The timing for a retrospective on the five-time-Oscar-nominated actress Anne Bancroft couldn’t be better. Under the title named above, eleven films starring the vivid Bronx-born, Italian-American Anne Bancroft are featured from March 8-­11 at the Walter Reade Theater, courtesy of The Film Society of Lincoln Center. Some screenings will feature in-person appearances by Patty Duke, Mike Nichols, Neil Simon, and Marsha Norman.

The late Anne Bancroft’s range was broad and powerful. She always brought vitality and intensity to her portrayals as well as a unique and exceptional personal beauty. That she was appreciated by noted directors is evidenced by the host of filmmakers she worked with.

Hailed as a classic in filmmaking, in Mike Nichols’ The Graduate, Bancroft stars opposite Dustin Hoffman as suburban wife Mrs. Robinson seducing the young innocent, in a portrayal that projects both humor and sadness. At the March 9 screening, Mike Nichols will make a special appearance. (8:30 p.m.)

Acclaimed on the Broadway stage for her portrayal of Annie Sullivan in William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker,  Bancroft repeated her shattering portrayal in Arthur Penn’s film version, for which both Bancroft and co-star Patty Duke (playing Helen Keller) won Oscars. Patty Duke will make a special appearance at the Walter Reade screening on March 8. (8:15 p.m.)

In director Sidney Lumet’s Garbo Talks, Bancroft plays a dyed-in-the-wool New York character whose son (Ron Silver) moves mountains to fulfill his mother’s dying wish to meet the reclusive star. (March 8, 1 p.m.)

Bancroft both directed and starred in Fatso, starring Dom DeLuise as a man with an uncontrollable appetite. A tale both funny and poignant, here Bancroft could draw on her Italian-American background. (March 9, 4 p.m. and March 11, 2 p.m.).

In Tom Moore’s poignant Night, Mother,  Bancroft plays the mother to her daughter (Sissy Spacek) as the two hold a shocking conversation in which the young woman announces her plans to take her own life the next morning. Playwright and screenwriter Marsha Norman will appear in person. (March 9, 6 p.m.)

With Bancroft starring opposite Jack Lemmon as bickering newlyweds, there can be no result but hilarious in this adaptation of Neil Simon’s award-winning play, The Prisoner of Second Avenue. Neil Simon himself makes a special appearance at the March 11 screening. (6:15 p.m.)

With no genre closed to her, Bancroft appears in Anthony Mann’s Western, The Last Frontier. Here she plays a colonel’s wife whom Indian scout Victor Mature falls for. This film is considered to be one of Mann’s most beautiful Westerns. (March 11, 4 p.m.)

In David Jones’s 84 Charing Cross Road, Bancroft plays a New York scriptwriter who corresponds with a British bookseller (Anthony Hopkins) over a several year period. They cover books, the Dodgers, food, and more, in this charming film. (March 8, 3:15 p.m.)

Bancroft brought the script of David Lynch’s Elephant Man  to the attention of her husband, Mel Brooks, who produced the film. It starred Oscar-nominated John Hurt as a deformed man who aroused considerable public attention in 19th century London. Bancroft plays the role of Mrs. Kendal. (March 11, 8:45 p.m.)

In Jack Clayton’s The Pumpkin Eater, Bancroft plays a long-suffering wife with six children and an unfaithful screenwriter husband (Peter Finch). Adapted by Harold Pinter, with music by Georges Delerue, this film is an enduring classic. (March 9, 1:30 p.m. and March 10, 3:20 p.m.)

Herbert Ross’s The Turning Point  stars Bancroft opposite Shirley MacLaine, as aging star ballerinas. The latter’s daughter’s ambitions set old rivalries bubbling. Bancroft received her fourth Oscar nomination here. For those who may not know, director Ross was the husband of noted ballerina Nora Kaye. (March 10, 1 p.m.)

http://www.theepochtimes.com/
n2/content/view/30965/
 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (With Archives) on:
[Formerly Italy at St Louis]