Anne Bancroft

Associated with the method acting technique, having studied under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Bancroft made her film debut in the noir thriller Don't Bother to Knock in 1952, and appeared in 14 other films over the following five years. In 1958, she made her Broadway debut with the play Two for the Seesaw, winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. The next year she portrayed Anne Sullivan in the original Broadway production of The Miracle Worker, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. After her continued success on stage, Bancroft's film career was revived when she was cast in the acclaimed film adaptation of The Miracle Worker (1962) for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her film career progressed with Oscar nominated performances in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), The Graduate (1967), The Turning Point (1977), and Agnes of God (1985). Bancroft continued to act in the later half of her life, with prominent roles including Mary Magdalene in Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth (1977), The Elephant Man (1980), To Be or Not to Be (1983), Garbo Talks (1984), 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), Torch Song Trilogy (1988), Home for the Holidays (1995), G.I. Jane (1997), Great Expectations (1998), and Up at the Villa (2000). She had received multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including for the television films Broadway Bound (1992), Deep in My Heart (1999), for which she won, and The Roman Spring of Mrs. She died in 2005, at the age of 73, as a result of uterine cancer. She was married to director, actor, and writer Mel Brooks, with whom she had a son, author Max Brooks.

Anne Bancroft studied at University of California, Los Angeles, Actors Studio and American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Training under Herbert Berghof and Lee Strasberg is recorded. The recorded working language is English. Residence is recorded at Fire Island and The Bronx. Distinctions recorded are Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, Academy Award for Best Actress and National Board of Review Award for Best Actress.

• Name — Anne Bancroft • Birth Name — Anna Maria Louisa Italiano • Born — 17 September 1931 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 6 June 2005 • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Resting Place — Kensico Cemetery • Education — * HB Studio • American Academy of Dramatic Arts • Actors Studio • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1951–2005 • Children — Max Brooks • Other Names — Anne Marno

Bancroft was born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano on September 17, 1931, in the Bronx, New York, the middle of three daughters of Mildred Carmela (Di Napoli; 1907–2010), a telephone operator, and Michael Gregory Italiano (1905–2001), a dress pattern maker. Her parents were children of Italian immigrants from Muro Lucano, Basilicata. She grew up Roman Catholic. Bancroft was raised in Little Italy, in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx, attended P.S. 12, later moving to 1580 Zerega Ave. and graduating from Christopher Columbus High School in 1948. She then attended HB Studio, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Actors Studio and the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women at the University of California, Los Angeles. After appearing in a number of live television dramas, including Studio One and The Goldbergs under the name Anne Marno, later, at Darryl Zanuck's insistence, she chose the less foreign-sounding surname of Bancroft "because it sounded dignified".

Bancroft made her screen debut with a major role in the 1952 Marilyn Monroe-led psychological thriller Don't Bother to Knock. She appeared in 14 films over the next five years, including Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953), Gorilla at Large (1954), Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), New York Confidential (1955) and Walk the Proud Land (1956). After three weeks of location work on The Last Hunt (1955), a horse got out of control causing Bancroft to land hard on the horn of her saddle. Due to hospitalization she was replaced as the Native American girl by Debra Paget; although some of her long-distance shots were retained in finished film. In 1957, Bancroft was directed by Jacques Tourneur in a David Goodis adaptation, Nightfall. In 1958, she made her Broadway debut as lovelorn, Bronx-accented Gittel Mosca opposite Henry Fonda (as the married man Gittel loves) in William Gibson's two-character play Two for the Seesaw, directed by Arthur Penn. For the role, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. • Illustration — Bancroft (left) with Patty Duke in the stage production of The Miracle Worker, 1960 Bancroft won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1960, again with playwright Gibson and director Penn, when she played Annie Sullivan, the young woman who teaches the child Helen Keller to communicate in The Miracle Worker. She reprised her role in the 1962 film and won the Academy Award for Best Actress, with Patty Duke repeating her own success as Keller alongside Bancroft. As Bancroft had returned to Broadway to star in Mother Courage and Her Children, Joan Crawford accepted the Oscar on her behalf and later presented the award to her in New York.

