Ellen Burstyn broke down in tears before giving a heartfelt speech as she received the Golden Lion of Venice for Lifetime Achievement on Monday evening.
The Exorcist star, 93, is among an elite selection of actors who have received acting’s Triple Crown (winning an Oscar, a Tony and two Primetime Emmy Awards).
And now she can also add a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to her collection.
Bursting into tears after being greeted with an overwhelming, minute-long ovation, she told the audience: “You’re making me cry! You overwhelm me, you know. I don’t know how to recover from that generous greeting.’
She continued, “You can’t imagine how meaningful this is to me. It’s one thing to win an Oscar, a Tony or an Emmy – and I’ve won all of those… But this… it’s a lot.”
Ellen is best known for her role as a desperate mother trying to cure her possessed daughter in a 1973 horror film that has been called the scariest of all time.
Ellen Burstyn, 93, burst into tears as she received the Golden Lion of Venice for Lifetime Achievement on Monday night after Oscar, Tony and Emmy wins
She told the crowd, “You can’t imagine how meaningful this is to me. It’s one thing to win an Oscar, a Tony or an Emmy – and I’ve won them all… But this… it’s a lot’
Her latest project sees her playing the role of Marilyn Monroe alongside Dakota Johnson in her latest film Flesh Impact.
Looking back on her career, Ellen continued: ‘At 93, it means you have a whole life to look back on.
“I thought, maybe it’s not just a record of what you’ve accomplished, but of what you’ve learned.”
Recalling an anecdote from the filming of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore in 1974, she had to film a driving scene at night while the director and cameraman sat on the hood of the car, blocking her view of the street.
“I couldn’t see the side of the road; I could go away and kill us all,” she said.
‘But then I noticed that this is a two-way street. There’s a white line in the middle of the road, and I see it. So all I have to do is look to the left and follow the white line. And that’s how I managed not to kill Martin Scorsese.’
Drawing a parallel with the US experience and climate, she added: “I wanted to close by saying how much I appreciate this Golden Lion and I hope – no, pray – that my own country will find its own white line.”
Now in her 90s, Burstyn’s career remains as vibrant as ever. In her latest short film role, Flesh Impact, she plays a 100-year-old version of Monroe in the project, which is both written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Described as “a love letter” to Monroe, the short film stars Dakota Johnson as a young Marilyn and will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, just three months after what would have been the late actress’s centenary.
Burstyn has starred in films such as The Exorcist (1973), Requiem For A Dream (2000), Interstellar (2014) and Pieces Of A Woman (2020).
It’s The Exorcist star Ellen Burstyn! She played Chris MacNeil in the iconic 1973 horror
She received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974).
The Exorcist debuted in December 1973, after Burstyn’s Chris MacNeil enlisted the help of two priests (Max Von Sydow and William O’Malley) to exorcise a demon named Pazuzu from her daughter Regan.
William Friedkin (The French Connection) directed the original, while The Exorcist author William Peter Blatty wrote the screenplay adaptation based on his book.
Based on the book of the same name by William Peter Blatty – who adapted it into a film himself – the film suffered from problems during production.
An unexplained fire at one point burned down most of the set – delaying filming by six weeks – but the bedroom where Blair’s character, Regan, endures her demonic possession was strangely spared.
