I just heard the news. I have no words yet.
My thoughts are with Mel Brooks, and their son Max. I’ll write more later, when I’m clearer in the head.
I’m gonna miss knowing she’s out there. A classy dame, that one. I’m very sad about her passing. I really have no words. I can’t realize it yet. She’s always been there. Her performance in Miracle Worker changed my life, frankly. I was in 8th grade when I saw it … and it was BURNED into my brain. The power … nobody was powerful like Anne Bancroft.
Did you see any of the recent pictures of her? She was still *stunning*. What class. What talent.
Farewell to you, Mrs. Robinson (I know she wished people would have remembered her for a lot more than that role, but I can’t help it).
Totally. A gorgeous woman.
I know it’s cheesy – but I love that movie GI Jane and she is absolutely fantastic in it as this scotch-swilling Southern hard-ass Senator – or Congresswoman – can’t remember. It’s a great performance.
Very classy. She will be missed. I hate seeing all these classic actors/actresses pass away. We’ve lost so many of that great generation over the last decade.
My thoughts and prayers go out to her family.
i spent a day with the Brooks family on St. John..she was truly the most gracious, charming, witty, honest,plain-spoken and beautiful woman. She told us she loved us as we left her waving with her beloved husband ‘Melvin”…she made us feel like we had made a true friend…and i believe we did. She was the real thing and i’m blessed to have met her. Good night Anne.
And she sprayed Off on your legs, Mitchell! Anne Bancroft was concerned that you were lacking in bug spray. I just love that.
It’s funny. When I heard I literally thought of Mitchell’s day with the Brooks’. It’s all I’ve beent thinking about. Mitchell…PLEASE write something on my blog about her. I’m so distressed. Honestly. I’m not kidding.
Bancroft had a wit and intelligence that was very rare. Her talent was not only that could she dissappear into other people but these people became more gigantic. There was a bigness about her that wasn’t phoney, it wasn’t put on. She attacked things. She came at them with pathos and malice. She never thought too much, yet in her eyes you could see a million things. She was theatrical, and small all at the same time. She always reminded me of Ellen Burstyn in her acting approach. Simple and complicated. The combination is very, very rare.
Look at The Turning Point. A Grande Dame in every sense, yet so filled with agony and light. There’s a sadness in this character, but still a great bravado.
Miracle Worker. I don’t even know that I can go there. I don’t know that there are words that won’t end up just being trite and text book-y. But her performance in that reminds me of a speeding train that’s teetering dangerously close to the edge of a cliff for over 2 hours. She never gives up. Yet, in her dreams about her brother, and her description of the orphanage, the Well is so deep, her pain right on the tip of her tongue, that it’s unnerving. I also love how she never made us feel sorry for her plight. She had tunnel vision when it came to Helen.
Mrs. Robinson woud take a whole page. There’s a sly sneaky villian in her that is really, really attractive. Also- she just seems like a gal who didn’t live up to her own expectations. Like she failed, but she failed to herself. It’s the worst kind of injustice. But as far as we know, as the audience, she is hungry and she needs to feed. And when she’s crossed, she attacks. No questions, and no prisoners.
I could go on. Sorry I took up so much space, Sheila. I’m really upset about this. The acting world has lost a great teacher. And a funny, funny woman.
Alex – I was waiting for you to show up.
Miracle Worker changed my life – kinda like when I first saw Dog Day Afternoon at around the same time. It was a moment when I realized the power of really really good acting. I had a lot of actors in my family, so I was used to being around them … but those performances in those movies just made me think: wow. HOW THE HELL DID THEY DO THAT???
I loved it when Shirley Maclaine came to my school and talked with us – she talked about The Turning Point and said something like: “Before we started filming that fight scene – I was a little bit nervous that I would hurt her, because she was so thin. Let’s just say i didn’t have to worry.” Bancroft was FIERCE in that scene. They both were.
A classic actress …
Yes, Mitchell – talk more about your time with Anne and Melvin.
A wonderful tribute from Mike Nichols yesterday on this sad news –
“Her combination of brains, humour, frankness and sense were unlike any other artist. Her beauty was constantly shifting with her roles, and because she was a consummate actress she changed radically for every part.”
And the NYT, “Stage and Film Star in Voracious and Vulnerable Roles..”, has a lovely quote – “Why play with dolls,” she recalled years later, “when you can sing ‘I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate’ on the street corner?”
As well as the performances mentioned I’ll add 84 Charing Cross Road with Anthony Hopkins.. more vulnerable than voracious and a great little movie.
Oh, that’s right, peteb – I remember how much you love 84 Charing Cross Road … wonderful movie, right??
It’s a movie that snuck up on me, Sheila.. I found it on a long slow afternoon.. intrigued by the cast.. and watched it unfold. It’s Anne Bancroft’s movie more so than Hopkins.. I thought it was a really interesting, and wonderful, film.. and, with the script being mostly in the form of voice-overs, just a small step away from a silent movie.