Actress Anne Bancroft, who won an Oscar for "The Miracle Worker" and a place in pop culture history as the seductive Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate", has died of cancer. She was 73.

The wife of comedian Mel Brooks, Bancroft died Monday in New York at Mt. Sinai Hospital, the Internet Media Database reported.

One of the most popular actresses of the '60s, Bancroft's career started off dubiously in the '50s with a number of B movies for 20th Century Fox such as "Gorilla at Large", "Demetrius" and the "Gladiators".

The studio also renamed the then young actress, who was born Anna Maria Louise Italiano and originally went by Anne Marno. Given a list of names, she chose the dignified Bancroft.

However, fulfilling roles for the versatile TV and movie actress didn't follow, and Bancroft left both big and small screens for Broadway in the late 50s, winning two Tonys for "Two For The Seesaw" and "The Miracle Worker".

When Hollywood came calling to adapt both films, Bancroft lost the role in the former to Shirley MacLaine.

However, when studio heads wanted a more glamorous actress for the role of Annie Sullivan in "The Miracle Worker", director Arthur Penn put his foot down and refused to budge and created a gripping black-and-white film which won Oscars in 1962 for both Bancroft and co-star Patty Duke (as Helen Keller).