Ellen Burstyn

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Ellen Burstyn (2009)

Ellen Burstyn , actually Edna Rae Gillooly , (born December 7, 1932 in Detroit , Michigan ) is an American actress . She was nominated six times for the Oscar and received it in 1975 for her leading role in Alice Doesn't Live Here .

Life

Ellen Burstyn dropped out of high school early to focus on her modeling career while also working in department stores. In 1957 she first appeared as an actress on Broadway . She now switched entirely to acting and took on various roles in television series . In 1963 she moved to New York to there at the prestigious Actors Studio by Lee Strasberg to take acting lessons.

Ellen Burstyn, 2007

Her breakthrough came with the role of Lois Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Performance from 1971, for which she also received an Oscar nomination. The following year she played the mother of the obsessed Regan in the horror classic The Exorcist , for which she received another Oscar nomination. Due to the huge international success of the film (he was the first one to more than 100 million dollars grossed) she became known to a wider audience.

In 1974 she realized a project that was very close to her heart: in the film Alice doesn't live here anymore , she played a young widow who is looking for a second chance in life with her son. Burstyn was nominated for a third Oscar and won it this time; she herself campaigned for the nomination of the Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann .

That same year she also received a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway play Same Time, Next Year , which was filmed by Robert Mulligan in 1978 . At the side of Alan Alda , she took on the role that she had played in the Broadway performance and was nominated for an Oscar again. With Der stark Wille, she again garnered a lot of critical praise in 1980 before her film career took a dip in the 1980s. From now on she was offered roles in television films , her own sitcom The Ellen Burstyn Show was canceled in 1987 after a year.

During this time, Burstyn concentrated more on the theater and promoting young actors. For this she returned to the Actors Studio in New York and worked there as an acting teacher. After the death of the founder Lee Strasberg, she took over the artistic direction there alongside Al Pacino . From 1982 to 1985 she was also president of the Actors 'Equity Foundation , an actors' union .

She did not attract attention on the big screen until 2000 - with the role of Sara Goldfarb in the drug drama Requiem for a Dream . After a long time she was nominated again for an Oscar for her performance in this film. In 2009 she received her first Emmy for her guest appearance as Bernadette Stabler in the series Law & Order: New York (episode: Swing ) after four previous nominations .

Ellen Burstyn was married three times and has a son from her marriage to Neil Burstyn.

Filmography (selection)

Awards (selection)

Web links

Commons : Ellen Burstyn  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Burstyn, Ellen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gillooly, Edna Rae
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit , Michigan , United States