Born: September 17, 1931
Died: June 6, 2005
Anne Bancroft, most famous for her roles as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate and Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker, died at the age of 73 of uterine cancer.
Her career started in 1952 when she played Lyn Lesley in Don't Bother to Knock. After that, she also appeared in the 1954 film Demetrius and the Gladiators, a sequel to the Richard Burton movie The Robe. She also appeared in the 3-D thriller Gorilla at Large. Unsatisfied with these and other roles she had been offered, in 1957 Bancroft headed for Broadway and stardom. In 1957 she won her first Tony for Two for the Seesaw, which also featured Henry Fonda. She would win another Tony the next year, for her role as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker. When a film version was to be made, Anne returned to Hollywood, reprising her role as Annie Sullivan to pull in a Best Actress Oscar in 1962. This put her in a very elite group of performers who have won both an Oscar and a Tony for their portrayal of the same character.
After her performance in The Miracle Worker, Anne's career really started to take off. She was featured in 1964's The Pumpkin Eater, for which she received another Oscar nomination and was also a finalist at Cannes for Best Actress. In 1966 she would appear in John Ford's final film, 7 Women. Then, in 1967, she would be given her most famous role, as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. The 1967 film also featured a young Dustin Hoffman and earned Anne another Oscar nomination.
In 1964 Anne was married to writer/director/comedian Mel Brooks in New York. They met on the set of a talk show and Mel later tracked her down to continue the conversation. This would lead to Anne taking parts in several of Brooks' movies and those of his production company, Brooksfilms, throughout the 70s and 80s. Along the way she'd pick up two more Oscar nominations for her performance opposite Shirley Maclane in The Turning Point and opposite Jane Fonda in Mother Superior. She also began to branch out into television work, winning an Emmy for the made-for-tv movie "Deep in My Heart" in 1999. This completed her Triple Crown of Acting, a Tony, an Oscar, and an Emmy.
Award Nominations
Wins are in bold, nominations in plaintext
- Oscars
- Best Actress - The Miracle Worker - 1963
- Best Actress - The Pumpkin Eater - 1965
- Best Actress - The Graduate - 1968
- Best Actress - The Turning Point - 1978
- Best Actress - Agnes of God - 1985
- Emmys
- Outstanding Variety or Musical - Annie, the Women in the Life of a Man - 1970
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special (OSAMS) - Broadway Bound - 1992
- Outstanding Leading Actress in Miniseries or Special (OLAMS) - Mrs. Cage - 1992
- OLAMS - Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All - 1994
- OLAMS - Deep in My Heart - 1999
- OSAMS - Haven - 2001
- OSAMS - The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone - 2003
- Tonys
- Two for the Seesaw - 1958
- The Miracle Worker - 1959
- Golda - 1977
Selected
Filmography
Sources:
www.rottentomatoes.com
www.imdb.com
www.cnn.com