Who played the middle-aged seductress in the 1967 film "The Graduate"?

The popular actress who played the middle-aged seductress in the 1967 film "The Graduate" was Anne Bancroft. Anna Maria Louisa Italiano, known professionally as Anne Bancroft, was an American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer. She was associated with the best-known method acting school; she studied under Lee Strasberg.

Bancroft was born on September 17, 1931, in the Bronx, New York, NY. She lived for 73 years and died on June 6, 2005, at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY. Her active years as a professional in the movie industry were from 1951–2005. She was married two times, Mel Brooks (1964–2005) and Martin May (1953–1957).

After she first debuted in the film "Don't Bother to Knock" (1952) and next performed in a string of supporting film roles, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her lead role in "The Miracle Worker" (1962). She was the teacher of a young Helen Keller in the film. Subsequently, she repeated her film role on the Broadway stage. She was able to win a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

In 1965 on Broadway, Bancroft played a medieval nun obsessed with a priest (Jason Robards) in John Whiting's play 'The Devils'. This was a play based on the Aldous Huxley novel 'The Devils of Loudun'. Today Bancroft is perhaps best known as the seductress, Mrs. Robinson, in "The Graduate" (1967). This was the role that she later said overshadowed most of her other work.