Anne Bancroft died at New York City's Mount Sinai Medical Center on Monday following a battle against uterine cancer. She was 73. The late screen icon won a Best Actress Oscar in 1963 for her portrayal of Helen Keller's teacher in The Miracle Worker, but she will always be most remembered for her role as Mrs. Robinson in 1967's The Graduate. Bancroft was born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano in 1931 to Italian immigrant parents living in New York City's Bronx district, and they recognized their daughter's talent for entertaining before she reached her third birthday. The late actress' movie career began in 1952 when Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox gave her a contract and a more screen-friendly name. After a series of unsuccessful low budget movies, Bancroft moved to Broadway and won a Tony for her role opposite Henry Fonda in the play Two For The Seesaw. Bancroft went on to make the lead role in the original stage production of The Miracle Worker her own before returning to Hollywood to resume her big screen career. Following her Academy Awards success in 1963, Bancroft was unsuccessfully nominated on a further four occasions for acclaimed performances in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), The Graduate (1967), The Turning Point (1977) and Agnes Of God (1985). Bancroft wed comedian and The Producers creator Mel Brooks in 1964, and they enjoyed 41 years of marriage and the birth of their son Maximilian in 1972 before her death on Monday.

Katie Holmes has prompted rumors she and new boyfriend Tom Cruise are planning to marry - after refusing to rule out a wedding. The pair have only been dating since April, but have already professed their love on national TV - Cruise famously atop talk show queen Oprah Winfrey's sofa. And Holmes won't deny increasing reports they are actually engaged. When quizzed, she says, "Look I can't lie. We have to talk about that, Tom and I. But it just makes me smile when you ask about that. I'm so happy. I'm thrilled. I'm so in love with Tom and that's all I care about. He's just the most amazing man in the whole world." And of Cruise's bizarre appearance of Winfrey's show, she adds, "I sat there and I was, like, I'm the luckiest woman in the whole world."

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman has warned her ex-husband Tom Cruise to avoid photographic publicity stunts with his new girlfriend Katie Holmes because it makes their romance look fake. Polls in US magazines People and Us Weekly show a majority of both publications' readers are skeptical about the sincerity of the Hollywood couple's relationship, because both Cruise and Holmes have films released this month - Cruise stars in War Of The Worlds, while Holmes is in Batman Begins. And Cold Mountain star Kidman fears the new couple's carefully prepared photo opportunities are doing nothing to convince cynics their relationship is real. She tells style magazine Vanity Fair, "In terms of your life, if you start to exploit it, then what's real, and what's not? What's yours, and what isn't?" Kidman and Cruise ended their 10-year marriage in 2001.

Brad Pitt was dismayed to discover photos of his Kenyan beach holiday with alleged lover Angelina Jolie earned a persistent photographer in excess of $500,000 - because the money could have been much better spent. In an explosive and candid interview with newswoman Diane Sawyer on Primetime Live, which was broadcast in America last night, the movie hunk admits he would have set up the shots himself if he knew the snaps would be so lucrative. He told Sawyer, "It's amazing, the bounty that is on my head and the lengths that these people go to to get these shots, and the amount of money that they're paying for these shots. It's something like half a million dollars or three quarter of a million dollars for the shots. I can't help but think what that money could have gone to. Hell, I would have set up the damn pictures myself."

Tom Cruise displayed a darker persona during a recent interview with an Australian TV reporter when a journalist quizzed him about his relationship with ex-wife Nicole Kidman. The Top Gun hunk, who famously grins and giggles through tough questions, wasn't smiling when Peter Overton's probing questions "crossed a line". After berating Overton for poking fun at his chosen religion, Scientology, Cruise got serious when the reporter asked one too many questions about his family. When Overton posed, "Do you have a relationship where you talk... a parenting relationship and talk professionally about each other's work?" Cruise glared at his interviewer and stopped him dead in his tracks. The movie star said, "Listen, here's the thing, Peter, you're stepping over a line now... and you know you are." When Overton insisted he was only asking questions the public wanted to know, Cruise shot back, "Take responsibility for what you want to know... This is a conversation that I'm having with you right now. So I'm just telling you right now, OK, just put your manners back in." Overton was quick to apologize to his guest.

The hotel clerk who was allegedly the target of Russell Crowe's early morning rage on Monday has confessed he was so terrified of the ranting Gladiator star, he hid in an office. Nestor Estrada claims he cowered out of sight after Crowe, annoyed by not being able to get through to his wife Danielle on the phone in his room at New York City's Mercer Hotel, hurled the faulty apparatus at a wall. Estrada says, "The guy was going nuts... I was scared. I didn't want to go out. I thought he might still be there." Crowe faces charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon following the incident. He's due back in court in September.

Singer Ashlee Simpson has denied accusations she threatened to attack Lindsay Lohan because the Mean Girls star refused to let her into her party on Saturday night. The pair have allegedly been embroiled in a bitter feud since Lohan accused Simpson of "stealing" her ex-boyfriend, actor Wilmer Valderrama last year. But the rumors have been fuelled following reports the pair almost had a "catfight" after Lohan banned Ashlee and her sister Jessica Simpson from coming to her bash at Los Angeles' Standard venue after the MTV Movie Awards. The Simpsons went to Jimmy Fallon's party at Los Angeles' Argyle Hotel instead, and reportedly hit out at Lohan who arrived later. But they overcame their differences after Lohan explained it was a mistake that they were not let into her party, reports website Pagesix.Com. Lohan's representative confirms the mix-up: "Their names got misplaced on the list." And Ashlee's spokesperson denies claims the star threatened Lohan, adding, "Ashlee and Jessica had a great time at Jimmy's party, which was the hottest one of the night."

Michael Jackson's former attorney feels sure the jury in his child molestation case will return a verdict faster than expected. Mark Geragos - who was replaced by Thomas Mesereau as the Beat It star's lawyer and then called as a defense witness - is still restricted by the gag order fixed by Judge Rodney Melville and cannot discuss the case, but he's confident Jackson will know his fate this week. While many pundits expect the jury members to deliberate well into next week, Geragos predicts, "I think the jury will be back this week." The jurors spent their second full day of deliberation in Santa Maria, California yesterday, while Jackson is said to be coping with stress and dietary issues at his Neverland Ranch home nearby.

Batman Begins star Christian Bale is urging producers to release two versions of the next Batman movie, so that the Caped Crusader's sexuality can be explored. The actor, who has already signed up to star in a second Batman movie, believes it's time for the powers that be to show the comic book superhero's R-rated side, while also releasing a film for younger fans. Bale says, "I do think there is a lot of room for, like, an R-rated Batman. It's a little bit tricky to broach the sex aspect of the story when you want kids to come see this as well. I mean, we still like for a 12-year-old to come see it and enjoy it. I think it would be very interesting, myself, to do maybe one version, which can be both PG-13 and R - two different cuts of it. The (Batman) graphic novel certainly dove into his private life because it's fascinating. He's got to do something sexual at some point. I think it could be an interesting storyline to take somewhere."

Former Dallas star Victoria Principal was rushed to the hospital on Saturday where she was diagnosed with a rare blood disease. The 59-year-old actress is a victim of intravascular hypercoagulation and has "suffered in silence for years with this debilitating disease" according to a friend. Principal, who has a successful multimillion-dollar skin-care range, has since been discharged from Malibu Urgent Care Clinic and is now "at home under doctor's care," reports website Pagesix.Com.