The Triple Crown of Acting is a title of sorts given to actors who achieve awards and success across various types of acting within the entertainment industry. To qualify, one needs to have at least one of the following: an Academy Award (film), an Emmy Award (television), and a Tony Award (theater). Only 24 individuals can claim to have such a Triple Crown of Acting, andEllen Burstynis one of them.
Given how vast and successful her acting career has been, focusing on movies will ultimately only provide a partial look at her talents. Her earliest roles were in the 1960s, with breakout success coming in the early 1970s. She’s acted consistently since then, with her newest film,The Exorcist: Believer, released just a couple of months before her 91st birthday.To celebrate her impressive filmography, these are some of the best movies Burstyn ever appeared in, ranked below from good to great.
10’The King of Marvin Gardens' (1972)
Appeared as Sally
The King of Marvin Gardensis a strange (and very New Hollywood) drama, instantly notable for its impressive cast, which includesJack Nicholson,Bruce Dern, and Ellen Burstyn in the lead roles. It’s about a man who asks his brother to help him achieve some of his unusual dreams, with the former consistently unable to acknowledge his ambitions might be too lofty.
It’s a gritty movie about ordinary people struggling with relatively everyday things, which extends to Burstyn’s character, who’s a former beauty queen continually self-conscious about her looks as she gets older. Overall,The King of Marvin Gardensis slow and perhaps not for everyone, but it’s certainly interesting, and it’s hard to fault the acting on display.
Rent on Apple TV
9’Pieces of a Woman' (2020)
Appeared as Elizabeth Weiss
A grim drama film that was mostly overlooked (beyond it netting lead starVanessa Kirbyan Oscar nomination),Pieces of a Womanis far from an easy watch. It takes place in the aftermath of a home birth that goes tragically wrong, with characters grappling with the reality of what’s happened, and the drama caused by a court case against the midwife.
Kirby’s joined by a cast of people all giving very dedicated performances, includingShia LaBeouf,Sarah Snook, and Ellen Burstyn, who plays the mother of the main character.Pieces of a Woman’s focus on griefand heartbreak means it’s consistently not fun for its 127-minute duration, but it explores its heavy themes well, and the acting across the board is strong.
Pieces Of A Woman
Watch on Netflix
8’Wiener-Dog' (2016)
Appeared as Nana
Depending on your sense of humor,Wiener-Dogmight be viewable as a dark, sometimes tragic comedy, or it might just feel like a particularly weird/sometimes surreal drama. The emotional content might be hard to unpack, but at least the premise is simple, given this focuses on a dog who’s passed from owner to owner throughout the film, effectively makingWiener-Dogfour short films in one feature-length movie.
Ellen Burstyn doesn’t show up until the fourth segment of the film, thoughshe makes every second of her screen time count in a hilarious and committed performance as a no-nonsense grandmotherwho has a granddaughter visiting her, but only for money. It’s a strange, sad, and difficult film, but it’s hard to forget, and Burstyn’s undeniably great in a small but memorable role.
Wiener-Dog
Watch on Amazon Prime
7’The Fountain' (2006)
Appeared as Dr. Lillian Guzetti
UnlikeWiener-Dog,The Fountainis a tremendously difficult movie to try and summarize in just a few words. It’s hugely ambitious and epic in scope, despite having a rather digestible runtime of 96 minutes, with it telling several stories that tend to revolve around lofty themes like immortality, the mysteries of love, and the meaning of life.
Darren Aronofskyusually swings bigwhen he makes a film, and is a decidedly uncompromising director… andThe Fountainmight well be his biggest cinematic swing.It may resonate deeply with some while possibly boring and confusing others, but the visuals, score, and performances - most notably fromHugh Jackman,Rachel Weisz, and Ellen Burstyn - all prove easy to appreciate.
The Fountain
As a modern-day scientist, Tommy is struggling with mortality, desperately searching for the medical breakthrough that will save the life of his cancer-stricken wife, Izzi.
6’Harry and Tonto' (1974)
Appeared as Shirley Mallard
Anunderrated and unassuming classic from the 1970s,Harry and Tontois a charmingly simple and ultimately emotional film about an old man (Harry) and his cat (Tonto). The pair find themselves kicked out of their New York City apartment, which begins a journey for a place to belong, making it something of a road movie.
