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Ellen Burstyn Chronicles Life's Turbulent Journey

In 1974, Ellen Burstyn won an Academy Award for her role in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. In it, Burstyn portrays Alice Hyatt, who hits the road in search of her future after her husband's death.

When it comes to depicting sorrow and searching, Burstyn has a natural advantage: She has lived it.

Burstyn's memoir, Lessons in Becoming Myself, is about her journey, both professionally and spiritually. She examines her career, which spans five decades on stage, television and film, and her troubled family life: an undermining mother, an absent father, transitory stepfathers and broken marriages -- her last to a man who became psychotic.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Robert Siegel
Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories and happenings all over the globe, and reported from a variety of locations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He signed off in his final broadcast of All Things Considered on January 5, 2018.