Bancroft co-starred as a medieval nun obsessed with a priest (Jason Robards) in the 1965 Broadway production of John Whiting's play The Devils. Produced by Alexander H. Cohen and directed by Michael Cacoyannis, it ran for 63 performances. Bancroft received a second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Pumpkin Eater (1964). Bancroft achieved stardom when she played the starring role as Mrs. Robinson in the romantic comedy-drama The Graduate (1967). In the film, she played an unhappily married woman who seduces the son of her husband's law firm partner, the much younger recent college graduate played by Dustin Hoffman. In the film, Hoffman's character later dates and falls in love with her daughter. Bancroft was ambivalent about her appearance in The Graduate; she said in several interviews that the role overshadowed her other work. Despite her character becoming an archetype of the "older woman" role, Bancroft was only 36 years old at the time—just eight years older than her onscreen daughter Katharine Ross and six years older than Hoffman. The film, and her performance, received widespread critical acclaim, earning her a third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. A CBS television special, Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man (1970), won Bancroft an Emmy Award for her singing and acting. • Illustration — Bancroft in the television show Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, 1964 Bancroft is one of ten actors to have won both an Academy Award and a Tony Award for the same role (as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker), and one of very few entertainers to win an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony award. This rare achievement is also known as the Triple Crown of Acting. She followed that success with a second television special, Annie and the Hoods (1974), which was telecast on ABC and featured her husband Mel Brooks as a guest star. She made an uncredited cameo in the film Blazing Saddles (1974), directed by Brooks. She made a career comeback with the ballet drama The Turning Point (1977), followed by the neo-noir mystery film Agnes of God (1985), which earned her two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Bancroft made her debut as a screenwriter and director in Fatso (1980), in which she starred with Dom DeLuise. Bancroft was the original choice to play Joan Crawford in the film Mommie Dearest (1981), but backed out and was replaced by Faye Dunaway. She was also a front-runner for the role of Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment (1983), but declined so that she could act in the remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983) with Brooks. In 1988, she played Harvey Fierstein's mother in the film version of his play Torch Song Trilogy.

• Illustration — Bancroft with husband Mel Brooks at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival Bancroft's first husband was lawyer Martin May, of Lubbock, Texas. They married on July 1, 1953, separated in November 1955, and divorced on February 13, 1957. She had previously been engaged to actor John Ericson in 1951. Lee Marvin's ex-wife Betty claimed in her 2010 book Tales of a Hollywood Housewife that Marvin had an affair with Bancroft when they co-starred in Gorilla at Large (1954) and A Life in the Balance (1955). In 1961, Bancroft met Mel Brooks at a rehearsal for Perry Como's variety show Kraft Music Hall. Bancroft and Brooks married on August 5, 1964, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau near New York City Hall, and remained married until her death in 2005. Their son, Max Brooks, was born in 1972. Bancroft worked with her husband three times on the screen: dancing a tango in Brooks's Silent Movie (1976), in his remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983) and in the episode titled "Opening Night" (2004) of the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm. The couple also appeared in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), but never appeared together again. Brooks produced the film The Elephant Man (1980), in which Bancroft acted. He was executive producer for the film 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) in which she starred. Both Brooks and Bancroft appeared in Season 6 of The Simpsons. According to the DVD commentary, when Bancroft came to record her lines for the episode "Fear of Flying", the Simpsons writers asked if Brooks had come with her (which he had); she joked, "I can't get rid of him!" In a 2010 interview, Brooks credited Bancroft as being the guiding force behind his involvement in developing The Producers and Young Frankenstein for the musical theater. In the same interview, he said of their first meeting in 1961, "From that day, until her death on June 6, 2005, we were glued together." Bancroft's son, Max, said in a 2020 interview that she was "a secret, closet scientist". He said that, as a child, she read to him Paul de Kruif's Microbe Hunters (1926) as a bedtime story. In 2005, shortly before her death, Bancroft became a grandmother when her daughter-in-law Michelle had a boy, Henry Michael Brooks. Early in her career, Bancroft battled depression and drank frequently, which resulted in her being absent from work, according to Elizabeth Wilson, who was Bancroft's understudy in The Little Foxes. She also worked with Bancroft in The Graduate (1967) and The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975).

