She made an arrangement for someone to accept the award in her absence, and Joan Crawford was that person. The Wikipedia entry for Bancroft confirms that Crawford later presented the Oscar to Bancroft in New York, on May 7, 1963—twenty-eight days after the ceremony.
The image of Crawford presenting Bancroft with the statuette—the proxy handing over the award to its rightful owner—has received considerably less cultural attention than the image of Crawford receiving it. That asymmetry says something about what we prefer to focus on in stories like this one.
Bancroft went on to receive four additional Academy Award nominations: for *The Pumpkin Eater* (1964), *The Graduate* (1967, for Mrs. Robinson—a performance as famous as anything she had done in *The Miracle Worker*), *The Turning Point* (1977), and *Agnes of God* (1985). She won an Emmy, a BAFTA, and a Tony, joining the small group of performers who have achieved what is called the Triple Crown of Acting. She died of uterine cancer on June 6, 2005, at age seventy-three.
Her achievement on the night of April 8, 1963, was entirely her own. Crawford’s presence on the stage did not diminish it, even if it complicated the picture.
—
THE CEREMONY: APRIL 8, 1963
The 35th Academy Awards were hosted by Frank Sinatra, an unusual choice for a ceremony that typically relied on more traditional Hollywood presences. The musical direction was by Alfred Newman. The broadcast aired on ABC. The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium had become the ceremony’s home in 1961, replacing the traditional Hollywood venues that had hosted the awards through the 1950s.