ELLEN BURSTYN: KINDNESS Matters

The Oscar-winning actress shares her favorite memories and lifelessons

- Amanda Champagne-Meadows

In The Last Picture Show, Ellen Burstyn plays the unhappy wife of the town’s richest man who tries to warn her beautiful teenage daughter about the pitfalls of adulthood. When the film came out in 1971, Ellen’s heartfelt performance garnered a lot of Academy Awards buzz. “I found the amount of my wanting it just disgusting,” Ellen, 91, tells Closer. “So on the morning they announced [the nominees], I drove to the beach and sat there all day, not knowing whether or not I had been nominated so I could separate myself from that profound yearning experience I was feeling.” It was only when Ellen returned home and found her apartment filled with flower arrangements, that she realized she’d been nominated.

Ellen would win an Oscar a few years later for her starring role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. This gifted actress is also a recipient of Tony and Emmy awards for her work in theater and television — including a recurring part as Christopher Meloni’s mother, Bernadette, on the Law & Order franchise. “I’m most proud that I’m still working,” Ellen says, “that I’ve been able to sustain a career all these years.”

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I thought of being a veterinarian, but I always felt that I was an actress. Whenever I got onstage in school, it felt like something I knew I could do. It’s what came to me naturally.

Who were your favorite actresses back then?

Betty Grable and June Haver. I really thought at that time of wearing sequined dresses and being glamorous.

Was your family supportive of your dreams?

My mother, when I told her, said, “Oh, you’ve got pipe dreams in your head.” But it was clear to me it was what I could do.

You made your debut on Broadway in 1957. How did it come about?