Q&A: Ellen Burstyn on her acting life, and never retiring

AP: In your memoir, “Lessons in Becoming,” you wrote about how your third husband, after separating, broke into your home and raped you. It’s his name you have. Do you wish you didn’t?

BURSTYN: (Laughs) Well, I try not spend time on wishing for anything that I can’t change. That’s my name, however I came to it. It surprised me, but that’s what I got. But I know I was very honest as I wrote that book. Every time I came to a new chapter in my life, I’d go, “Well, I can’t write about that.” Finally, I said: Honey, if you’re going to tell the story, tell the story.

AP: You could tell in that book you view your life as an ever-ongoing spiritual journey. Where would you put yourself on that journey now?

BURSTYN: The way I understand life is that you come on Earth to learn something spiritually, and everything that happens is a spiritual lesson if you view it that way. I’m still on the path of trying to be as honest and sensitive and open and kind as I can possibly be. So I hope I’m growing that way.

AP: You’ve also talked about memory is the reservoir of all your acting. For someone who draws so much on the past, you seem very forward-looking.

BURSTYN: I use my memory all the time in my work. Memory, it forms us. Our stories form us. Being totally present is essential. I’m in the past and I’m in the future and I’m in the now all at the same time.