Overview (5)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (2)

Trade Mark (2)

In most of her films, she habitually removes an earring before answering a telephone



Husky resonant voice



Trivia (62)



Was a leading choice to play Aurora Greenway in Zeit der Zärtlichkeit (1983). The part went to Shirley MacLaine , who won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance.



Was offered the role of Chris MacNeil in Der Exorzist (1973), but had to turn it down because she was pregnant. The part went to Ellen Burstyn



She and Mel Brooks met on the set of a talk show, and Mel later paid a woman who worked on the show to tell him which restaurant Anne was going to eat at that night so he could "accidentally" bump into her again and strike up a conversation.

Graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan.





She and Mel Brooks married at New York City Hall, where a passer-by served as their witness.



Said that director Arthur Penn had the greatest impact on her career.

Parents: Michael (1905-2001) and Mildred (1908-2010).





In 1999 she became the 15th performer to win the Triple Crown of acting. Oscar: Best Actress, Unter anderer Sonne (1962), Tonys: Best Supporting Actress-Play, "Two for the Seesaw" (1958) and Best Actress-Play, "The Miracle Worker" (1960), and Emmy: Best Supporting Actress-Miniseries/Movie, Deep in My Heart (1999).



Has won two Tony Awards: in 1958, as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for "Two for the Seesaw", and in 1960, as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "The Miracle Worker", a role she recreated in her Oscar-winning performance in the film version of the same name, Unter anderer Sonne (1962). She was also Tony nominated in 1978 as Best Actress (Play) for "Golda", in which she played the title character, Golda Meir



In 1967 she accepted the Oscar for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" on behalf of Elizabeth Taylor , who wasn't present at the awards ceremony.



In 1993 she (together with Dustin Hoffman ) accepted the Oscar for "Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium" on behalf of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala , who wasn't present at the awards ceremony.

Grandson, Henry Michael Brooks, b. 3/2005.





In 1987 was booked to appear on the British chat show Wogan (1982). In the green room five minutes before airtime, host Terry Wogan informed her that the show was live. According to Wogan she turned a deathly shade of pale and said she never did live television. In order to calm her down, Wogan suggested that she count 1, 2, 3... before walking on. When she was called onto the set, she could quite noticeably be seen counting whilst walking to her seat. She remained very uncomfortable and all her answers were monosyllabic. Wogan still says she was his most difficult guest.



Was only eight years older than Katharine Ross , who played her daughter in Die Reifeprüfung (1967). Bancroft's character is said to be "twice as old" as Dustin Hoffman but in real life she was only six years older than him.

She said that at the start of her career, 20th Century-Fox thought that her real name--Anna Maria Italiano--was "too ethnic", and gave her several options for a new one. She chose Bancroft because she thought it sounded dignified.





Her performance as Mrs. Robinson in Die Reifeprüfung (1967) is ranked #47 on "Premiere" Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.



In 1963 she won her Oscar for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" against Geraldine Page . In 1986 it was Page who won the Oscar for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" beating out Bancroft, who was nominated for her performance in Agnes - Engel im Feuer (1985).



Said that for many years after doing Die Reifeprüfung (1967), young men would tell her that she was the first woman they had sexual fantasies about.



In 1998 she made a special appearance at the The 70th Annual Academy Awards (1998) and participated in the Oscar Winners Tribute sequence along with other Academy Award winners.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 29-31. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.



Has a street named after her in Iowa City, IA.



Studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.





Was in consideration for the role of Alice Hyatt in Alice lebt hier nicht mehr (1974). The part went to Ellen Burstyn , who won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance.



Turned down the role of Annie Haworth in Die Vögel (1963). The part went to Suzanne Pleshette , who received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6368 Hollywood Blvd.



Her first role was as star of the kindergarten play as Mama Bear in "The Three Little Bears.".





She taught English to Peruvian actress/singer Yma Sumac

During her days as a radio actress she performed under the name Anne St. Raymond.





Was engaged to John Ericson in the early '50s.

