Anne Bancroft Bio

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Anne Bancroft (September 17, 1931 - June 6, 2005) was an American actress associated with the method school of acting.

Anne Bancroft: 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. Her parents were both children of Italian immigrants.

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 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.

Anne Bancroft: 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 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. Bancroft had returned to Broadway to star in Mother Courage and her Children. Joan Crawford accepted 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 with Jason Robards in the 1965 Broadway production of John Whiting's controversial play The Devils, produced by Alexander H. Cohen and directed by Michael Cacoyannis, which ran for a total of 31 performances.

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

Other major film roles were in The Pumpkin Eater, 7 Women, and what is unquestionably Bancroft's best-known role as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate; she played an unhappily married woman who seduces the much-younger recent college graduate played by Dustin Hoffman. Although Bancroft is now identified as Mrs. Robinson, she was not the first choice for the role; Patricia Neal, Doris Day and Jeanne Moreau all 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, Bancroft 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).

Bancroft received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6368 Hollywood Boulevard for her film work.

Anne Bancroft: Marriage and family

Bancroft was married to Martin May from July 1, 1953, to February 13, 1957. 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.

Bancroft and Brooks 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 and Bancroft were also in Dracula: Dead and Loving It, but never appeared together. Brooks produced the 1980 film The Elephant Man, in which Bancroft acted. He also was executive-producer for 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 Brooks had come with her (which he had), she joked, 'I can't get rid of him!'

Anne Bancroft: Death

The grave of Anne Bancroft's father Anne Bancroft's grave in Kensico Cemetery

Bancroft died of uterine cancer on June 6, 2005 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. 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, Maximillian, a grandson, her mother Mildred and two sisters, Joanne and Phyllis. She is interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, near her father, Michael Italiano. A white marble monument with a weeping angel adorns her grave.

Anne Bancroft: Work

Anne Bancroft - Theater

Anne Bancroft - Film

Anne Bancroft - Television