Anne Bancroft

Infobox actor
name = Anne Bancroft


imagesize = 200px
caption = The 1987 Emmy Awards
birthname = Anna Maria Louisa Italiano
birthdate = birth date|1931|9|17|mf=y
birthplace = The Bronx, New York
deathdate = death date and age|2005|6|6|1931|9|17
deathplace = New York City, New York
spouse = Martin May (1953-1957)
Mel Brooks (1964-2005)
children = Max Brooks (b.1972)
academyawards = Best Actress
1962 "The Miracle Worker"
baftaawards = Best Actress in a Leading Role
1962 "The Miracle Worker"
1964 "The Pumpkin Eater"
1987 "84 Charing Cross Road"
emmyawards = Outstanding Variety or Musical Program
1970 "Annie, the Women in the Life of a Man"
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1999 "Deep in My Heart"
goldenglobeawards = Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1965 "The Pumpkin Eater"
Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1968 "The Graduate"
tonyawards = Best Leading Actress in a Play
1960 "The Miracle Worker"
Best Featured Actress in a Play
1958 "Two for the Seesaw"
awards = NBR Award for Best Actress
1962 "The Miracle Worker"
1977 "The Turning Point"
Best Actress - Cannes Film Festival
1964 "The Pumpkin Eater"
awards = Hollywood Walk of Fame
6368 Hollywood Boulevard

Anne Bancroft (September 17 1931 – June 6 2005) was an American method actress.

Biography

Early life

Bancroft was born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano in the Bronx, New York, the daughter of Mildred (née DiNapoli), a telephone operator, and Michael Italiano, a dress pattern maker. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/4/Anne-Bancroft.html Anne Bancroft Biography (1931-) ] ] Her parents were both children of Italian immigrants.

Bancroft graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx in 1948, and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Actors Studio, and the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women at UCLA. 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" in 1952.

Career

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

In 1958 she appeared opposite Henry Fonda in the Broadway production of "Two for the Seesaw", for which she won a Tony Award, and another in 1962 for "The Miracle Worker". She took the latter role back to Hollywood, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1962.

A highly acclaimed television special, "Annie: the Women in the Life of a Man" won her 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.

Other major film roles were in "The Pumpkin Eater", "7 Women", and what is unquestionably her best-known role, that of the married Mrs. Robinson, a woman who seduces a much-younger recent college graduate, played by Dustin Hoffman, in the film "The Graduate". Ironically, Bancroft was only 36 years old when she played opposite the 30-year-old Hoffman. Although Bancroft is now iconically identified as Mrs. Robinson, she was not the first choice for the role; Patricia Neal (who had recently suffered a stroke), Doris Day and Jeanne Moreau turned it down. Bancroft was ambivalent about her appearance in "The Graduate"; she stated in several interviews that the role overshadowed all of her other work.

In 1980, she made her debut as a screenwriter and director in "Fatso", in which she starred along with Dom DeLuise. Bancroft was also the original choice to play Joan Crawford in the 1981 movie "Mommie Dearest", but backed out at the 11th hour, and was replaced by Faye Dunaway. She was also a front-runner for the role of Aurora Greenway in "Terms of Endearment", but declined in order to act in the remake of "To Be or Not to Be" (1983).

Marriage and family

From July 1, 1953, to February 13, 1957, she was married to Martin May. The marriage produced no children.

In 1961, Bancroft met Mel Brooks in a rehearsal for the Perry Como variety show. Brooks bribed a studio employee to find out where she was having dinner so he could meet her again. Once Bancroft met Brooks, she went to her therapist and told him they had to conclude the therapy as fast as possible because she had met the man she was going to marry.

They married on August 5, 1964, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau near New York City Hall and were together until her death. They had one son, Maximillian, in 1972. They were seen three times on the screen together: once dancing a tango in Brooks's 1976 "Silent Movie", in Brooks's 1983 remake of "To Be or Not to Be", and in the episode entitled "Opening Night" of the HBO show "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Brooks produced the 1980 film "The Elephant Man", in which Bancroft acted. He also executive-produced the 1987 film "84 Charing Cross Road" 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 he'd came with her (which he did) and she joked, 'I can't get rid of him!'.

Death

Bancroft died on June 6, 2005 of uterine cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4071734.stm "Graduate star Anne Bancroft dies"] . BBC News. 8 June 2005.] Her death came as a surprise to even some of Bancroft's friends; she was intensely private and had not released details of her illness.

Bancroft was survived by Brooks, their son, a grandson, her mother and two sisters. She is interred at the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, near her father, Michael Italiano. A white marble monument with a weeping angel adorns her grave.

Awards and honours

* Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6368 Hollywood Boulevard.

Work

Theater roles

References

External links

*amg name|2:80576
*findagrave|11121391
*ibdb|66812
*imdb|00843
*tcmdb name|9111
*ymovies name|1800011671
*youtube|TnW59E-zyZY|Mrs. Robinson Tribute

###@@@KEY@@@###
-! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;" | BAFTA Award
-succession box
title = Best Actress
before= Sophia Loren
for "Two Women"
years = 1962
for "The Miracle Worker"
after = Patricia Neal
for "Hud"succession box
title = Best Actress
before= Patricia Neal
for "Hud"
years = 1964
for "The Pumpkin Eater"
after = Patricia Neal
for "In Harm's Way"succession box
title = Best Actress
before= Maggie Smith
for "A Room with a View"
years = 1988
for "84 Charing Cross Road"
after = Maggie Smith
for "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne"
-! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;" | Cannes Film Festival
-succession box
title = Best Actress
before= Marina Vlady
for "The Conjugal Bed"
years = 1964
for "The Pumpkin Eater"
after = Samantha Eggar
for "The Collector"
-! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;" | Golden Globe Award
-succession box
title = Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
before= Leslie Caron
for "The L-Shaped Room"
years = 1965
for "The Pumpkin Eater"
after = Samantha Eggar
for "The Collector"succession box
title = Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
before= Lynn Redgrave
for "Georgy Girl"
years = 1968
for "The Graduate"
after = Barbra Streisand
for "Funny Girl"
-! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;" | National Board of Review
-succession box
title = Best Actress
before= Geraldine Page
for "Summer and Smoke"
years = 1962
for "The Miracle Worker"
after = Patricia Neal
for "Hud"succession box
title = Best Actress
before= Liv Ullmann
for "Face to Face"
years = 1977
for "The Turning Point"
after = Ingrid Bergman
for "Autumn Sonata"

Persondata
NAME=Bancroft, Anne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Italiano, Anna Maria Louisa
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American actress
DATE OF BIRTH=17 September, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH=Bronx, New York City, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH=6 June, 2005
PLACE OF DEATH=New York City, U.S.