Bancroft was born Anna Maria Luisa Italiano on September 17, 1931 inthe Bronx, New York, the middle of three daughters of Mildred Carmela (née Di Napoli; 1907–2010), a telephone operator, and Michael Gregory Italiano (1905–2001), a dress pattern maker.[4] Her parents werechildren of Italian immigrants fromMuro Lucano, Basilicata.[5] She grew upRoman Catholic.[6]
After three weeks of location work onThe Last Hunt (1955), a horse got out of control causing Bancroft to land hard on the horn of hersaddle. Due to hospitalization she was replaced as the Native American girl byDebra Paget; although some of her long distance shots were retained in finished film.[11][12]
Bancroft received a second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance inThe Pumpkin Eater (1964).[19] Bancroft achieved stardom when she played the starring role as Mrs. Robinson in the romantic comedy-dramaThe Graduate (1967).[20] 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 byDustin Hoffman.[19] In the film, Hoffman's character later dates and falls in love with her daughter.[20] Bancroft was ambivalent about her appearance inThe 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 36 years old at the time—just eight years older than her onscreen daughterKatharine Ross and six years older than Hoffman. The film, and her performance, received widespread critical acclaim, earning her a third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. ACBS television special,Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man (1970), won Bancroft anEmmy Award for her singing and acting.[21]
Bancroft is one of ten actors to have won both an Academy Award and a Tony Award for the same role (as Annie Sullivan inThe Miracle Worker),[22] and one of very few entertainers to win anOscar, an Emmy and a Tony award. This rare achievement is also known as theTriple Crown of Acting. She followed that success with a second television special,Annie and the Hoods (1974), which was telecast onABC and featured her husbandMel Brooks as a guest star.[23] She made an uncredited cameo in the filmBlazing Saddles (1974), directed by Brooks. She made a career comeback with the ballet dramaThe Turning Point (1977), followed by the neo-noir mystery filmAgnes of God (1985), which earned her two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress.[24][25]
Bancroft made her debut as a screenwriter and director inFatso (1980), in which she starred withDom DeLuise.[26]
Bancroft also starred in several television movies and miniseries, receiving sixEmmy Award nominations (winning once for herself and shared forAnnie, The Women in the Life of a Man),[32][33] eightGolden Globe nominations (winning twice)[34] and twoScreen Actors Guild Awards. Her last appearance was as herself in a 2004 episode ofHBO'sCurb Your Enthusiasm.[35] She was cast inSpanglish (2004) later in the year, but had to bow out due to a medical emergency.[36] Her last project was the animated feature filmDelgo, released posthumously in 2008.[37] The film was dedicated to her.
Bancroft's first husband was lawyer Martin May, ofLubbock, Texas. They married on July 1, 1953, separated in November 1955, and divorced on February 13, 1957.[1][41] She had previously been engaged to actorJohn Ericson in 1951.[42]Lee Marvin's ex-wife Betty claimed in her 2010 bookTales of a Hollywood Housewife that Marvin had an affair with Bancroft when they co-starred inGorilla at Large (1954) andA Life in the Balance (1955).[43]
In 1961, Bancroft metMel Brooks at a rehearsal forPerry Como's variety showKraft Music Hall. Bancroft and Brooks married on August 5, 1964, at theManhattan Marriage Bureau nearNew York City Hall, and were married until her death in 2005. Their son,Max Brooks, was born in 1972.[44][45] Bancroft worked with her husband three times on the screen: dancing a tango in Brooks'sSilent Movie (1976), in his remake ofTo Be or Not to Be (1983)[10] and in the episode titled"Opening Night" (2004) of the HBO showCurb Your Enthusiasm.[35] The couple also appeared inDracula: Dead and Loving It (1995),[10] but never appeared together again. Brooks produced the filmThe Elephant Man (1980), in which Bancroft acted. He was executive producer for the film84 Charing Cross Road (1987) in which she starred. Both Brooks and Bancroft appeared in Season 6 ofThe Simpsons. According to the DVD commentary, when Bancroft came to record her lines for the episode "Fear of Flying", theSimpsons writers asked if Brooks had come with her (which he had); she joked, "I can't get rid of him!"
In a 2010 interview, Brooks credited Bancroft as being the guiding force behind his involvement in developingThe Producers andYoung Frankenstein for the musical theater. In the same interview, he said of their first meeting in 1961, "From that day, until her death on June 6, 2005, we were glued together."[46] Bancroft's son, Max, said in a 2020 interview that she was "a secret, closet scientist". He said that, as a child, she read to himPaul de Kruif'sMicrobe Hunters (1926) as a bedtime story.[47]
Bancroft died ofuterine cancer at age 73 on June 6, 2005, atMount Sinai Hospital inManhattan.[50] Her death surprised many, including some of her friends, as the intensely private Bancroft had not disclosed any details of her illness.[51] Her body was interred atKensico Cemetery inValhalla, New York, near her father; her mother would die five years after Bancroft in April 2010 and be buried with her family.[52] Her final film,Delgo, was dedicated to her memory.
^Frank Northen Magill (October 1, 1987).Magill's Cinema Annual: 1987. Gale.ISBN978-0-89356-406-3. RetrievedDecember 3, 2011....Anne Bancroft, one of the world's most respected and versatile actresses...
^Willis, John A.; Barry Monush, eds. (2005).Screen World 2004. Vol. 55. New York: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. p. 7.ISBN9781557836397.OCLC56656049.An impassioned, clever, and gifted actress who has been equally brilliant in both drama and comedy, emerging as one of the most enduring and respected performers of her generation.
^Schallert, Edwin (August 20, 1955). "Moreno Quits Natives; Paget Now in 'Last Hunt'; Clift Eyed for Tolstoy".Los Angeles Times. p. 13.
^Thomas M. Pryor (August 20, 1955). "DEVIL'S DISCIPLE' PLANNED AS FILM: Hecht-Lancaster Arranging With Pascal Estate to Do Shaw's Great Comedy".New York Times. p. 20.
