Ellen Burstyn Turns 94 on December 7, From The Exorcist to Requiem for a Dream

Illustration: AI-generated with Pollinations (FLUX), free to use

Ellen Burstyn turns 94 on December 7. She has worked in film, theatre and television for more than six decades, and she has kept working well into her nineties. Her career is a good reminder that the best parts often go to actresses who have been patient for a long time.

Photo: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Exorcist (1973) earned her an Oscar nomination for playing Chris MacNeil, the mother whose daughter is possessed. It is a grounded, brutal performance, and her reactions do as much of the horror as any effect in the film.

Photo: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), directed by Martin Scorsese, won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. She plays a widow who takes her son and sets out to become a singer, and the film is full of small, honest scenes, including the time she spends working in a roadside diner.

Photo: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Requiem for a Dream (2000) brought her a Best Supporting Actress nomination as a mother who becomes hooked on diet pills. It is a hard film to watch, and she is even harder to forget in it.

Photo: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Which Ellen Burstyn film do you think is her best? Mine is Alice, mostly for the diner scenes, but I am curious which one you would pick.