Background
Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882.
Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882.
He graduated from the United States Naval Academy as a commissioned officer, but left the Navy after his enlistment was completed to become a "black face" song and dance comedian in revue.
During his early days as a sailor, he staged plays on board ship. After that, he turned to melodrama and musical comedy. He later became one of the top Hollywood stars of the 1920s.
Bancroft"s first starring role was in The Pony Express (1925), and the next year he played an important supporting role in a cast including Wallace Beery and Charles Farrell in the period naval widescreen epic Old Ironsides (1926), then went from historical pictures to the gritty world of the underground in Paramount Pictures productions such as von Sternberg"s Underworld (1927) and The Docks of New York (1928).
Those who knew him, such as Budd Schulberg, said that he developed an inflated ego. Reportedly, he refused to fall down on set after a prop revolver was fired at him, saying "Just one bullet can"t stop Bancroft!" By 1934, he had slipped to being a supporting actor, although he still appeared in reduced roles in such classics as Mr.
Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Gary Cooper, Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, Each Dawn I Die (1939) with Cagney and George Raft, and Stagecoach (1939) with John Wayne. In 1942, he left Hollywood to be a rancher.
He died in 1956 in Santa Monica, California, and was interred there in the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.