Anne Bancroft (September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, after studying it under Lee Strasberg.

She made her film debut in 1952 in Dont Bother to Knock with Marilyn Monroe and worked as a contract player in several films before returning to her native New York and appearing in several Broadway plays. She later won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Miracle Worker (1962), and received subsequent nominations for her roles in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), The Graduate (1967), The Turning Point (The Turning Point (1977 film)) (1977), and Agnes of God (1985). Later in her career, she played character roles in many theatrical films such as Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), G.I. Jane (1997), Great Expectations (1998), Antz (1998), and Heartbreakers (Heartbreakers (2001 film)) (2001). She also starred in several television productions, including The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003 film)) (2003) for which she received Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. She died of uterine cancer at age 73 in 2005. Among her survivors was her husband of 40 years, Mel Brooks, and their son Maximillian Brooks.