Anne Bancroft dies at age 73

In mid-career Bancroft attended the Actors Studio to heighten her understanding of the acting craft. Later she studied at the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women at UCLA. In 1980 she directed a feature, “Fatso,” starring Dom DeLuise. It received modest attention.

Among her notable portrayals: a potential suicide in “The Slender Thread”; Mary Magdalene in Franco Zeffirelli’s miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth”; actress Madge Kindle in “The Elephant Man”; Anthony Hopkins’ pen pal in “84 Charing Cross Road”; feminist U.S. senator in “G.I. Jane”; the Miss Havisham role in a modernized “Great Expectations.”

Despite all her memorable performances, Bancroft was remembered most for Mrs. Robinson. In 2003 she admitted that nearly everyone discouraged her from undertaking the role “because it was all about sex with a younger man.” She viewed the character as having unfulfilled dreams and having been relegated to a conventional life with a conventional husband.

She added: “Film critics said I gave a voice to the fear we all have: that we’ll reach a certain 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.”

A selection of films in which Anne Bancroft appeared: — “Don’t Bother to Knock,” 1952 — “Tonight We Sing,” 1953 — “Treasure of the Golden Condor,” 1953 — “The Kid from Left Field,” 1953 — “Gorilla at Large,” 1954 — “Demetrius and the Gladiators,” 1954 — “The Raid,” 1954 — “New York Confidential,” 1955 — “Nightfall,” 1957 — “The Restless Breed,” 1957 — “The Girl in Black Stockings,” 1957 — “The Miracle Worker,” 1962 — “The Pumpkin Eater,” 1964 — “The Slender Thread,” 1965 — “7 Women,” 1966 — “The Graduate,” 1967 — “Young Winston,” 1972 — “Lipstick,” 1976 — “The Turning Point,” 1977 — “Fatso,” 1980 — “The Elephant Man,” 1980 — “To Be or Not to Be,” 1983 — “Garbo Talks,” 1984 — “Agnes of God,” 1985 — “’Night, Mother,” 1986 — “84 Charing Cross Road,” 1987 — “Torch Song Trilogy,” 1988 — “Rigby, You’re a Fool,” 1989 — “How to Make an American Quilt,” 1995 — “Antz,” 1998 — “Up at the Villa,” 2000

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