Not to put too fine a point on it, but Anne Bancroft鈥檚 star started its ascent on February 7, 1957鈥攕imultaneously on both coasts.
In New York, she sauntered into the office of producer Fred Coe and wasted no time getting down to the pressing business at hand. 鈥淲here鈥檚 the john?鈥� she barked. (It鈥檚 called 鈥渃oming on as the character you鈥檙e going out for鈥濃攊n this case, Gittel Mosca, the brash bohemian who amorously collides in New York with a sad, marriage-broken Nebraskan in Two for the Seesaw.) Coe was certain she was his Gittel鈥攁n opinion soon shared by the play鈥檚 director, Arthur Penn, and writer, William Gibson, both of whom were in Los Angeles on that first day, steering Teresa Wright and Patty McCormack through the roles of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller in the Playhouse 90 premiere of their play The Miracle Worker.
Gittel Mosca got Bancroft a Tony Award鈥攁s did Annie Sullivan, and an Oscar, too鈥攚hen Gibson鈥檚 scripts moved to Broadway. Topping the brilliance of both those performances was her iconic Mrs. Robinson, the older woman out to seduce her daughter鈥檚 boyfriend in The Graduate. A half-century later, that鈥檚 how the world still remembers Anne Bancroft, now the subject of a richly detailed and definitive biography by Douglass K. Daniel out September 1.
A great actor was already formed and functioning in the pre-Gittel days. Bronx-born as Anna Maria Louisa Italiano, she started stage training at 16 at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts; spent six years learning her craft during the golden age of live television; and won a studio contract while helping a friend with his screen test.
Luck and loyalty are as key to Bancroft鈥檚 success as her talent. When United Artists insisted on casting Elizabeth Taylor or Audrey Hepburn in The Miracle Worker, 鈥渢he three most important men in my life鈥濃擟oe, Penn, and Gibson鈥攈eld their ground, formed a company, and made the movie with her for a measly $1.2 million. None of these three ever had to ask twice whenever they had a project they wanted her for.
Similarly, she snatched The Pumpkin Eater right out from under Deborah Kerr and Ingrid Bergman by flying to London and personally convincing director Jack Clayton she should play the part. 鈥淭he second I set eyes on her, I agreed with her,鈥� he said.
It鈥檚 still called 鈥渃oming on as the character you鈥檙e going out for.鈥�
