Anne Bancroft vs. Faye Dunaway
Battle of the Well-Preserved Women of a Certain Age

The line everyone remembers from The First Wives Club -- if they remember any of The First Wives Club -- is spoken by Goldie Hawn, who says something to the effect that there are three ages for actresses in Hollywood: babe, District Attorney, and Driving Miss Daisy. While Fametracker agrees that this is generally true, there is occasionally a role that calls for an older woman -- maybe even one who qualifies for a senior citizens' discount when she goes to the cinema -- who is still pretty sexy. For these few roles, Hollywood has two ladies they call, and those two ladies are Faye Dunaway and Anne Bancroft.

In fact, the careers of Bancroft and Dunaway have had a great deal in common ever since they first showed up on the public stage. For instance, Bancroft's signature role was Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, which was released in 1967. And the role that put Dunaway on the map was Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde, which was released in...1967. Both called for them to be crazy sexy -- in fact, it was the sexuality of each woman that anchors the film, in some way. Both characters stand out, even now, as a couple of the most striking film roles of the 1960s.

Since then, neither Dunaway nor Bancroft has risen to the same level of superstardom since then, although there have been some great roles in somewhat campy movies (Dunaway as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest, Bancroft as Mother Miriam in Agnes of God). They've even played historical figures (Dunaway as Margaret Sanger in a TV movie, Bancroft as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker). More recently, they've also played pivotal roles as authoritative figures in more recent films (Dunaway as Thomas Crown's therapist in The Thomas Crown Affair, Bancroft as Senator Lillian DeHaven in G.I. Jane).

Whether or not Ms. Dunaway and Ms. Bancroft have had "work" done, to use the common euphemism, is irrelevant. Bancroft is nearly seventy, and Dunaway is pushing sixty, and both are still respectable working actresses and not pathetic, slatternly Hollywood jokes (Sally Kirkland, are your ears burning?). Granted, neither of them is quite a "babe," but they're not "Driving Miss Daisy" either. Fametracker salutes them both.

Advantage: Anne Bancroft. She's played an Americanized Miss Havisham, and queen of an ant colony. Dude, she's got the range.