ELLEN BURSTYN (Mrs. Haberman) first came to national attention in 1971 when she appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's "The Last Picture Show," a role which earned her her first Oscar nomination, a New York Film Critics Circle Award, National Film Critics Circle Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress. She was nominated again for her role in William Friedkin's hit thriller "The Exorcist," and won the Best Actress Oscar in 1974 for her portrayal of the title character in the 1974 Martin Scorsese film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," a film which she packaged and got off the ground. Her work on that film also garnered Burstyn a BAFTA (British Academy) Award and a Golden Globe.
Burstyn's additional credits include the upcoming "How to Make An American Quilt," as well as "Roommates," "When a Man Loves a Woman," "The Cemetery Club," "Dying Young," "Hanna's War," "Twice in a Lifetime," "Resurrection," and the hit Neil Simon comedy "Same Time, Next Year," in a role she re-created after having won both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her work on Broadway.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Burstyn worked numerous odd jobs, including model, soda jerk, short-order cook and fashion coordinator, before making her Broadway debut in 1957 in "Fair Game." An alumnus of the Actor's Studio, Burstyn succeeded Lee Strasberg as co-artistic director (with Al Pacino) of the Studio from 1982 to 1988.
In 1983, she was made Doctor of Fine Arts by the New York School of Visual Arts, and in 1983, she was made Doctor of Humane Letters by Dowling College.
http://hollywood.com/movies/baby/text/ellenburstyn.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
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