Born in an apartment on St. Raymond Street, near the corner of Seddon Street and Maclay Avenue in the Bronx.





During her early career in TV, she called herself Anne Marno. Darryl F. Zanuck changed it when she signed with Fox.



Presented the Academy Award to Sidney Poitier when he became the first African-American to win the Best Actor Oscar for Lilien auf dem Felde (1963).



Although she played Simon Ward 's mother in Der junge Löwe (1972), she was only ten years his senior in real life.

Survived breast cancer in the early '80s.



Attended Christopher Columbus High School in Bronx, New York where she graduated on an accelerated program.



Co-founded the Radcliffe Radio Players while in high school to perform condensed dramatizations on a Peekskill, New York radio station owned by a family friend.



First husband Martin A. May was from an oil-rich Texas family and was a law student at University of Southern California.



After her contract with Fox expired and she tired of working in Los Angeles, Bancroft returned to New York where she enrolled in acting classes at HB Studios to "unlearn" some of her film and tv technique in order to fulfill her dreams of becoming an accomplished stage performer.



Bought a brownstone apartment building at 260 West 11th Street in Manhattan for $96,000 because she got tired of paying exorbitant New York rents.



Died at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.



Buried at the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, NY.





Was originally cast as Evelyn in Spanglish (2004) but pulled out of the movie when she was diagnosed with cancer and was replaced by Cloris Leachman



Like fellow five-time nominees Audrey Hepburn and Jennifer Jones , won the Best Actress Oscar on her first nomination, but did not win again on subsequent acting nominations.

Alumna of the AADA (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Class of 1950.



Her mother outlived her by five years.



Personal Quotes (13)

I was at a point where I was ready to say, "I am what I am because of what I am and if you like me I'm grateful, and if you don't, what am I going to do about it?"



Life is here only to be lived so that we can, through life, earn the right to death, which to me is paradise. Whatever it is that will bring me the reward of paradise, I'll do the best I can.



The best way to get most husbands to do something is to suggest that perhaps they're too old to do it.





When [ Mel Brooks ] told his Jewish mother he was marrying an Italian girl, she said: "Bring her over. I'll be in the kitchen - with my head in the oven".



[of her Mrs. Robinson role in Die Reifeprüfung (1967)] Film critics said I gave a voice to the fear we all have: that we'll reach a point in our lives, look around and realize that all the things we said we'd do and become will never come to be - and that we're ordinary.

[from 1984] The only reason I'm still not doing "Daughter of Gorilla at Large" is because my personal life had become a shambles. Every picture I did was worse than the last one and every man I was in love with was worse than the last one. I was terribly immature. I was going steadily downhill in terms of self-respect and dignity.





[on John Ford ] Marvelous but loony, tearing out pages of the script everywhere.

[1962] When I arrived in town, the movie industry was looking for sexpot glamor girls. I didn't qualify. Nor was I ever offered a top-flight movie. But there isn't any bitterness on my part. I wasn't as good an actress then as I am now.





[on being married to Mel Brooks ] When he comes home at night and I hear his key in the lock, I say to myself, "Oh good! The party's about to begin".

I can sit with anybody in a room for an hour, and by the time they leave, automatically I will know the way they talk and the way they move. That's my special art.



When I was in radio, I was Anna St. Raymond; when I was in television, I was Anne Marno; and then in movies I was Anne Bancroft -- if I ever go into burlesque, I've got one picked out: Ruby Pepper.



[Driving to Mexico City for a film] When I was in Mexico on location we had this long drive from the bottom of a mountain all the way to Mexico City. I used to get pretty bored on these drives, so I was shouting out the window, 'Hello, you people - Here I am! You lucky people you!' So then five guys in this car followed us all the way to the hotel! That's the only funny thing that happened to me back then, only it wasn't in Hollywood - it was Mexico. Nothing funny happens in Hollywood.





[on her days as a contract player at Fox] I was seduced by every script. I thought every picture was the best, and that I was Greta Garbo . It was the ability to accept these terrible lies that kept me going.

Salary (4)