"You sort of stand back and let it happen. Maybe add
some water and some sunlight and let it blossom. I mean, she is, you know, what
can I say, she's unbelievable. And the one thing I think hopefully that
audiences will get is that they'll feel robbed by Hollywood which has not
hired this woman for twenty years. And it's almost a crime on the world, because,
you know, just her abilities…it's just unbelievable. And it should be mandatory
that you have to get two films of Ellen Burstyn a year."
--Darren Aronofsky (director of Requiem for a Dream),
talking about working with Burstyn
Okay, Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gilhooley) is one of the
most amazing actresses I’ve ever seen. The “biggest” film she’s been in was The Exorcist, where she played
Linda Blair’s mother. I first saw her
in Requiem for a Dream (2000), where she does an absolutely phenomenal job as
Sara Goldfarb, an elderly widow living in Coney Island who becomes
addicted to diet pills. During one
particularly moving scene, director Darren Aronofsky noticed that the
cameraman (Matthew Libatique, the director of cinematography) had allowed
the camera to roam off-center. Aronofsky was about to berate him for ruining the shot—until he noticed
that Libatique was hysterically crying due to Burstyn’s performance, and the
reason the camera was drifting was because he was crying too hard to control
it.
For that role in Requiem, she was nominated for the Academy
Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role—she had been nominated for that
same award four times previously (for Resurrection in 1980, Same Time, Next
Year in 1978, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore in 1974, and The Exorcist in
1973). She was also nominated for Best
Actress in a Supporting Role for The Last Picture Show in 1971. The only Oscar she actually walked away
with was the 1974 Best Actress award for Alice Doesn’t Live Here
Anymore—although she didn’t quite walk away with it, not showing up to the
Academy Awards because she felt she couldn’t handle the “pressure and
attention.”
For some reason, despite all the critical acclaim
surrounding her, she could barely find movie work in the 1980’s. She turned to television, where she starred
in a number of made for TV movies as well as her own short-lived television
series, The Ellen Burstyn Show (1986). The TV movies landed her two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead
Actress in a Miniseries or a Special—in 1981 for The People vs. Jean Harris
and in 1987 for Pack of Lies.
Burstyn is well-respected among her fellow actors and
actresses—she served as the first woman president of Actor’s Equity (the
actor’s union) from 1982-1985, and in 2000 was named named co-president of The
Actor’s Studio alongside Harvey Keitel and Al Pacino.
People Magazine named Burstyn as one of their “50 Most
Beautiful People in the World” in 2001.
Ellen Burstyn’s Complete Filmography (
bold titles are required viewing)
- Divine
Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) .... Vivi Abbott Walker
- Within
These Walls (2001) (TV) .... Joan Thomas
- Dodson's
Journey (2001) (TV) .... Mother
- Walking
Across Egypt (2000) .... Mattie Rigsbee
- "That's
Life" (2000) TV Series .... Mrs. Dolly DeLucca
- Mermaid
(2000) (TV) .... Trish
- Requiem
for a Dream (2000) .... Sara Goldfarb
- The
Yards (2000) .... Val Handler
- Night
Ride Home (1999) (TV) .... Maggie
- The
Fear of God: The Making of the Exorcist (1998) (TV) .... Herself
- Flash
(1998) (TV) .... Laura Strong
- You
Can Thank Me Later (1998) .... Shirley Cooperberg
- Playing
by Heart (1998) .... Mildred
- "A
Will of Their Own" (1998) (mini) TV Series .... Veronica Steward
- The
Patron Saint of Liars (1998) (TV) .... June Clatterbuck
- Mary
Jane Colter: The Desert View (1997) .... Narrator
- Deceiver
(1997) .... Mook
- Murder
in Mind (1997/II) (TV) .... Yvette Watson
- Our
Son, the Matchmaker (1996) (TV) .... Iva Mae
- Timepiece
(1996) (TV) .... Maud Gannon
- The
Spitfire Grill (1996) .... Hannah Ferguson
- Follow
the River (1995) (TV) .... Gretel
- My
Brother's Keeper (1995) (TV) .... Helen
- How
to Make an American Quilt (1995) .... Hy Dodd
- The
Baby-Sitters Club (1995) .... Emily Haberman
- Roommates
(1995) .... Judith
- Choosing
One's Way: Resistance in Auschwitz/Birkenau (1994) ....
Presenter/Narrator
- The
Color of Evening (1994) .... Kate O'Rielly
- When
a Man Loves a Woman (1994) .... Emily
- Trick
of the Eye (1994) (TV) .... Frances Griffin
- Getting
Gotti (1994) (TV) .... Jo Giacalone
- Getting
Out (1994) (TV) .... Arlie's Mother
- The
Cemetery Club (1993) .... Esther Moskowitz
- Shattered
Trust: The Shari Karney Story (1993) (TV) .... Joan Delvecchio, The
psychologist
- When
It Was a Game 2 (1992) (TV) .... Herself (passage narrator)
- Taking
Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story (1992) (TV) .... Wilma
- Grand
Isle (1991) .... Mademoiselle Reisz
- Dying
Young (1991) .... Mrs. O'Neil
- Mrs.
Lambert Remembers Love (1991) (TV)
- When
You Remember Me (1990) (TV) .... Nurse Cooder
- Hanna's
War (1988) .... Katalin
- Dear
America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1987) (TV) (voice) .... Mrs. Stocks
- Hello
Actors Studio (1987) (TV) .... Herself
- Pack
of Lies (1987) (TV) .... Barbara Jackson
- Something
in Common (1986) (TV) .... Lynn Hollander
- "The
Ellen Burstyn Show" (1986) TV Series .... Ellen Brewer
- Act
of Vengeance (1986) (TV) .... Margaret Yablonski
- Into
Thin Air (1985) (TV) .... Joan Walker
- Twice
in a Lifetime (1985) .... Kate MacKenzie
- Surviving
(1985) (TV) .... Tina Brogan
- In
Our Hands (1984) .... Herself
- The
Ambassador (1984) .... Alex Hacker
- Silence
of the North (1981) .... Olive Frederickson
- The
People vs. Jean Harris (1981) (TV) .... Jean Harris
- Resurrection
(1980) .... Edna McCauley
- A
Dream of Passion (1978) .... Brenda
- Same
Time, Next Year (1978) .... Doris
- Providence
(1977) .... Sonia Langham
- Alice
Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) .... Alice Hyatt
- Harry
and Tonto (1974) .... Shirley
- Thursday's
Game (1974) (TV) .... Lynne Evers
- The
Exorcist (1973) .... Chris MacNeil
- The
King of Marvin Gardens (1972) .... Sally
- The
Last Picture Show (1971) .... Lois Farrow
- Alex
in Wonderland (1970) .... Beth
- Tropic
of Cancer (1970) (as Ellen McRae) .... Mona Miller
- Pit
Stop (1969) (as Ellen McRae) .... Ellen McLeod
- "The
Iron Horse" (1966) TV Series (as Ellen McRae) .... Julie Parsons (1966-67)
- For
Those Who Think Young (1964) (as Ellen McRae) .... Dr. Pauline Thayer
- Goodbye
Charlie (1964) (as Ellen McRae) .... Franny
- "The
Doctors" (1963) TV Series (as Ellen McRae) .... Dr. Kate Bartok
(1964-1965)
- Gunfight
in Black Horse Canyon (1961) (TV)
Sources: IMDB and my own cloudy little mind