FROM FRONT PAGES TO SALES CHARTS MAKING NEWS IS GOOD MARKETING MOVE.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Real life events are turning out to be the cheapest - and quite effective- form of word-of-mouth marketing for online retailers.

The death this week of actress Anne Bancroft, who played the seductress Mrs. Robinson opposite Dustin Hoffman in ``The Graduate,'' has dramatically increased demand for the 1967 film.

And last week's unveiling of former FBI official W. Mark Felt as secret Watergate source Deep Throat has made ``All the President's Men,'' the 1976 film starring Hoffman and Robert Redford, and the book it was based on once again hot commodities.

``It is facilitated by the Web,'' said Tom Adams of Adams Media Research. ```The Graduate,' which is the defining movie for a whole generation of people, is not in stock in every store. This instant response is more of a phenomenon now.''

Seizing on the newfound interest, Amazon has a special advertisement for ``President's Men'' on its site with the headline ``See Deep Throat in All The President's Men.'' The copy stated that for movie fans, Deep Throat would always be actor Hal Holbrook who played the enigmatic source in the movie based on the book by journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward.

The Amazon site quickly put together a tribute to Bancroft with nearly a dozen of her films grouped in a box and available for purchase with the click of a mouse.

``Graduate'' was ranked third among classic movies on Amazon.com as of Thursday afternoon and was number 37 among all films on BarnesandNoble.com. ``President's Men'' was at number 27 on Amazon and number 47 on the Barnes & Noble chart.

Both films had faded from the shelves of most retail stores by this point but still could be quickly purchased by customers online who watched the countless newscasts that featured film clips of them.

``Because our sales rankings are updated hourly, you can get a sense in real-time how people are responding to things in the news,'' said Amazon.com spokeswoman Kristin Mariani. ``If people are at work or at home when they hear the news, it's very easy for them to go to their computer and place an order.''

Bancroft's 1962 film ``The Miracle Worker'' increased 2,685 percent in sales rank from No. 3,175 to No. 114 within 24 hours of her death. The actress won an Academy Award for her role as Helen Keller's teacher, Annie Sullivan, in ``Worker.''

The DVD of her 1987 film ``84 Charing Cross Road,'' opposite Anthony Hopkins, increased from No. 4,484 to No. 176 while the VHS version of the film spiked from No. 12,322 to No. 21, an overnight increase of 58,576 percent in sales rank. ``The Turning Point,'' the 1977 film which earned her and Shirley MacLaine Oscar nominations, increased 537 percent in sales rank from No. 1,747 to No. 274 on the DVD list.

Amazon's Mariani said the deaths of Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II resulted in instant sales of all DVDs, videos and books related to the two men.

``All of Ronald Reagan's movies saw a jump in sales,'' she said. ``But the passing of the pope and the naming of a new pope saw waves and waves of books being sold including some really obscure titles that jumped from the 100,000s to the top 10.''

Similar boosts occurred when iconic entertainers Johnny Carson and Ray Charles died. But sometimes a happier occasion can be responsible for newfound customer interest.

Country singer Kenny Chesney's CDs ``really spiked due to his marriage to Renee Zellweger,'' Mariani said. ``But her movies didn't have the same boost.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Anne Bancroft

(2 -- color) Mark Felt

(3 -- color) ``The Graduate''

(4 -- color) ``All the President's Men''