Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. She is known for playing complex women in dramatic films and plays. She has won many awards, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Burstyn is one of the few performers to win the "Triple Crown of Acting," which means she has won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and an Emmy Award. She has also won a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Burstyn began her acting career on Broadway in the play Fair Game in 1957. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role in Same Time, Next Year in 1975. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Alice Hyatt in Martin Scorsese’s film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore in 1974. Other films in which she was nominated for an Academy Award include The Last Picture Show (1971), The Exorcist (1973), Same Time, Next Year (1978), Resurrection (1980), and Requiem for a Dream (2000). Other films she has appeared in include Harry and Tonto (1974), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), W. (2008), Interstellar (2014), The Age of Adaline (2015), and Pieces of a Woman (2020).

She won Primetime Emmy Awards for her guest role in the NBC drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) and for her supporting role in the USA Network miniseries Political Animals (2013). Other Emmy Award nominations include roles in Pack of Lies (1988), Mrs. Harris (2005), Big Love (2008), Flowers in the Attic (2014), and House of Cards (2016). Since 2000, she has been co-president of the Actors Studio, a drama school in New York City. In 2013, she was added to the American Theatre Hall of Fame for her work on stage.

Early life

Edna Rae Gillooly was born on December 7, 1932, in Detroit, Michigan. Her parents were Correine Marie (born Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She has an older brother named Jack and a younger brother named Steve. Edna’s parents separated when she was young, and she lived with her mother and stepfather.

Edna attended Cass Technical High School, a school that prepares students for college and allows them to focus on a specific subject. She studied fashion illustration in high school. She was a cheerleader, part of the student council, and president of her drama club. However, she left school during her senior year after struggling in her classes. After leaving school, Edna worked as a dancer under the name Kerri Flynn and later as a model until she was 23 years old. She then moved to Dallas, Texas, where she continued modeling and worked in other fashion-related jobs before relocating to New York City.

Between 1955 and 1956, Edna appeared as a dancer on The Jackie Gleason Show under the name Erica Dean. She later decided to become an actress and chose the professional name "Ellen McRae." After marrying Neil Burstyn in 1964, she changed her last name to Burstyn.

Career

Ellen Burstyn first appeared on Broadway in 1957. In 1967, she joined Lee Strasberg’s The Actors Studio in New York City. From the late 1950s through the 1960s, she appeared in many popular TV shows, including Dr. Kildare, 77 Sunset Strip, Ben Casey, Perry Mason, Cheyenne, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, The Virginian, Laramie, and The Time Tunnel. She was listed in credits as Ellen McRae until 1967, when she and her husband changed their last name to Burstyn. Afterward, she was credited as Ellen Burstyn. In 1970, she had an uncredited role in a movie based on Henry Miller’s book Tropic of Cancer. In 1975, she won a Tony Award for her performance in the play Same Time, Next Year, which she later acted in a movie version in 1978.

After appearing in many small film roles, Burstyn became well-known for her role in The Last Picture Show (1971), a movie about growing up, directed by Peter Bogdanovich and based on a book by Larry McMurtry. The film was praised for its nostalgic feel and visual style, which reminded people of the year 1951, when the story takes place. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Burstyn and her co-star Cloris Leachman, who won the award. In 1998, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry because it is considered important in culture, history, or art. She later appeared in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), a movie about a man who convinces his brother to help with a business idea. Critics liked the film.

In 1972, Burstyn tried to get the lead role of Chris MacNeil in the horror movie The Exorcist (1973). At first, the film studio was not interested in casting her, but when no other actors were chosen, she got the part. Her co-stars included Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran, Jason Miller, and Linda Blair. The movie cost $12 million to make, and most of it was filmed in New York City. Filming was difficult for the cast, taking six-day weeks, twelve-hour days for nine months. The director used a real gun to get realistic reactions from the actors. Burstyn hurt her tailbone during filming, which caused lasting pain. Film critic Roger Ebert praised her for showing the character’s frustration when her daughter is possessed by a spirit. Against expectations, The Exorcist became a big hit at the box office. Adjusted for inflation, it is the ninth highest-grossing film in the U.S. and Canada and the top-grossing R-rated film ever. It won two Academy Awards—Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound Mixing—and earned Burstyn her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Burstyn had a small role in Harry and Tonto (1974), a comedy-drama. Her next major role was in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), a romantic drama directed by Martin Scorsese. She played a woman raising a son and trying to start a new life as a singer. She liked the script because the character was similar to her own life. She was also inspired by writers like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, who discussed how women wanted to redefine their roles in society. She turned down a chance to direct the film to focus on her acting. She chose Scorsese as director and said working with him was one of her best experiences. A reviewer wrote that Burstyn gave the character warmth and grace. Her performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1975, she graduated from the first group of participants in the American Film Institute Directing Workshop for Women. In 1977, she was a member of the jury at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival.

