Actor Glynis Johns has died aged 100. She is best known for her role as Mrs Banks in the film musical Mary Poppins.
Johns had a distinguished career on stage and screen appearing in more than 60 films and 30 theatrical productions.
Her manager Mitch Clem announced she’d passed away of natural causes. The actor spent her final years in an assisted living home in Los Angeles.
“Today’s a sad day for Hollywood,” he said. “She is the last of the last of old Hollywood.”
Walt Disney personally selected Johns to play the role of Winnifred Banks in his 1964 musical Mary Poppins, and composers Robert and Richard Sherman wrote the song Sister Suffragette for her.
It’s not the most famous song written specifically for Johns. In 1973 composer Stephen Sondheim wrote Send in the Clowns for Johns to sing in his musical A Little Night Music. She originated the role of Desiree Armfeldt and won a Tony Award for her performance, however when it came time to make a film version of the musical producers opted to cast Elizabeth Taylor in the role.
Johns was born in South Africa to an Australian mother of British ancestry, and a Welsh father. Her parents were both entertainers and she grew up surrounded by theatre makers. SHe studied to be a dancer throughout her youth, while also appearing in theatrical productions.
She made her film debut in 1938 in the British film South Riding appearing alongside Ralph Richardson, Desmund Gwenn and Edna Best. Over her long career she worked with many of the leading actors of the day including Googie Withers, Deborah Kerr, Paula Goddard, Roger Moore, Dirk Bogarde, Danny Kayte and Lana Turner.
Johns continued to work consistently throughout the decades, she made appearances on 80s TV show including Cheers and Murder She Wrote. She also had a memorable role in the Sandra Bullock film While You Were Sleeping. Her last film appearance was as the grandmother of Molly Shannon’s Mary Gallagher in the 1999 film Superstar.
The actor married four times; all of her unions ended in divorce. She is survived by her grandson, director Thomas Forwood, and three great grandchildren.
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