The beach is a studio backdrop. Those Hollywood tricksters! Normally when I see old photographs of movie stars I just think 'oh, look at the movie star when they were younger!' But in this case I had a total psychic disconnect...
I was like "Anne Bancroft was alive in the 50s!???" as if this had never occurred to me before. The most vivid Anne Bancroft memories all come from 1960s movies (The Graduate, The Pumpkin Eater, The Miracle Worker) and, for me at least, watching of those same movies in the 1980s when I was a kid and knew her primarily from her work and marriage to Mel Brooks and movies like Torch Song Trilogy (where she played Harvey Fierstein's homophobic mother) and that overheated psycho nuns drama Agnes of God. I guess I always thought of her as an older woman, one of these stars that came to prominence only late in life. I was wrong. She was only 35 when she was creating the ultimate older woman role in "Mrs. Robinson" and just 6 years older than Dustin Hoffman.From 1953 to 1956, 'round the chronology of that beach photo, she made 11 movies. She was the same age as Scarlett Johansson now. I'm flipping out.
Time Capsule: In 1955 Disneyland (previous post) was opening in Anaheim, Gunsmoke (the longest running TV series of all time) was debuting on CBS, James Dean, the same age as Bancroft, was crashing his porsche tragically dying just months after the first of his three classics (East of Eden) opened in theaters, and "Rock Around the Clock" was making waves on the radio as one of the first hits of the modern rock era.
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8 comments:
miss anne bancroft if you please one of my faves!!!!she was very good in that overheated nun film by the way and in 'night mother the year after also in the turning point and esp in the pumpkin eater the film she should've won the oscar for,she was even great in trash like gi jane and malice.
god bless her!!!
The thing about Anne Bancroft is that even in her 20s, she never really looked "young" (at least not in any of the pictures I've seen). That's not to say she looked old and haggard, but just not like a usual young girl in her 20s.
Am I making any sense????
I agree with anonymous. He/she is indeed making sense. Anne Bancroft never looked "young". Just like Helen Mirren and Judi Dench. Not surprising that their careers really took flight only later in life.
(some later than others, of course...)
I absolutely adore her, more as a person than an actress. But, what an actress she was! My only problem was that in Agnes of God I actually found her to be quite funny (the way she spoke). There's a wonderful interview of Anne with Charlie Rose on youtube, she's a load of fun. About 54 minutes, but worth it. Check it out!
it's true but also don't you think the 40s and 50s styles tended to make all the girls look like wives?
I do agree the 40s and 50s styles were geared towards making young girls look older/more wifey, but it's more in Bancroft's facial features that make her look older. Compare Anne to, say Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth or Ava Gardner in their cheesecake bathing suit publicity shots when they were in their 20s. They still look in their 20s.
Oh, wow. I'd never seen her that young either. I adore her. She was even great in 'Garbo Talks', that inexplicable Sidney Lumet film.
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