Burstyn had supporting roles in Providence (1977) and A Dream of Passion (1978). Although the films were not widely seen, A Dream of Passion was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1978, she starred in Same Time, Next Year, a romantic comedy about two people married to others who meet once a year for two decades. The film was based on a 1975 play by Bernard Slade. When it was released in November 1978, reviews were mixed. A reviewer said the screenplay was not often funny, but praised Burstyn for giving the role warmth and grace. Same Time, Next Year received four Academy Award nominations, including a third Best Actress nomination for Burstyn. At the Golden Globe Awards, Burstyn won Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, and the film got two other nominations.

In 1980, Burstyn hosted Saturday Night Live, a late-night TV show known for comedy sketches and variety acts. That year, she starred in Resurrection, a movie about a woman who gains strange powers after surviving a car crash. Her performance earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and a third Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. In 1981, she starred in The People vs. Jean Harris, a TV movie based on the real-life murder of a doctor. Her portrayal of the murderer earned her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. That same year, she recorded a song for an album called Kurt Weill Revisited, Vol. 2.

In the mid-1980s, Burstyn appeared in several TV movies, including The Ambassador (1984), Surviving (1985), Into Thin Air (1985), *Act

Personal life

In 1950, Burstyn married Bill Alexander, and they divorced in 1957. The following year, she married Paul Roberts, and together they adopted a son named Jefferson in 1961. The couple divorced in the same year. In 1964, she married actor Neil Nephew, who later changed his name to Neil Burstyn. She described Neil Burstyn as "charming and funny and bright and talented and eccentric." However, his mental illness, schizophrenia, caused him to act violently, and he eventually left her. Though he tried to reconcile, they divorced in 1972. In her autobiography, Lessons in Becoming Myself, Burstyn shared that Neil Burstyn stalked her for six years after their divorce and once raped her while they were still married. No charges were filed because spousal rape was not yet a crime. He died by suicide in 1978 when he jumped from the window of his ninth-floor apartment in Manhattan.

Burstyn was raised Catholic but now follows all religious faiths. She practices a type of Sufism, a branch of Islam, and explains, "I am a spirit opening to the truth that lives in all of these religions… I always pray to Spirit, but sometimes, it's to the Goddess. Sometimes, it's to Jesus… Sometimes, I pray to Ganesha if I need an obstacle removed. Guan Yin is one of my favorite manifestations of the divine, the embodiment of compassion… So, I have Guan Yin with me all the time." In her late 30s, she began learning about spirituality under the guidance of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, who gave her the spiritual name Hadiya, meaning "she who is guided" in Arabic.

During the 1970s, Burstyn supported efforts to free boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter from prison. She is a member of the Democratic Party and appeared in the 2009 documentary PoliWood. She served as president of the Actors' Equity Association from 1982 to 1985. Burstyn is also on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service. In 1997, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. Since 2000, she has been co-president of the Actors Studio alongside Al Pacino and Alec Baldwin. In 2013, she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame for her stage work.

Accolades

Burstyn is one of the few living actors to have won the Triple Crown of Acting, which includes the Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards. She won the Academy Award in 1975 for her role in Martin Scorsese's movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. In the same year, she received the Tony Award for her performance in the play Same Time, Next Year (she played the same role again in the film version of the play in 1978). Over 30 years later, in 2009, Burstyn completed the Triple Crown by winning a Primetime Emmy Award for her guest starring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Works

• Burstyn, Ellen (2006). Lessons in Becoming Myself. Published by Riverhead Books in New York City, New York. ISBN 978-1-59448-929-7.