Bancroft died of uterine cancer at age 73 on June 6, 2005, at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. Her death surprised many, including some of her friends, as the intensely private Bancroft had not disclosed any details of her illness. Her body was interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, near her father; her mother would die five years after Bancroft in April 2010 at the age of 102 and be buried with her family. Her final film, Delgo, was dedicated to her memory.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Reference(s) • 1950–1951 — Studio One in Hollywood — Various roles — Recurring role; 4 episodes • 1951 — Suspense — Actress — Episodes: "Night Break" and "A Vision of Death" • The Ford Theatre Hour — Episode: "The Golden Mouth" • The Adventures of Ellery Queen — Episode: "The Chinese Mummer Mystery" • Danger — Gangster's Moll / Heidi — Episodes: "The Killer Scarf" and "Murderer's Face" • The Web — Actress — Episode: "The Customs of the Country" • Lights Out — Helen Drome — Episode: "The Deal" • The Goldbergs — Joyce — Recurring role; 3 episodes • 1953 — Omnibus — Paco's Sister — Episode: "The Capital of the World" • Kraft Television Theatre — Actress — Episode: "To Live in Peace" • 1954–1957 — Lux Video Theatre — Various roles — 5 episodes • 1956–1957 — Climax! — Audrey / Elena — Episodes: "Fear Is the Hunter" and "The Mad Bomber" • 1957 — Playhouse 90 — Isobel Waring / Julie Bickford — Episodes: "So Soon to Die" and "Invitation to a Gunfighter" • Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre — Isabelle Rutledge — Episode: "Episode in Darkness" • The Alcoa Hour — Alegre / Giselle — Episodes: "Key Largo" and "Hostages to Fortune" • 1958 — The Frank Sinatra Show — Carol Welles — Episode: "A Time to Cry" • 1964 — Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre — Faye Benet Garret — Episode: "Out on the Outskirts of Town" • 1967 — ABC Stage 67 — Virginia — Episode: "I'm Getting Married" • 1970 — Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man — Various Characters — Television special • 1977 — Jesus of Nazareth — Mary Magdalene — Miniseries; 3 episodes • 1980 — Shōgun — Narrator — Miniseries; US version • 1982 — Marco Polo — Marco's Mother — Episode: "1.1" • 1990 — Freddie and Max — Maxine "Max" Chandler — Main role; 6 episodes • 1992 — Broadway Bound — Kate Jerome — Television film • Mrs. Cage — Lillian Cage • 1994 — Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All — Lucy Marsden (age 99–100) • Great Performances — Mrs. Fanning — Episode: "Paddy Chayefsky's 'The Mother • The — Dr. Zweig — Voice role; Episode: "Fear of Flying" • 1996 — Homecoming — Abigail Tillerman — Television film • 1999 — Deep in My Heart — Geraldine "Gerry" Eileen Cummins • 2001 — Haven — Mama Gruber • 2003 — The — Contessa

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Reference(s) • 1960 — Person to Person — Herself — Episode: "7.35" • Gala Adlai on Broadway — Herself / Performer — Television film • 1962 — Password All-Stars — Herself — Episode: "Anne Bancroft vs. Robert Goulet" • 1962–1964 — What's My Line? — Herself / Mystery Guest — 3 episodes • 1969 — The Kraft Music Hall — Herself — Episode: "2.23" • 1970 — Arthur Penn, 1922–: Themes and Variants — Television documentary film • This Is Tom Jones — Episode: "3.1" • 1974 — Annie and the Hoods — Herself / Host — Television film • 1978 — The Stars Salute Israel at 30 — Herself • Lørdagshjørnet — Episode: "Mel Brooks" • The Wonderful World of Disney — Episode: "Mickey's 50" • 1979 — The Muppets Go Hollywood — Television special • 1982 — Bob Hope's Women I Love: Beautiful, But Funny • 1983 — An Audience with Mel Brooks • 1998 — The Secret World of Antz — Television documentary film • Living with Cancer: A Message of Hope — Narrator • 2000 — The Rosie O'Donnell Show — Herself — Episode: "5 May 2000" • The Living Edens — Narrator — Episode: "Anamalai: India's Elephant Mountain" • 2001 — Exhale with Candice Bergen — Herself — Episode: "16 November 2001" • 2004 — Curb Your Enthusiasm — Episode: "Opening Night"

• Year — Title — Role — Venue — Notes — Reference(s) • 1958–1959 — Two for the Seesaw — Gittel Mosca — Booth Theatre — January 16, 1958 – June 27, 1959 • 1959–1961 — The — Annie Sullivan — Playhouse Theatre — October 19, 1959 – February 5, 1961 • 1963 — Mother Courage and Her Children — Mother Courage — Martin Beck Theatre — March 25, 1963 – May 11, 1963 • 1965–1966 — The — Sister Jean of the Angels — Broadway Theatre — November 3, 1965 – January 22, 1966 • 1967–1968 — The — Regina Giddens — Ethel Barrymore Theatre — October 20, 1967 – January 20, 1968 • 1968–1969 — A — Anne — Vivian Beaumont Theatre — November 14, 1968 – February 15, 1969 • 1977–1978 — Golda — Golda Meir — Morosco Theatre — November 2, 1977 – February 15, 1978 • 1981–1982 — Duet for One — Stephanie Abrahams — Royale Theatre — December 7, 1981 – January 2, 1982 • 2002 — Occupant — Louise Nevelson — Peter Norton Space — Off-Broadway

