Anne Bancroft Biography

Anne Bancroft (September 17, 1931 " June 6, 2005) was an American actress associated with the method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft was often acknowledged for her work in film, theatre and television. She won one Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globes, two Tony Awards and two Emmy Awards, and several other awards and nominations.

She made her film debut in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) and, following a string of supporting film roles during the 1950s, won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Miracle Worker (1962), receiving subsequent nominations for her roles in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), The Graduate (1967), The Turning Point (1977), and Agnes of God (1985). Bancroft's other acclaimed movies as a lead actress include Young Winston (1972), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), To Be or Not to Be (1983), and 84 Charing Cross Road (1987).

Later in her career, she made the transition back to supporting roles in theatrical films such as Point of No Return (1993), Home for the Holidays (1995), Great Expectations (1998), Antz (1998), Keeping the Faith (2000), and Heartbreakers (2001). She also starred in seven television films, the last of which was The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003) for which she received Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Bancroft died of uterine cancer, age 73, in 2005. Among her survivors were her mother Mildred, her husband of 40 years, Mel Brooks, and their son Max Brooks.

Early life

Bancroft was born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano in The Bronx, New York, the daughter of Mildred (née DiNapoli; 1907"2010), a telephone operator, and Michael G. Italiano (1905"2001), a dress pattern maker. Her parents were both children of Italian immigrants. She was brought up as a Roman Catholic. Bancroft graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx in 1948, and 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 under the name Anne Marno, she was told to change her surname for her film debut in Don't Bother to Knock.

Career

Bancroft was a contract player in the early days of her career just as the studio contract system was ending. She left Hollywood because of the poor quality of roles she was being offered and returned to New York.

In 1958, Bancroft 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 Gittel, she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. (Though her role was quite equal to Fonda's, he, an established film actor, was the star, and so she was eligible in the featured category.)

She subsequently won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play in 1960, again with playwright Gibson and director Penn, when she played Annie Sullivan, the sight-impaired, heroically indefatigable young woman who teaches the child Helen Keller to communicate in The Miracle Worker. She took the latter role to Hollywood, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress, with Patty Duke repeating her own success as Helen alongside Bancroft in the 1962 film version of the play. Bancroft had returned to Broadway to star in Mother Courage and Her Children, so Joan Crawford accepted Bancroft's Oscar on her behalf, and later presented the award to her in New York. She is one of the very distinct few to have won an Academy Award and Tony Award for the same role. Bancroft also co-starred as a medieval nun obsessed with a priest opposite 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 a total of 63 performances.

Bancroft received a second Academy Award nomination in 1965 for her performance in The Pumpkin Eater. Her best-known role during this period was as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967), for which she received a third Academy Award nomination. In the film, she played an unhappily married woman who seduces a family friend, the much-younger recent college graduate played by Dustin Hoffman. In the movie, Hoffman's character later dates and falls in love with her daughter. Bancroft was ambivalent about her appearance in The Graduate; she stated in several interviews that the role overshadowed all of her other work. Despite her character becoming an archetype of the "older woman" role, Bancroft was only six years older than Dustin Hoffman.

A CBS television special, Annie: the Women in the Life of a Man (1970), won Bancroft an Emmy Award for her singing and acting. Bancroft is one of a very select few entertainers to win an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony award. 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 received a fourth Academy Award nomination for her performance in The Turning Point (1977) opposite Shirley MacLaine, and a fifth nomination for her performance in Agnes of God (1985) opposite Jane Fonda.

Bancroft made her debut as a screenwriter and director in Fatso (1980), in which she starred along with Dom DeLuise. Bancroft was also the original choice to play Joan Crawford in the film Mommie Dearest (1981), but backed out at the eleventh hour, 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 in order to act in the remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983), with her husband Mel Brooks.

During the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, Bancroft took supporting roles in a number of films in which she co-starred with major film stars, including Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) with Nicolas Cage; Love Potion No. 9 (1992) with Sandra Bullock; Malice (1993) with Nicole Kidman; Point of No Return (1993) with Bridget Fonda; Home for the Holidays (1995) with Robert Downey Jr. and directed by Jodie Foster; How to Make an American Quilt (1995) with Winona Ryder, G.I. Jane (1997) with Demi Moore; Great Expectations (1998) with Gwyneth Paltrow; Keeping the Faith (2000) with Ben Stiller; and Heartbreakers (2001) with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sigourney Weaver and Gene Hackman. She also lent her voice to the animated film Antz (1998) which also featured performances from Jennifer Lopez, Sharon Stone, and Woody Allen.

Bancroft also starred in several television movies and miniseries, receiving six Emmy Award nominations (winning twice), eight Golden Globe nominations (winning twice), and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her final appearance was as herself in a 2004 episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. Her last project was the animated feature Delgo, released posthumously in 2008.

