Field's obituary in Variety magazine described his early career: After a stint in the Coast Guard, he joined the Abbe Greshler agency in 1943; there he worked with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
[3]In 1960, Fields and fellow former MCA agent David Begelman founded the international talent agency Creative Management Associates (CMA).
[1][3] At CMA, Fields and Begelman pioneered the movie "package", where the talent agency put their stars, directors and writers together on a single project.
[3] CMA was instrumental in the development of such stars as Judy Garland, Woody Allen, Henry Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Redford, Peter Sellers, Steve McQueen and later Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Burt Bacharach, Neil Young, and Jack Carter, and into the 1980s promoted the likes of Richard Gere and Mel Gibson.
[1] Starting in 1969, Fields was a partner in the First Artists Company with Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Sidney Poitier, and Barbra Streisand.