Anne Bancroft

Anna Maria Louisa Italiano[1] (September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005), known professionally as Anne Bancroft, was an Americanactress, director, screenwriter and singer associated with the method acting school, having studied under Lee Strasberg.[2]Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft was 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.[3][4]
After her film debut in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) and a string of supporting film roles during the 1950s, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her lead role in The Miracle Worker (1962) as the teacher of teenage Helen Keller, reprising her role in the Broadway stage play, winning a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. On Broadway in 1965, she played a medieval nun obsessed with a priest (Jason Robards) in John Whiting's play The Devils, based on the Aldous Huxley novel The Devils of Loudun. She was perhaps best known as the seductress, Mrs. Robinson, in The Graduate (1967), a role that she later said had come to overshadow her other work.
Bancroft received several other Oscar nominations and continued in lead roles until the late 1980s; notable film roles during this time include The Turning Point(1977) and Agnes of God (1985). In 1987, she starred with Anthony Hopkins in 84 Charing Cross Road. She appeared in several movies directed or produced by her second husband, comedian Mel Brooks, including the award-winning drama The Elephant Man (1980), as well as comedies To Be or Not to Be (1983) and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995). She received an Emmy Award nomination for 2001's Haven, and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003). She died two years later, in 2005, after battling cancer.
== Early life ==
Bancroft was born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano in the Bronx, New York, the middle of three daughters of Mildred (née DiNapoli; 1908–2010), a telephone operator, and Michael G. Italiano (1905–2001), a dress pattern maker.[5][6]
Bancroft's parents were both children of Italian immigrants. In an interview, she stated her family was originally from Muro Lucano, in the province of Potenza.[7]She was brought up Roman Catholic.[8] She was raised in the Belmontneighborhood of the Bronx,[9] later moving to 1580 Zerega Ave. and graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in 1948. She later 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, as it was "too ethnic for movies"; she chose Bancroft "because it sounded dignified."[10]
== Career ==
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.[10][11] For Gittel, she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.[11]
"Annie's a very gutsy girl. I swear I wouldn't hesitate to put her in at shortstop for the New York Yankees."
She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Playin 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.[13] She appeared in the 1962 film version of the play and won the 1962 Academy Award for Best Actress, with Patty Duke repeating her own success as Keller alongside Bancroft.[14] She 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.[15]
Bancroft is one of ten actors to have won both an Academy Award and a Tony Award for the same role.[16]
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.[17]
Bancroft received a second Academy Award nomination in 1965 for her performance in the 1964 film The Pumpkin Eater.[18]
Bancroft was widely known during this period for her role as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate(1967), for which she received a third Academy Award nomination.[19] In the film, she played an unhappily married woman who seduces the son of her husband's business partner, the much younger recent college graduate played by Dustin Hoffman.[18] In the movie, Hoffman's character later dates and falls in love with her daughter.[19] 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 six years older than 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.[20]
Bancroft is one of very 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.[21] She made an uncredited cameo in the film Blazing Saddles (1974), directed by Brooks. She received a fourth Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in 1977 for her performance in The Turning Point (1977) opposite Shirley MacLaine,[22] and a fifth nomination for Best Actress in 1985 for her performance in Agnes of God (1985) opposite Jane Fonda.[23]
Bancroft made her debut as a screenwriter and director in Fatso (1980), in which she starred with Dom DeLuise.[24]
Bancroft was the original choice to play Joan Crawford in the film Mommie Dearest (1981), but backed out, and was replaced by Faye Dunaway.[25][26] She was also a front-runner for the role of Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment (1983), but declined so she could act in the remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983), with her husband Mel Brooks.[27] In 1988 she played Harvey Feirstein's mother in the film version of his play Torch Song Trilogy.
In 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.[28][29]
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),[30][31] eight Golden Globe nominations (winning twice),[32] and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Her final appearance was as herself in a 2004 episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.[33]
Her last project was the animated feature film Delgo, released posthumously in 2008.[34] The film was dedicated to her.
