Ellen Burstyn played Alice Hyatt in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
Released in 1974, the film follows Alice Hyatt, a recently widowed woman who travels with her young son and hopes to restart her life as a singer. She takes service jobs while moving toward Monterey, California, and later finds work as a waitress in Tucson, Arizona.
Burstyn’s performance won the Academy Award for Best Actress. The film was one of Scorsese’s earliest major features and differs from his later crime films by centering a woman’s independence, work, family responsibilities, and romantic choices.
The cast includes Kris Kristofferson as David, Diane Ladd as Flo, and Jodie Foster as Audrey. The film also inspired the television sitcom Alice, which ran from 1976 to 1985, although the television series used the movie’s restaurant setting more than its original road narrative.