Anne Bancroft -- she sang, too.

Anne Bancroft -- she sang, too.
Anne Bancroft was indeed a wonderful singer as well as an irreplaceable actress.

When she was just another movie starlet in the early 50's she played a nightclub singer in 'Don't Bother to Knock' and was dubbed by Eve Marlee. The movie starlet thing eventually fizzled out and she went to NY, got serious about acting and became a surprise star on Broadway in 'Two for the Seesaw' and 'The Miracle Worker'. During this period she started showing up on Jack Paar's talk shows on which she was sharp, funny and thoroughly delightful. She once casually mentioned to Paar that she was studying singing and he made her promise that when she was ready she'd make her singing debut on his show. Which she did (6/7/63), in a regal Grecian gown no less, singing (and very well) a torchy medley of 'Where Are You?' and 'These Foolish Things' in front of a teddibly sophisticated Manhattan penthouse set. Her voice was throaty and strong and her phrasing and pitch were perfect

She then co-starred with Dick Shawn in a two-character ABC Stage 67 musical special titled 'I'm Getting Married' (3/16/67) in which she sang four original Betty Comden-Adolph Green songs - 'Venezia', 'Getting Married', 'Forbidden Fruit' and 'Love Is Our Umbrella', the latter two duets with Shawn.

She then guested on the Kraft Music Hall on NBC (4/30/69) singing a most peculiar pair of tunes - 'Limehouse Blues' and, in a trio with Mel Torme and Dudley Moore, 'Scarborough Fair'.

Her sublime hour was her Emmy-winning CBS special titled 'Annie, the Women in the Life of a Man' (12/18/70). It was a semi-revue format with a half-dozen or so male guest stars appearing in only one sequence apiece. Lee J. Cobb's was as a posh Park Avenue psychiatris"