Harry visits his various children throughout the film, who’ve largely moved away and live in separate areas.Ellen Burstyn appears as one of his kids, and gives a compelling performance with minimal screen time… but it is a film that undeniably belongs toArt Carney, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his role as Harry in this film.
Buy on Amazon
5’Interstellar' (2014)
Appeared as elderly Murph
There are plenty of ambitious andmind-bending movies byChristopher Nolan, andInterstellarmight well be one of his boldest. It plays out over nearly three hours, being an epic science fiction movie about a team of explorers who venture deep into space while on a desperate mission to find a planet humanity could feasibly move to, given the Earth is dying.
Throughout the film, time is bent, distorted, and experienced differently by different characters. This leads to one character, Murph, being played by three different people:Mackenzie Foy,Jessica Chastain, and then Ellen Burstyn.Burstyn appears right at the end, and is a big reason whyInterstellarcan conclude on such an effectively emotional note.
Interstellar
4’Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore' (1974)
Appeared as Alice Hyatt
ThoughMartin Scorsesemight be better known for 1970s movies likeTaxi DriverandMean Streets, another (often overlooked) classic he made in this decade wasAlice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Itgave Ellen Burstyn one of the best roles of her career, with her performance as the title character earning her an Academy Award.
Alice is a single mother who dreams of becoming a popular singer one day, though finds herself working at a diner as a way to provide for her son after the family patriarch passes away. It’s a down-to-earth and very empathetic movie, with Burstyn giving one of her best performances and Scorsese showing he can do so much more than just crime movies.
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
3’The Last Picture Show' (1971)
Appeared as Lois Farrow
The Last Picture Showis arguably one of thebest coming-of-age movies of all time, though it’s worth saying that it’s also perhaps the least uplifting. Coming-of-age stories often inspire, or offer some kind of catharsis, butThe Last Picture Showis instead downbeat and brutally honest, being about life for the teenage inhabitants of a lonely, dying town in Texas.
Cybill ShepherdandJeff Bridgesare among the younger stars of the film, thoughThe Last Picture Showdoes also spend time on some of the older characters, done perhaps to explore the fates of the younger characters should they fail to ever escape their suffocating town.Ellen Burstyn is particularly good in this regard as the mother of Shepherd’s character, with the performance earning Burstyn her first of six Oscar nominations.
The Last Picture Show
2’Requiem for a Dream' (2000)
Appeared as Sara Goldfarb
Movies that approach the difficult topic of drug addiction are usually harrowing to watch, butRequiem for a Dreamstands out for being particularly nightmarish. It might not be the most realistic or even-handed movie about addiction either, as it instead chooses to prevent a series of worst-case scenarios for different types of drug addictions.
Four individuals are followed throughout, and whileJared LetoandJennifer Connelly’s characters find themselves grappling with heroin addiction, Ellen Burstyn’s character instead gets addicted to amphetamine, initially using the drug as a way to assist her crash diet.Burstyn is phenomenal, playing a tragic character so effectively that her scenes become genuinely hard to watch. Her plight is particularly harrowing, given the type of drug that tears her life apart can (and does) get prescribed relatively often.
Requiem for a Dream
Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream follows the lives of four drug addicts as they fall deeper into their addiction and pull their loved ones on a downward spiral along with themselves. The 2000 psychological drama is an adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr.’s eponymous novel and counts with a star-studded cast that includes the likes of Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald, and Mark Margolis.
1’The Exorcist' (1973)
Appeared as Chris MacNeil
Horror movies don’t get much better thanthis classicWilliam Friedkinfilm, which terrified audiences upon release and still stands as frightening half a century later.The Exorcistis simply beyond iconic at this point, perfectly telling a traumatic story about a mother desperate for help after her daughter exhibits increasingly strange behavior, with an exorcism eventually being arranged.
Ellen Burstyn plays the mother, perfectly conveying the fear you’d expect one to have in such a horrific situation. She’s one key part of what makesThe Exorcistas great as it is, with the film containing debatably her best performance, and overall being the greatest movie she’s ever starred in.