She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6368 Hollywood Boulevard, for her work in television.[35] At the time of her star's installation (1960),[36] she had recently appeared in several TV series. Bancroft is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1992.[37]
Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1992.[37]
== Marriage and family ==
Bancroft's first husband was lawyer Martin May; they married in 1953, separated in 1955, and divorced in 1957.[1][38]
In 1961, Bancroft met Mel Brooks at a rehearsal for the Perry Como 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. Their son, Maximillian "Max" Brooks, was born on May 22, 1972.[39][40]
Bancroft and Mel Brooks worked together three times on the screen: once dancing a tango in Brooks's Silent Movie (1976); in his remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983);[10] and in the episode entitled "Opening Night" (2004) of the HBO show, Curb Your Enthusiasm.[33] They were also in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995),[10] 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!"[episode needed]
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 theatre. In the same interview, he said of their first meeting in 1961, "From that day, until her death on June 5, 2005, we were glued together."[41]
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.[42]
== Death ==
Anne Bancroft died of uterine cancer at age 73 on June 6, 2005, at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.[43] Her death surprised many, including some of her friends, as the intensely private Bancroft had not released details of her illness.[44] Her body was interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, near her parents, Mildred (who died in April 2010, five years after Anne) and Michael Italiano. A white marble monument with a weeping angel adorns the grave.[45] Her last film, Delgo, was dedicated to her memory.
== Work ==
=== Theatre ===
Source:[46]
Year	Title 	Role/Notes
1958	Two for the Seesaw 	Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
1959	The Miracle Worker 	Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
1963	Mother Courage and Her Children	
1965	The Devils 	
1967	The Little Foxes 	
1968	A Cry of Players 	
1977	Golda 	Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
1981	Duet for One 	
2002	Occupant[47] 	Off-Broadway
=== Film ===
Sources:;[48][49]
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 	The Kid from Left Field 	Marian Foley 	
1954 	Gorilla at Large 	Laverne Miller 	
1954 	Demetrius and the Gladiators 	Paula 	
1954[50]	The Raid 	Katy Bishop 	
1955 	New York Confidential 	Katherine (Kathy) Lupo 	
1955 	A Life in the Balance 	María Ibinia 	
1955 	The Naked Street 	Rosalie Regalzyk 	
1955 	The Last Frontier 	Corinna Marston 	
1956 	Walk the Proud Land 	Tianay 	
1957 	Nightfall 	Marie Gardner 	
1957 	The Restless Breed 	Angelita 	
1957 	The Girl in Black Stockings 	Beth Dixon 	
1962 	The Miracle Worker 	Anne Sullivan 	Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Female Dramatic Performance
1964 	The Pumpkin Eater 	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
Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Female Dramatic Performance
1965 	The Slender Thread 	Inga Dyson 	
1966 	7 Women 	Dr. D.R. Cartwright 	
1967 	The Graduate 	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
Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Female Dramatic Performance
1972 	Young Winston 	Lady Randolph Churchill 	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1974 	Blazing Saddles 	Extra in Church Congregation 	Uncredited
1975 	The Prisoner of Second Avenue 	Edna Edison 	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1975 	The Hindenburg 	Countess Ursula von Reugen 	
1975 	Urban Living: Funny and Formidable	Herself 	short
1976 	Lipstick 	Carla Bondi 	
1976 	Silent Movie 	Herself 	
1977 	The Turning Point 	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
Nominated—Taormina International Film Festival Golden Charybdis Award
1980 	The Elephant Man 	Madge 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 	'night, Mother 	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 	Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress
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 	The Sunchaser 	Dr. Renata Baumbauer 	
1997 	G.I. Jane 	Sen. Lillian DeHaven 	
1997 	Critical Care 	Nun 	
1998 	Great Expectations 	Mrs. Dinsmoor 	
1998 	Mark Twain's America in 3D 	Narrator 	documentary
1998 	Antz 	Queen Ant 	Voice
2000 	Up at the Villa 	Princess San Ferdinando 	
2000 	Keeping the Faith 	Ruth Schram 	
2001 	Heartbreakers 	Gloria Vogal / Barbara 	
2001 	In Search of Peace 	Golda Meir 	Voice, documentary
2008 	Delgo 	Empress Sedessa 	Voice, (final film role)
=== Television ===
1952 	The Goldbergs 	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 Television 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 	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre 	Isabelle Rutledge 	TV series, one episode: "Episode in Darkness" (Isabelle Rutledge) w/Dewey Martin & John Anderson
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"
1962–64 	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 	TV 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[51]
1978 	The Wonderful World of Disney 	Herself 	TV series, one episode: "Mickey's 50"
1979 	The Muppets Go Hollywood 	Herself 	TV special, uncredited
1980 	Shogun 	Narrator of US home video version (voice) 	TV miniseries
1982 	Marco Polo 	Marco's mother 	TV miniseries
1982 	Bob Hope's Women I Love: Beautiful But Funny 	Herself 	TV special
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 	The Simpsons 	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 	TV talk show
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[52] 	Mama Gruber 	TV movie 
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
2003 	The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone 	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"
Category:American film actresses