Ann Bancroft of "Mrs Robinson" fame passes away
Anne Bancroft, who won the 1962 best actress Oscar as the teacher of a young Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker but more popularly known as the seductive Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, has died. She was 73.She died of uterine cancer on Monday last at Mount Sinai Hospital. Bancroft was awarded the Tony for creating the role on Broadway of poor-sighted Annie Sullivan, the teacher of the deaf and blind Keller. She repeated her portrayal in the film version. Yet despite her Academy Award and four other nominations, her performance in The Graduateovershadowed her other achievements and became an icon to every young man. Dustin Hoffman delivered the famous line when he realised his girlfriend's mother was coming on to him at her house: "Mrs Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?" Bancroft complained to a 2003 interviewer: "I am quite surprised that with all my work, and some of it is very, very good, that nobody talks about The Miracle Worker. We're talking about Mrs. Robinson. I understand the world. ... I'm just a little dismayed that people aren't beyond it yet." Mike Nichols, who directed her in The Graduate, said she was a masterful actress. "Her combination of brains, humor, frankness and sense were unlike any other artist," Nichols said in a statement released by a publicist. "Her beauty was constantly shifting with her roles, and because she was a consummate actress she changed radically for every part." Source: AP
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