Anne Bancroft

While some actors were lucky enough to find one role for which they would always be remembered, actress Anne Bancroft was both blessed and cursed for her turn as the icily seductive Mrs. Robinson in Mike Nichols' "The Graduate" (1967). Bancroft's legendary career spanned some six decades and encompassed parts as varied as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the Broadway production of "Golda" (1977), as well as the sight-impaired teacher of Helen Keller, Annie Sullivan, in "The Miracle Worker" (1962), the latter of which earned her both an Oscar and a Tony award. In fact, Bancroft was that rarest of performers who managed to earn her profession's Triple Crown, winning an Oscar, a Tony and an Emmy. Bancroft undeniably fashioned an envious array of performances. Unlike many in showbiz, she also managed to find the love of her life in the form of comedy writer and director Mel Brooks, whom she married in 1964 and remained close to up until her death in 2005. Bancroft also turned in multi-nominated performances in "The Turning Point" (1977), "Agnes of God" (1985) and "Neil Simon's Broadway Bound" (ABC, 1992), all of which underscored an exemplary career unlikely to ever be duplicated again.