Sally Field hated the habit. That’s the first thing you need to understand about those iconic The Flying Nun images that still circulate today. While the rest of the world saw a whimsical, gravity-defying Sister Bertrille, Field felt like she was trapped in a career-ending gimmick. She was barely twenty.
It's weird.
Look at any still from the show—which ran on ABC from 1967 to 1970—and you see this impossible physics experiment. A 90-pound woman wearing a cornette with massive, starched wings. The premise was that her "aerodynamic" headgear, combined with a stiff Caribbean breeze, could lift her off the ground. It was ridiculous. It was camp. Honestly, it was peak 1960s television trying to find its footing between the wholesome fifties and the radical seventies.
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The Physics of a Cultural Phenomenon
The show was based on Tere Ríos' 1965 book, The Fifteenth Pelican. But the book didn't have the visual punch that the television production required. When people search for The Flying Nun images today, they aren't usually looking for the book cover; they want that specific shot of Field suspended by invisible wires against a blue-screened San Juan backdrop.
Screen Gems, the production company, spent a fortune on those flying sequences. For the late sixties, the special effects were actually quite ambitious. They used a "traveling matte" process. It wasn't perfect. If you watch the high-definition remasters now, you can see the slight "halo" around the edges of Sister Bertrille’s habit where the film layers didn't quite line up.
Most people don't realize how much physical labor went into those photos. Field was often suspended in a harness for hours. It was painful. She’s gone on record in her memoir, In Pieces, describing the "mindless" nature of the role. She felt the show was a joke compared to the serious "New Hollywood" movement happening at the same time. Yet, the imagery endured. Why? Because it captured a very specific brand of "high-concept" comedy that defined the era, sitting right alongside Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.
Why the Habit Looked the Way it Did
The cornette wasn't just a costume choice; it was the engine of the plot. To make the The Flying Nun images believable to a 1967 audience, the costume designers had to create something that looked like it could catch wind.
- The wingspan was enormous.
- The material had to be rigid enough to stay straight during "flight" but light enough for an actor to wear.
- The white-on-white palette made it pop against the tropical colors of the fictional Convent San Tanco.
The "flying" was explained away with a pseudo-scientific formula involving lift and weight. Sister Bertrille weighed exactly 90 pounds. Any gust of wind over a certain speed, and she was airborne. It was a gimmick, sure, but visually, it worked. The silhouette of the nun in flight is one of the most recognizable outlines in TV history.
The Catholic Church’s Surprising Reaction
You’d think the Vatican would’ve hated it. A flying nun? It sounds like a parody of the faith. But the reality was actually the opposite.
The producers were terrified of offending the Catholic Church. They actually hired theological advisors to review the scripts. They wanted to make sure that while the physics were silly, the faith was respected. In many The Flying Nun images, you see Sister Bertrille interacting with the poor of San Juan or working with the grumpy Reverend Mother Placido, played by Madeleine Sherwood.
The church actually embraced it.
They saw it as "humanizing" nuns. This was the era of Vatican II, a time of massive transition within the Church. Nuns were moving away from the traditional, heavy habits and into the modern world. Having a young, energetic, and literally "uplifting" protagonist on a hit TV show was great PR. It made the convent look like a place of joy rather than a somber, walled-off fortress.
The Contrast of San Tanco
The show was set in Puerto Rico, but almost none of it was filmed there. Most of those sunny The Flying Nun images were captured at the Columbia Ranch in Burbank, California.
The "convent" was actually a modified exterior set that had been used for dozens of other productions. If you look closely at some of the wide shots, you might recognize bits of the neighborhood from Father Knows Best. This artifice is part of the charm. It’s that bright, over-saturated Technicolor look that makes 60s TV feel like a fever dream.
The show relied heavily on the chemistry between Field and Alejandro Rey, who played the local playboy Carlos Ramirez. Their dynamic was... interesting. It was a G-rated, platonic tension that wouldn't happen today. He was the wealthy, secular man-about-town, and she was the innocent, flying sister who constantly ruined his dates by dropping into his backyard or onto his yacht.
Why We Still Look at These Images
Nostalgia is a powerful drug. But it’s more than that. The Flying Nun images represent a moment in media history where the "high concept" sitcom was king.
