Remembering Mrs. Robinson
Aug 17th, 2008 | By Rick | Category: People
Anne Bancroft
The past few days we’ve been showing my sister and niece around Alabama during their whirlwind visit from the Olson ancestral home in Washington State. Thursday was our “Southern Heritage Tour,” wherein we saw Antebellum homes, alligator ponds, and Klan marching grounds. Friday was “Local Culture Day,” during which we ate soul food at Maggie’s and visited Lurleen Wallace State Park, named after George Wallace’s wife. Yesterday, we toured Northern Alabama, land of rolling hills and yard art, and saw a natural bridge, a monastery and a 6-foot cypress Jesus encased in glass.
As Mrs. Robinson
We also visited Ivy Green, birthplace of Helen Keller, who overcame great adversity to help change America’s perception of the severely disabled. No one can visit there without learning about Annie Sullivan, her teacher and mentor; I can’t think of Sullivan without picturing Anne Bancroft, the remarkable actress who played her. Co-starring with Patty Duke in William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker, she won a Tony in the Broadway version, then went on to win an Oscar for Best Actress in the film version. In 1970, she won an Emmy for her TV special The Women in the Life of a Man, and became one of the few actors to have won all three awards.
The man in her life, of course, was Mel Brooks, and it seemed to me the strangest of Hollywood couplings: the sexy, imperious Italian goddess of The Graduate with that very Jewish purveyor of fart jokes and horror send-ups. But it was one of the most enduring and celebrated of Hollywood unions. They met at a rehearsal for The Perry Como Show in 1961; Brooks claims he bribed a studio functionary to tell him where she was eating dinner. Married three years later, they were together for 41 more years, until her death in 2005 from uterine cancer. About his wife, Brooks once said “I’m married to a beautiful and talented woman who can lift your spirits just by looking at you.”
Though she appeared in some 65 films, she is best-known for her iconic role as Mrs. Robinson from Mike Nichols’ 1967 film. She was only 36 years old when cast as the much-older woman who seduces just graduated Dustin Hoffman, who was 30 at the time. She was ambivalent about the role, feeling that it overshadowed all her others. Be that as it may, she fueled the fantasies of many a post-adolescent male, including mine.
Coo-coo-ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson.
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If you want more background on Bancroft’s casting and performance in “The Graduate,” read Mark Harris’ “Pictures at a Revolution,” which profiles all five of the 1967 Best Picture nominees. I literally couldn’t put the book down.
I just rewatched “The Graduate” last week. Both Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman are fantastic, all the more so when you realized they are, respectively, too young and too old for the parts they’re playing.
My favorite Bancroft moment is from the made-for-TV “Jesus of Nazareth.” She’s Mary Magdalene, and at the crucifixion, she’s trying to muscle her way through the crowd to get to the foot of the cross. In an inspired moment, she tells a Roman guard “I’m with the family,” and the little, “I-can’t-believe-I-got-away-wtih-that” smirk that crosses her face as she’s allowed to pass is priceless. Her Magdalene is feistier and more complex than most portrayals.
I love “The Graduate.” It was a 60s watershed that kind of defined an era … although it’s full of great lines, I love the “plastics” bit:
“I want to say one word to you. Just one word.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you listening?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Plastics.”
“Just how do you mean that, sir?”
That’s classic! I also love when Ben tells her parents that he’s going to marry Elaine, but then gradually reveals that she doesn’t know his plans and doesn’t even like him much.
Ben’s father: “I don’t know, Ben. That sounds kind of half-baked.”
Ben: “Oh no, sir. It’s completely baked.”
Those two bits from The Graduate are hilarious.
The complete story of the marriage between Brooks and Bancroft is remarkably touching.
Alexander, I’d love to hear about it … maybe you can write about it at your fine blog, which I just discovered over the last couple of days.