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Bancroft took supporting roles in a number of films in which she co-starred with major film stars, including Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Love Potion No. 9 (1992), Malice (1993), Point of No Return (1993), Home for the Holidays (1995), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), G.I. Jane (1997), Great Expectations (1998), Keeping the Faith (2000), Up at the Villa (2000) and Heartbreakers (2001). She lent her voice to the animated film Antz (1998). Bancroft also starred in several television movies and miniseries, receiving six Emmy Award nominations (winning once for herself and shared for Annie, The Women in the Life of a Man), eight Golden Globe nominations (winning twice) and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her last appearance was as herself in a 2004 episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. She was cast in Spanglish (2004) later in the year, but had to bow out due to a medical emergency. Her last project was the animated feature film Delgo, released posthumously in 2008. The film was dedicated to her. Bancroft received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6368 Hollywood Boulevard for her work in television. At the time of her star's installation in 1960, she had recently appeared in several TV series. She was also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1992.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Reference(s) • 1952 — Don't Bother to Knock — Lyn Lesley — Film debut (singing voice provided by Eve Marley) • 1953 — Tonight We Sing — Emma Hurok • Treasure of the Golden Condor — Marie, Comtesse de St. Malo • The Kid from Left Field — Marian Foley • 1954 — Gorilla at Large — Laverne Miller • Demetrius and the Gladiators — Paula • The — Katy Bishop • 1955 — New York Confidential — Katherine "Kathy" Lupo • A Life in the Balance — María Ibinia • The Naked Street — Rosalie Regalzyk • The — Corinna Marston • 1956 — Walk the Proud Land — Tianay • Nightfall — Marie Gardner • 1957 — The — Angelita • The — Beth Dixon • 1962 — The — Anne Sullivan — Academy Award for Best Actress • 1964 — The — Jo Armitage — Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress • 1965 — The — Inga Dyson • 1966 — 7 Women — Dr. D.R. Cartwright • 1967 — The — Mrs. Robinson • 1972 — Young Winston — Lady Randolph Churchill • 1974 — Blazing Saddles — Woman in Church Congregation — Uncredited extra • 1975 — The — Edna Edison • The — Ursula von Reugen • Urban Living: Funny and Formidable — Herself — Short film • 1976 — Lipstick — Carla Bondi • Silent Movie — Herself • The August — Director — Short film; also writer and editor • 1977 — The — Emma Jacklin • 1980 — Fatso — Antoinette — Also director and writer • The — Madge Kendal • 1983 — To Be or Not to Be — Anna Bronski • 1984 — Garbo Talks — Estelle Rolfe • 1985 — Agnes of God — Mother Miriam Ruth / Anna Maria Burchetti • 1986 — ' — Thelma Cates • 1987 — 84 Charing Cross Road — Helene Hanff • 1988 — Torch Song Trilogy — Ma Beckoff • 1989 — Bert Rigby, You're a Fool — Meredith Perlestein • 1992 — Honeymoon in Vegas — Bea Singer • Love Potion No. 9 — Madame Ruth • 1993 — Point of No Return — Amanda • Malice — Mrs. Kennsinger • Mr. Jones — Dr. Catherine Holland • 1995 — How to Make an American Quilt — Older Glady Joe Cleary • Home for the Holidays — Adele Larson • Dracula: Dead and Loving It — Madame Ouspenskaya / Gypsy Woman • 1996 — The Sunchaser — Dr. Renata Baumbauer • 1997 — G.I. Jane — Senator Lillian DeHaven • Critical Care — Nun • 1998 — Great Expectations — Mrs. Dinsmoor • Mark Twain's America in 3D — Narrator — Documentary film • Antz — Queen Ant — Voice role • 2000 — Up at the Villa — Princess San Ferdinando • Keeping the Faith — Ruth Schram • 2001 — Heartbreakers — Gloria Vogal / Barbara • In Search of Peace — Golda Meir — Voice role; documentary film • 2008 — Delgo — Empress Sedessa — Voice role; posthumous release