Before we had gritty reboots or "prestige TV," we had shows that asked the audience to accept one impossible premise and then just run with it. If you can accept a talking horse or a genie in a bottle, you can accept a nun who flies.
There’s also the Sally Field factor.
She eventually broke out of the habit. She won two Oscars. She became a powerhouse. Looking back at her as the flying nun is like looking at a superstar’s high school yearbook photos. You can see the talent, the timing, and the expressive face that would later carry Norma Rae and Places in the Heart. Even when she was "flying," her acting was grounded. She played Sister Bertrille with a sincere earnestness that prevented the show from becoming a total cartoon.
Misconceptions About the Flight
One thing that gets lost in the memes and the old photos is that she didn't have "superpowers."
Sister Bertrille wasn't Superman. She couldn't fly whenever she wanted. She was at the mercy of the wind. This was a crucial plot point in almost every episode. She would get stuck in trees. She would be blown off course. She would land in places she wasn't supposed to be.
The The Flying Nun images usually capture her in a moment of graceful soaring, but the show itself was much more about the clumsy reality of an accidental aviator. It was a comedy of errors. The flight was a burden as much as a gift.
Technical Legacy of the Production
The show was a massive undertaking for Screen Gems. Each episode required extensive wire work.
- Harness Safety: The rigs were primitive by today's standards. Field has spoken about the bruises and the fear of falling.
- The Cornette Mechanics: Several versions of the hat existed. Some were for close-ups, others were lightweight for flying, and some were reinforced for windy days.
- The Blue Screen: This was the "Chroma Key" era. The technology was finicky. If the lighting wasn't perfect, the white habit would "bleed" into the background.
When you analyze The Flying Nun images through a technical lens, you realize they were pushing the limits of what a weekly sitcom budget could handle. They were basically doing a "superhero" show without the Marvel budget.
The Cultural Impact and Afterlife
The show ended after three seasons, mostly because the ratings dipped and Sally Field was desperate to leave. She was pregnant during the final season, which led to some very creative filming—lots of close-ups and very few "flying" shots where you could see her midsection.
But the show never really went away.
It lived on in syndication for decades. It became a staple of Nick at Nite and TV Land. For Gen X and Boomers, these images are a "comfort food" of television. They represent a simpler, if weirder, time.
Even today, you’ll see references in pop culture. The Simpsons has parodied it. It’s a go-to reference for anything involving religious figures and the supernatural. The image of the flying nun is a shorthand for "innocent 1960s absurdity."
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Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
If you're looking to dive deeper into this specific pocket of TV history or find high-quality versions of these images, there are a few things you should know.
First, look for the "promotional stills" rather than screen grabs. The promo shots were taken on 35mm large-format film and have much higher clarity than the actual frames of the show. Many of these are held in the Getty Images archive or the MPTV Image Archive.
Second, if you're a fan of Sally Field, read her autobiography. She provides the "behind-the-scenes" context that makes the images much more interesting. Knowing she was miserable while looking that cheerful adds a layer of "acting masterclass" to the whole production.
Third, check out the DVD or digital remasters. The color correction on the latest releases makes the San Tanco (Burbank) scenery look incredible. You can really see the detail in the costume construction that you’d miss on an old CRT television.
Finally, understand the "Tere Ríos" connection. If you can find a vintage copy of The Fifteenth Pelican, do it. Seeing the original illustrations that inspired the show gives you a sense of how much the TV production changed the visual identity of the character.
The legacy of The Flying Nun images isn't just about a woman in a hat. It’s about the intersection of 60s kitsch, religious shift, and the early career of a Hollywood legend. It’s a weird, gravity-defying slice of Americana that refuses to stay grounded.
Next Steps for Enthusiasts:
- Search for "Screen Gems Promotional Stills 1967" to find the highest-resolution versions of the cast.
- Locate a copy of Sally Field's In Pieces to read the specific chapter on her time at the Convent San Tanco.
- Explore the "Columbia Ranch" filming locations online to see how the "Puerto Rico" sets look today—many were used in modern shows like The Middle or WandaVision before parts of the ranch were redeveloped.