In the film The Miracle Worker, Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft won an Oscar in 1963 for her powerfully moving portrayal of Annie Sullivan, the inspiring teacher of the young Helen Keller in the film The Miracle Worker. It was one of her proudest moments. But it was her role as the seductive, bored middle-class housewife, in The Graduate, that worked miracles for her career.
    More than fifty years ago, this New York-born daughter of Italian immigrants was persuaded by Hollywood studio bosses to change her name to help her career. It was one of the few compromises made by one of America’s finest and most artistically uncompromising actresses.