Anne Bancroft

Born: 17th September 1931
Where: The Bronx, New York

Anne Bancroft's turn as the angry, seductive Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate in 1967, was a role that she will always be remembered for, and marked a huge turning point in her career.

Her career has spanned some five decades and has encompassed roles as varied as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and the sight-impaired teacher of Helen Keller.

Born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano to Italian immigrant parents, she enrolled at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1948.

After completing two years there, she adopted the stage name Anne Marno and soon found work in live television, appearing on more than fifty TV shows in two years.

Hollywood soon beckoned and under orders from Darryl F Zanuck, she adopted the surname of Bancroft.

Returning to New York, Anne became a member of the Actors Studio where she studied Method acting.

Under the guidance of director Arthur Penn, she delivered back-to-back Tony-winning stage performances.

Her first role was opposite Henry Fonda in the love story Two for the Seesaw, followed by The Miracle Worker.

In a rare instance of Hollywood using the original stage players, Anne and co-star Patty Duke recreated their roles in Penn's 1962 feature film version of The Miracle Worker and both picked up Academy Awards for their efforts.

Anne continued to divide her time between the stage and screen.

She played an unhappily married woman in The Pumpkin Eater which earned her the best actress award at Cannes and a second Oscar nomination.

In 1965 she made Seven Women, and The Slender Thread. She then received her third Best Actress Oscar nomination for The Graduate.

Anne played an ageing ballerina facing old rivalries with her best friend (Shirley MacLaine) in The Turning Point, for which she picked up a fourth Best Actress Academy Award nomination.

She picked up a fifth Best Actress Oscar nomination for her tough-talking mother superior in Agnes of God.

Anne also had a strong career in television. She also delivered an Emmy-winning turn as a white woman reuniting with her black daughter in Deep in My Heart.