Anne Bancroft

Abandoned by their mentally ill mother, the Tillerman children set off in search of a place to stay. Alone, scared and with nowhere to turn, they travel cross country to find the reclusive grandmother they've never known.

Anne Bancroft's cathartic lead performance anchors The Pumpkin Eater, Harold Pinter's harrowing, elliptical tale of marital dissatisfaction. Though much of the film concerns her character's fitful bouts with depression, Bancroft charges every moment she's onscreen, employing an array of subtle gestures and facial expressions to convey what her repressed character cannot. Pinter and director Jack Clayton never resort to facile satire or pat assignations...