She 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 (1960), she had recently appeared in several TV series.

Marriage and family

Bancroft was married to Martin May from July 1, 1953, to February 13, 1957. They had no children.

In 1961, Bancroft met Mel Brooks at a rehearsal for the Perry Como variety show. Bancroft and Brooks married on August 5, 1964, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau near New York City Hall and were together until her death. In 1972 Bancroft gave birth to her only child, Maximillian Brooks.

They were seen three times on the screen together: once dancing a tango in Brooks's Silent Movie (1976); in his remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983); and in the episode entitled "Opening Night" (2004) of the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm. They were also in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), but never appeared together. Brooks produced the film The Elephant Man (1980), in which Bancroft acted. He also was executive-producer for the film 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) in which she starred. Both Brooks and Bancroft appeared in season six 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 2010, Brooks credited Bancroft as being the guiding force behind his involvement in developing The Producers and Young Frankenstein for the musical theatre, citing an early meeting as "From that day, until her death on June 5, 2005, we were glued together."

In April 2005, two months before her death, Bancroft became a grandmother when her daughter-in-law Michelle gave birth to a boy, Henry Michael Brooks.

Death

Anne Bancroft died, age 73, of uterine cancer on June 6, 2005, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Her death surprised many, even some of her friends. She was intensely private and had not released details of her illness. She is interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, near her parents, Mildred (who died in April 2010, five years after her daughter) and Michael Italiano. A white marble monument with a weeping angel adorns her grave. Her last film, Delgo, was dedicated to her memory.

Work

Theatre

Year	Title	Role
1958	Two for the Seesaw	Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
1959	'	Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1963	Mother Courage and Her Children
1965	'
1967	'
1968	'
1977	Golda	Nominated"?Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1981	Duet for One
2002	Occupant

