Beloved Actress Anne Bancroft Dead at 73

Legendary actress Anne Bancroft died of cancer on June 7 at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to an Associated Press report. She was 73.

Born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano in the Bronx on September 17, 1931, Bancroft which was a name she adopted when she went to Hollywood in the 1950s became one of America's most acclaimed actresses. She won a Tony Award for her Broadway debut in Two For the Seesaw. She picked up another Tony for her performance in The Miracle Worker. Her other Broadway credits include Mother Courage and Her Children, The Little Foxes, A Cry of Players, Golda and Duet for One. In addition to her acclaimed stage career, Bancroft was also an accomplished film actress. She won an Academy Award for reprising her stage role of Annie Sullivan in the movie The Miracle Walker. She was also nominated for Oscars for The Pumpkin Eater, The Graduate in which she famously played Mrs. Robinson, The Turning Point and Agnes of God. Bancroft last appeared on the New York stage in 2001, starring off-Broadway in Edward Albee's The Occupant at the Signature Theater Company though she did miss some of the run because of pneumonia. She tried her hand as a producer with Squeeze Box at off-Broadway's Acorn Theatre in 2004.

Bancroft is survived by her husband, Mel Brooks whom she married in 1964, and their son, Maximilian Brooks.