"Moonstruck" still leaves Olympia Dukakis awestruck.

Primarily a stage actress and teacher, she took the role of Rose Castorini in the 1987 film "Moonstruck," and walked away with a supporting actress Oscar the next year.

"I was living in a not-for-profit world, and after 1988, I started to make a profit," Dukakis said with a laugh from her home in San Francisco.

The 78-year-old actress will speak about her craft next week in the season-opener of the Viewpoint lecture series, sponsored by the Eastern Iowa Community College District, at the Adler Theatre in Davenport.

The Oscar led to roles in high-profile movies, including "Steel Magnolias," "Mr. Holland's Opus" and "Mighty Aphrodite." Her newest movie, "Montana Amazon," with Haley Joel Osment, is scheduled to be released later this year.

On stage, she'll open "The Vigil," a two-character play with Marco Barricelli, next spring. As a teacher, she will also travel to Athens and Cypress to teach drama in January.

The daughter of Greek immigrants (and cousin to former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis), she has been married to actor Louis Zorich (best known as Paul Reiser's father on the television sitcom "Mad About You") for 47 years; they have three children.

"I'm very much an activist in terms of arts in the United States, specifically the non-profit arts - regional theaters and museums and dance companies and museums," Dukakis said during a phone interview with the Times about her career.

Q: If you could divide the career pie at all, how much of you is a stage actress and how much is a film actress?

A: Oh, if you look at the time I've spent, probably much more time stage acting. Film didn't really get going until 1988 with "Moonstruck." I do a lot of films - one or two a year - and I'm glad to do it. It's a very different way of working. But both of them are interesting and exciting and valid.

Q: Are they completely different experiences?

A: Oh yeah. You don't have any rehearsal most of the time in movies. You have to do it all yourself, you have to figure out the options and come up with it yourself. In theater, you get to make it every night. In film, they take all the possibilities you give them and take it to the editing room and make the story they want, as opposed to the story that you and the other actors want every night.

Q: Was it difficult to talk you into doing "Moonstruck?"

A: No it wasn't. God knows I didn't think it would be what it was. As a matter of fact, it was the first film I took after my kids left the house. Up until my last kid had gone away to college, I had decided I wasn't going to take any work outside the New York area. ... I would work in New York, teach in New York. I decided the way to do it was to start my own theater. ... That was the first movie I did where I actually left town.

Q: What did that award do for you?

A: It changed my life, absolutely, and made me economically viable.

Q: Is it difficult to be a two-career household when you have the careers you and your husband do?

A: Sometimes it makes things possible. There's a tremendous understanding - you understand what the person needs and is up against. You are supportive of their dreams and what they want to do. When the kids were growing up, if I was doing something, Louie had to take care of the kids. When he was doing something, I did everything - cooking and doctors and driving them to games.

Q: What has changed about live theater through the years?

A: There's been a big change in entertainment industry. It's gone into a celebrity mode, which has made it difficult for people to produce in New York without stars. And these stars do not have track records of time on stage. The big musicals are like big action films. Disney is backing them and merchandising them. ... It's easier to go to England and develop a script, musical or play and bring it here.

Q: As a teacher, do you notice a difference in students now and years ago?

A: Oh yes. They are much more silent. They don't speak up. They figure they'll go in and do what the director wants. They don't want to make waves and people don't think of them as troublemakers.