ANNE BANCROFT
If she were a baseball player, you would say that Anne Bancroft could run, throw, hit, hit with power and field any position. Still gorgeous at 67, she was in over 40 movies. She was nominated for an Oscar five times, won once, and picked up two Tonys for her stage work. She died in 2005, leaving a bushel of fine performances. 
After a series of mediocre to awful films, Ms. Bancroft broke through in The Miracle Worker (1962). She is Annie Sullivan, the hard-as-nails teacher of blind and deaf Helen Keller (Patty Duke). Annie cuts poor Helen no slack; her unsentimental approach increases the impact of this wonderful film. Both Ms. Bancroft and Ms. Duke won Oscars. 
The part that has etched Ms. Bancroft on the American memory is Mrs. Robinson in Mike Nichols’ The Graduate (1967). She is absolutely perfect as the symbol of jaded maturity’s seduction of youthful innocence, as she lures the bumbling Dustin Hoffman to her bed. This film, perhaps more than any other, defined the 60's. Ms. Bancroft’s no-big-deal attitude toward her amoral lifestyle still shocks as it amuses. To young people, who were told to trust no one over 30, Mrs. Robinson was the embodiment of THE ENEMY. Oh, and by the way, at the time this film was made Ms. Bancroft was only 35 and Mr. Hoffman was 30!
A complete change of pace is 84 Charing Cross Road (1985), a very under-appreciated little gem. Anne Bancroft is an American teacher who strikes up a lively friendship, by mail, with cultivated British bookseller Anthony Hopkins. Ms. Bancroft’s savvy New Yorker is a perfect foil to Hopkins’ soft-spoken Londoner. A film for the mind and the heart.
Neil Simon’s Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) is a comedy with tears in its eyes. As the suddenly unemployed Jack Lemmon’s sympathetic but wise-cracking wife, Anne Bancroft makes the very most of a difficult part. And of course any Neil Simon effort has lots of laughs along with the sadder parts. 
The enigmatic Agnes of God (1985) is about a young nun who may or may not have murdered her own baby. This movie is certainly not for all tastes, but the performances by Meg Tilly as the young nun, Jane Fonda as a psychiatrist and Anne Bancroft as the Mother Superior are fine.
What if your troubled daughter told you she planned to end her life before morning? This is the dilemma faced by Thelma Cates (Anne Bancroft) in the haunting, nail-biting ‘night Mother (1986). Sissy Spacek is, as always, outstanding as the daughter, but to me Ms. Bancroft carries the film. 
Ms. Bancroft was married to director Mel Brooks until her death. The only film of his in which she appears is the hilarious and clever Silent Movie (1976). Making a modern comedy without any dialogue is quite a challenge, but Mr. Brooks is certainly up to it and Ms. Bancroft’s presence is a real plus. 
All of the movies in this column are available on DVD. All are suitable for children over 12.