Ellen Burstyn discusses poetry audiobook’s Grammy prospects and another Exorcist film
The actor says her granddaughter urged her to pursue the Grammy that would complete an EGOT, while she questions the need for another Exorcist film.
Ellen Burstyn discussed the Grammy prospects of her poetry audiobook in an interview published on October 22, 2026, telling Variety that her granddaughter had urged her to pursue the award that would complete an EGOT. Variety described the recording as a contender in the best audiobook, narration and storytelling recording category; it did not report a nomination or win.
The audiobook accompanies ‘Poetry Says It Better: Poems to Help You Wake Up,’ a HarperCollins collection of poems Burstyn says have stayed with her through much of her life. Burstyn recorded the reading herself, which runs for five hours and nine minutes. The collection includes work by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Mary Oliver and Rumi.
Why a Grammy would complete Burstyn’s EGOT
Burstyn already has an Oscar, a Tony and two Emmys, according to Variety. She won the Oscar for ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ and the Tony for ‘Same Time, Next Year’ in 1975. Her Emmy wins came later, for ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ in 2009 and ‘Political Animals’ in 2013. She also accepted a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in September, an honor outside the four awards that make up an EGOT.
The Recording Academy’s artist page lists one previous Grammy nomination for Burstyn, shared with Ed Asner, CCH Pounder and Alfre Woodard for a spoken-word or non-musical album in 1997, and no wins. A win for this audiobook would make her an EGOT winner; Variety reported that she would be the oldest, surpassing John Gielgud, who was 87. Burstyn turns 94 in December.
Burstyn told Variety that her granddaughter pointed out she was one award short and told her to ‘go for it.’ ‘I don’t know how you “go for it,”’ Burstyn said, but she called the possibility ‘thrilling.’ The Grammy prospect arose from a project centered on poems she values, rather than an award she said she had set out to seek.
The poems and her response to another Exorcist film
During the interview, Burstyn recited William Ernest Henley’s ‘Invictus’ from memory. She said the poem had reassured her in high school that the difficulties she was experiencing would not last forever and had helped make her a poetry lover. Burstyn is now co-president of the Actors Studio; her advice to young actors, she told Variety, is that ‘a creative act comes from the heart.’
Asked about Mike Flanagan’s ‘The Exorcist: Martyrs,’ which Variety described as due in 2027, Burstyn questioned another return to the franchise. ‘Isn’t there enough already of the “Exorcist” thing?’ she said. ‘It’s enough already.’ Burstyn played Chris MacNeil in the original 1973 film.
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Sources and context
- Ellen Burstyn on Going for the EGOT With Her Favorite Poems and Being Over ‘The Exorcist’: ‘It’s Enough Already’Variety
- Ellen Burstyn Grammy Awards and Nominations, Song & BioRecording Academy / GRAMMYs
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.