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952	Don't Bother to Knock	Lyn Lesley
1953	Tonight We Sing	Emma Hurok
1953	Treasure of the Golden Condor	Marie, Comtesse de St. Malo
1953	'	Marian Foley
1954	Gorilla at Large	Laverne Miller
1954	Demetrius and the Gladiators	Paula
1954	'	Katy Bishop
1955	New York Confidential	Katherine (Kathy) Lupo
1955	'	María Ibinia
1955	'	Rosalie Regalzyk
1955	'	Corinna Marston
1956	Walk the Proud Land	Tianay
1957	Nightfall	Marie Gardner
1957	'	Angelita
1957	'	Beth Dixon
1962	'	Annie Sullivan	Academy Award for Best Actress BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress San Sebastián International Film Festival Prize San Sebastián Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Drama
1964	'	Jo Armitage	BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Drama Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Actress
1965	'	Inga Dyson
1966	7 Women	Dr. D.R. Cartwright
1967	'	Mrs. Robinson	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1972	Young Winston	Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill	Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1974	Blazing Saddles	Extra in Church Congregation	uncredited
1975	'	Edna Edison	Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1975	'	Ursula, The Countess
1975	Urban Living: Funny and Formidable	Herself	short
1976	Lipstick	Carla Bondi
1976	Silent Movie	Herself
1977	'	Emma Jacklin	National Board of Review Award for Best Actress Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Drama
1980	Fatso	Antoinette	Also director and writer.
1980	'	Mrs. Kendal
1983	To Be or Not to Be	Anna Bronski	Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1984	Garbo Talks	Estelle Rolfe	Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1985	Agnes of God	Mother Miriam Ruth	Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Drama
1986	'	Thelma Cates	Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Drama
1987	84 Charing Cross Road	Helene Hanff	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1988	Torch Song Trilogy	Ma Beckoff
1989	Bert Rigby, You're a Fool	Meredith Perlestein
1992	Honeymoon in Vegas	Bea Singer
1992	Love Potion No. 9	Madame Ruth
1993	Point of No Return	Amanda
1993	Malice	Mrs. Kennsinger
1993	Mr. Jones	Dr. Catherine Holland
1995	How to Make an American Quilt	Glady Joe Cleary	Nominated "? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1995	Home for the Holidays	Adele Larson
1995	Dracula: Dead and Loving It	Madame Ouspenskaya (Gypsy Woman)
1996	'	Dr. Renata Baumbauer
1997	G.I. Jane	Sen. Lillian DeHaven
1997	Critical Care	Nun
1998	Great Expectations	Ms. Dinsmoor
1998	Mark Twain's America in 3D	Narrator	documentary
1998	Antz	Queen	voice
2000	Keeping the Faith	Ruth Schram
2000	Up at the Villa	Princess San Ferdinando
2001	Heartbreakers	Gloria Vogal/Barbara
2001	In Search of Peace	Golda Meir (voice)	documentary
2008	Delgo	Sedessa	voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	Suspense		TV series, one episode: "Night Break", as Anne Marno.
1951	The Ford Theatre Hour		TV series, three episodes, as Anna Marno.
1950-51	Studio One in Hollywood	Maria Cassini	TV series, three episodes, as Anne Marno.
1951	The Adventures of Ellery Queen		TV series, one episode: "The Chinese Mummer Mystery", as Anne Marno.
1951	Danger		TV series, two episodes: "The Killer Scarf" and "Murderer's Face", as Anne Marno.
1951	The Web		TV series, one episode: "The Customs of the Country" as Ann Marno.
1951	Lights Out	Helen	TV series, one episode: "The Deal", as Anne Marno.
1953	Omnibus		TV series, one episode: "The Capital of the World"
1953	Kraft Theatre		TV series, one episode: "To Live in Peace"
1954-1957	Lux Video Theatre	Lolita/Sally/Kendal Browning/Ann Sommers/Herself	TV series, five episodes
1956-57	Climax!	Audrey/Elena	TV series, two episodes: "Fear Is the Hunter" (Audrey) and "The Mad Bomber" (Elena)
1957	Playhouse 90	Isobel Waring/Julie Bickford	TV series, two episodes: "So Soon to Die" (Isobel Waring) and "Invitation to a Gunfighter" (Julie Bickford)
1957	The Alcoa Hour	Alegre/Giselle	TV series, two episodes: "Key Largo" (Alegre) and "Hostages to Fortune" (Giselle)
1958	The Frank Sinatra Show	Carol Welles	TV series, one episode: "A Time to Cry"
1960	Person to Person	Herself	TV series documentary, Episode 7.35
1960	Gala Adlai on Broadway	Herself: Performer	TV Movie
1962	Password All-Stars	Herself	TV series, one episode: "Anne Bancroft vs. Robert Goulet"
1962-1964	What's My Line?	Herself: Mystery Guest	TV series, three episodes
1964	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Faye Benet Garret	TV series, one episode: "Out on the Outskirts of Town"
1967	ABC Stage 67	Virginia	TV series, one episode: "I'm Getting Married"
1969	The Kraft Music Hall	Herself	TV series, Episode 2.23
1970	Arthur Penn, 1922-: Themes and Variants		TV documentary
1970	This Is Tom Jones	Herself	TV series documentary, Episode 3.1
1970	Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man		Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety or Musical Program " Variety and Popular Music
1974	Annie and the Hoods	Herself: Hostess	TV Movie
1977	Jesus of Nazareth	Mary Magdalene	Miniseries; Parts 1 and 2
1978	The Stars Salute Israel at 30	Herself	TV Movie
1978	Lørdagshjørnet	Herself	TV series, one episode: "Mel Brooks", also archive footage
1978	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Herself	TV series, one episode: "Mickey's 50"
1978	Mickey's 50	Herself	documentary
1979	The Muppets Go Hollywood	Herself	TV Movie, uncredited
1980	Shogun	Narrator of US home video version (voice)	TV movie
1982	Marco Polo	Marco's mother	Miniseries
1982	Women I Love: Beautiful But Funny	Herself	TV Movie
1983	An Audience with Mel Brooks	Herself	TV special
1990	Freddie and Max	Maxine (Max) Chandler	TV series, six episodes
1992	Broadway Bound	Kate Jerome	TV movie Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress " Miniseries or a Movie
1992	Mrs. Cage	Lillian Cage	Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress " Miniseries or a Movie
1994	Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All	Lucy Marsden (age 99"100)	TV movie Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress " Miniseries or a Movie
1994	Great Performances	Mrs. Fanning	TV series, one episode: "Paddy Chayefsky's 'The Mother'"
1994	'	Dr. Zweig	Voice role, one episode: "Fear of Flying"
1996	Homecoming	Abigail Tillerman	TV Movie Nominated "? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1998	The Secret World of 'Antz'	Herself	TV documentary
1998	Living with Cancer: A Message of Hope	Narrator	TV documentary
1999	Deep in My Heart	Geraldine 'Gerry' Eileen Cummins	TV movie Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress " Miniseries or a Movie
1999	AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Dustin Hoffman	Herself	TV special documentary
2000	The Rosie O'Donnell Show	Herself
2000	The Living Edens	Narrator	TV series documentary, one episode: "Anamalai: India's Elephant Mountain"
2001	Exhale with Candice Bergen	Herself	TV series, one episode
2001	Haven	Mama Gruber	Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress " Miniseries or a Movie
2003	'	Contessa	TV movie Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress " Miniseries or a Movie Nominated "? Satellite Award for Best Actress " Miniseries or Television Film Nominated "? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2004	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Herself	TV series, one episode: "Opening Night"

See also