Anne Bancroft

As a toddler, she sang around her Bronx, NY, apartment, later danced on the school lunchroom table, and possessed more innate style as a teenager than most young women her age. Anna Marie Louise Italiano (1931–2005), better known as the supremely talented actress Anne Bancroft, was a Hollywood starlet by 19. But after 15 undistinguished movies, and a brief, unhappy marriage, she realized how little she knew about acting. Associated Press editor and writer Daniel (Tough as Nails) describes how Bancroft escaped the Hollywood glitter, returned to New York, joined the famed Actors Studio, and pursued dramatic roles worthy of her talents and passions, including Two for the Seesaw, The Miracle Worker, and, of course, The Graduate. She also made one of show business's most oddball yet enduring marriages with comedian and writer Mel Brooks. Using mostly secondary sources, this title is still a thorough and loving portrait of an actress who never tired of exploring her inner life to give her best performance—on stage and television or in the movies.