber? fiber one. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? uh, try the number one! i've never heard of that. [ wife ] it's great. it's a sweet

abraham lincoln saw so much death, losing his mother and three kids and mary todd looked at as bipolarefore bipolar was diagnosed. you see that in the film and how h his life was affected by outside factors and we decided to make the outside factors vampires. >> the movie stretches reality a little bit. you don't actually play abraham lincoln? >> yes, i do, modern technology and cgi, i play bro lincoln. >> you actually play his political consultant. like the james carville. >> i'm the robin to his batman. >> william johnson was actually abraham lincoln's chauffeur. >> he's a real guy. >> he was with abraham lincoln giving the gettysburg address and he died of smallpox and abraham lincoln with his own money had him buried he had wri "william h. johnson, citizen," and i think it was remarkable. he didn't call him caddie or employee, he didn't call him man, he called him citizen -- >> or vampire caddie. >> or vampire slapper in the facer. >> thank you. >> thank you, anthony. [ hudson ] at weight watchers when we look back at what our members have accomplished in the past 50 years, it's pr