Oscar-Winning Actress Anne Bancroft Dies at 73

Her first film, "Don't Bother to Knock" (1952), was with Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark. She also appeared with such bygone stars as Susan Hayward, Victor Mature and Cornel Wilde.

"I didn't even know what a serious actress was," she later said of her early foray in Hollywood. "I wanted to be a movie star."

In 1957, she quit Hollywood and returned to New York. Emerging from her training in Method acting at the Actors Studio, she was called a "female Marlon Brando."

"To be somebody, to me, meant to be Marlene Dietrich or Jean Harlow and drag fox furs around the floor," she said. "I had no idea that acting meant digging into yourself and coming up with something that resembled truth. That all came to me later. First I had to discover myself."

Director Penn picked her in 1958 for the role of a bohemian ballet dancer in "Two for the Seesaw," then chose her the following year for "Miracle Worker." To prepare for the demanding part as Annie Sullivan, a teacher who was losing her eyesight, Ms. Bancroft spent several weeks at a school for the blind in New York. She placed adhesive tape over her eyes, wore dark glasses and learned sign language. She and Duke became so proficient that they told jokes to each other backstage with their hands.

In 1962, both actresses transferred their roles from stage to screen for the film version. When the Academy Awards were presented in 1963, Ms. Bancroft was performing on Broadway in "Mother Courage," and her Oscar was accepted by Joan Crawford.

After a busy and critically acclaimed decade, Ms. Bancroft stepped away from acting for several years in the early 1970s to raise her only son, Maximilian. She returned to the stage in 2002 after an absence of more than 20 years, in Edward Albee's "Occupant." She recently played herself on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

She occasionally appeared in films directed by her husband, Mel Brooks. She recommended that he turn his film "The Producers" into a play, and it became a Broadway hit. Their 41-year marriage was considered one of the happiest unions in show business.

An early marriage to Milton A. May ended in divorce.

She is survived by her husband and son.