Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn (born December 7, 1932 as Edna Rae Gillooly in Detroit, Michigan) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. She attended one of Detroit's premier high schools Cass Tech.
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Career
She debuted on Broadway in 1957 and, in 1975, won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in "Same Time, Next Year." In 1990 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. Up until 1970, she was credited as "Ellen McRae" in nearly all her film and TV appearances.
Burstyn won the Best Actress Oscar in 1974 for her performance in the movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. She received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1971 for the film The Last Picture Show, and she was subsequently nominated for Best Actress in 1973 for the horror movie The Exorcist, in 1978 for Same Time, Next Year, in 1980 for Resurrection, and for her role as Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream in 2000.
She appeared in many TV programs in the 1960s, including guest work on Perry Mason, Wagon Train, 77 Sunset Strip, The Big Valley and Gunsmoke. She hosted Saturday Night Live in 1980. And in 1986, she had her very own sitcom, The Ellen Burstyn Show with Megan Mullally as her daughter and Elaine Stritch as her mother. It was cancelled after one season. From 2000 to 2002, Burstyn appeared in the CBS television drama That's Life. In 2006, she starred as a bishop in the controversial NBC comedy-drama The Book of Daniel.
Burstyn plays Lilian in Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain.
Emmy Awards and controversy
Burstyn was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or Special, for the TV movie The People vs. Jean Harris (1981) and again for another TV movie, Pack of Lies (1987).
In 2006, she was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special for Mrs. Harris. Her nomination was notable for a few reasons - because she had appeared as Jean Harris in the 1981 movie, and also because her nomination was for a performance that, in its entirety, consisted of two lines of dialogue and a total of thirty-eight words - which resulted in fourteen seconds of screen time. This is the shortest nominated performance in the history of the Emmy Awards.
Other activities
- In 1981, Burstyn recorded "The Ballad of the Nazi Soldier's Wife" (Kurt Weill's musical setting of Bertolt Brecht's text "Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?") for Ben Bagley's album Kurt Weill Revisited, Vol. 2.
- Burstyn served as president of the Actors' Equity Association from 1982 to 1985.
- In 1997, Burstyn was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
- In 2000 Burstyn was, along with Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel, named co-president of The Actor's Studio.
- Burstyn practices Sufism. She is affiliated with the Maezumi Institute (Zen Peacemakers) and says her spiritual journey was inspired by the book The Last Barrier: A Journey Through the World of Sufi Teaching.[1]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | The Fountain | Dr. Lilian Guzetti | Post-production |
| The Wicker Man | Sister Summersisle | ||
| The Elephant King | Diana Hunt | Post-production | |
| 30 Days | Maura | Post-production | |
| 2005 | Mrs. Harris | Ex-lover #3 | |
| Down in the Valley | Ma | ||
| Our Fathers | Mary Ryan | TV | |
| 2004 | The Five People You Meet in Heaven | Ruby | TV |
| Tommie | TV | ||
| 2003 | Brush with Fate | Rika | TV |
| 2002 | Red Dragon | Grandma Dolarhyde | Voice; uncredited |
| Distance | Voice over | ||
| Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood | Viviane Joan "Vivi" Abbott Walker | ||
| 2001 | Within These Walls | Joan Thomas | TV |
| Dodson's Journey | Mother | ||
| 2000 | Mermaids | Trish Gill | TV |
| Requiem for a Dream | Sara Goldfarb | ||
| The Yards | Val Handler | ||
| 1999 | Walking Across Egypt | Mattie Rigsbee | |
| Night Ride Home | Maggie | TV | |
| 1998 | Playing by Heart | Mildred | |
| The Patron Saint of Liars | June Clatterbuck | TV | |
| You Can Thank Me Later | Shirley Cooperberg | ||
| 1997 | Flash | Laura Strong | TV |
| Deceiver | Mook | ||
| A Deadly Vision | Yvette Watson | TV | |
| 1996 | Timepiece | Maud Gannon | TV |
| Our Son, the Matchmaker | TV | ||
| The Spitfire Grill | Hannah Ferguson | ||
| 1995 | How to Make an American Quilt | Hy Dodd | |
| The Baby-Sitters Club | Emily Haberman | ||
| Follow the River | Gretel | TV | |
| My Brother's Keeper | Helen | TV | |
| Roommates | Judith | ||
| 1994 | Trick of the Eye | Frances Griffin | TV |
| Getting Gotti | Jo Giaclone | TV | |
| When a Man Loves a Woman | Emily | ||
| Getting Out | Arlie's Mother | TV | |
| The Color of Evening | Kate O'Reilly | ||
| 1993 | Joan Delvecchio | TV | |
| The Cemetery Club | Esther Moskowitz | ||
| 1992 | Wilma | TV | |
| 1991 | Grand Isle | Mademoiselle Reisz | |
| Dying Young | Mrs. O'Neil | ||
| Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love | Lillian "Lil" Lambert | TV | |
| 1990 | When You Remember Me | Nurse Cooder | TV |
| 1988 | Hannah's War | Katalin | |
| 1987 | Look away | Mary Todd Lincoln | TV |
| Pack of Lies | Barbara Jackson | TV | |
| 1986 | The Ellen Burstyn Show | Ellen Brewer | TV |
| Act of Vengeance | Margaret Yablonski | TV | |
| Something in Common | Lynn Hollander | TV | |
| 1985 | Into Thin Air | Joan Walker | TV |
| Twice in a Lifetime | Kate MacKenzie | ||
| 1984 | The Ambassador | Alex Hacker | |
| 1981 | Silence of the North | Olive Frederickson | |
| The People vs. Jean Harris | Jean Harris | TV | |
| 1980 | Resurrection | Edna Mae McCauley | |
| 1978 | A Dream of Passion | Brenda | |
| Same Time, Next Year | |||
| 1977 | Providence | Sonia Lngham | |
| 1974 | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore | Alice Hyatt | |
| Harry and Tonto | Shirley Mallard | ||
| Thursday's Game | Lynne Evers | TV | |
| 1973 | The Exorcist | Chris MacNeil | |
| 1972 | The King of Marvin Gardens | Sally | |
| 1971 | The Last Picture Show | Lois Farrow | |
| 1970 | Alex in Wonderland | Beth Morrison | |
| Tropic of Cancer | Mona Miller | ||
| 1969 | The Winner | Ellen McLeod | |
| 1964 | Goodbye Charlie | Franzie Salzman | |
| For Those Who Think Young | Dr. Pauline Thayer |
| Preceded by: Glenda Jackson for A Touch of Class | Academy Award for Best Actress 1974 for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore | Succeeded by: Louise Fletcher for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
| Preceded by: Goldie Hawn, Gene Kelly, Walter Matthau, George Segal, and Robert Shaw 48th Academy Awards | "Oscars" host 49th Academy Awards (with Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda, and Richard Pryor) | Succeeded by: Bob Hope 50th Academy Awards |
External links
- Ellen Burstyn at the Internet Movie Database
- Ellen Burstyn at TV.com
- Ellen Burstyn at Yahoo! Movies
- Ellen Burstyn at the Internet Broadway Database
- Ellen Burstyn at the Notable Names Database
- http://www.ellenburstyn.net Ellen Burstyn's official website
References
Categories
American film actors | American stage actors | Academy Awards hosts | Best Actress Academy Award winners | Best Actress Academy Award nominees | Actors Studio alumni | People from Detroit | Irish-American actors | American vegetarians | 1932 births | Living people