Ellen Burstyn: It’s Your Problem

November 06, 2006

That’s what she said when the actress was nominated for an Emmy for a 14 second, 38 word performance.

She says she was just as flabbergasted as everyone else when she heard she'd been nominated for an Emmy this year for her blink-and-you-miss-it role in the TV movie ''Mrs. Harris.''

The 73-year-old Academy Award winner spoke publicly for the first time about her Emmy nod: ''When they told me I was nominated for that I went, 'What, are you kidding?'''

''I thought it was fabulous,'' she said. ''My next ambition is to get nominated for seven seconds, and, ultimately, I want to be nominated for a picture in which I don't even appear.''

Gal has a sense of humor!

Her nomination drew the ire of those who felt she hadn't logged enough screen time to deserve it. Last August, Burstyn wound up losing the Emmy to her ''Mrs Harris'' co-star, Cloris Leachman.

''The brouhaha around it, you know, they tried to reach me for a statement,'' she recalled. ''I said, 'This doesn't have anything to do with me. I don't even want to know about this. You people work it out yourself.'''

Burstyn, who has starred in such as movies ''The Exorcist'' and ''The Last Picture Show,'' won a best actress Oscar for her role in 1974's ''Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.''