Two for the Seesaw and The Miracle Worker both earned the versatile actress Tony awards.  They were both adapted for film, and while her stage role in Two for the Seesaw went with Shirley MacLaine, Bancroft held on to her role as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker and won an Oscar in that role.  Her intensive research before diving into a role made her performances relevant and visceral.

Without a doubt the role that made Anne Bancroft a household name for the ages was that of Mrs. Robinson, which she defined in the 1967 film The Graduate.    Her performance as a sultry, aggressive, suburban mother assigned a face to the culture that was being countered, and continues to be a catch-phrase for May-December romances where the lady is in the seniority.  Bancroft often felt dogged by the part, but accepted its power and her role in it. 

After The Graduate Bancroft worked steadily through the seventies and eighties, appearing in Agnes of God as Mother Superior, The Turning Point as a maturing dancer, and as the mother in Torch Song Trilogy.  Like many actresses she found herself lacking in options for work as she grew older.  Despite that she appeared often, in smaller roles sometimes, and didn't disappear from sight.  Her final role will be released later this year.  She voiced the role of Sedessa in the animated fantasy Delgo*.

Anne Bancroft is survived by her husband since 1964, producer Mel Brooks, and their son Max.  The lights on Broadway are scheduled to be dimmed the evening of June 8th in her memory. 

Ms. Bancroft voices the villain Sedessa, an intelligent and eccentric leader who is as charming as she is ambitious. The film also stars, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, Chris Kattan, Val Kilmer, Michael Clarke Duncan, Kelly Ripa, Burt Reynolds, Eric Idle, Lou Gossett, Jr, and Malcolm McDowell.