Glynis Johns, the Oscar-nominated and Tony-winning actress, dancer and singer who played Mrs. Banks in the 1964 Disney musical film “Mary Poppins,” died Thursday in Los Angeles, her manager confirmed to the Times. She was 100 years old.
“Today I am deeply saddened by the passing of my beloved client Glynis Johns,” Mitch Clem, Johns’ manager for 25 years, wrote on Facebook Thursday. “Glynis navigated her way through life with intelligence, ingenuity and a love of performance, touching millions of lives. …the light from it shone brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that could stop you in your tracks fueled by a heart that she loved deeply and purely. Today is a dark day for Hollywood. “Not only do we mourn the passing of our beloved Glynis, but we mourn the end of the golden age of Hollywood.”
Known for her breathy but husky voice, Johns appeared on both the big screen and the Broadway stage for more than six decades. She won a Tony Award for Actress in a Musical when she originated the role of Desiree Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s 1973 “A Little Night Music.” In the musical, Johns performed the now-classic Broadway tune “Send in the Clowns.” .
In a 2003 New York Times interview, the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist said he created “Send in the Clowns” specifically for Johns.
“Glynis had a lovely, crystal-clear voice, but holding notes wasn’t her thing,” Sondheim said. “I wanted to write short sentences, so I wrote a song full of questions.”
In 1964, Johns played the ditzy and bubbly Winifred Banks in Disney’s “Mary Poppins,” opposite Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. Johns, who played a strident ally of the early 20th century women’s movement, scored a featured song in the classic film with the tune “Sister Suffragette.”
Born Glynis Margaret Payne Johns in 1923 in what is now South Africa to British parents, Johns entered show business as a dancer at the age of 5. She was considered a child prodigy in dance and at age 10 she received a degree in beginning to teach dance. She finally dedicated herself to acting at age 12, a choice she claims was made by her parents.
“They were situations that were hard for parents to turn down,” Johns told the Los Angeles Times in 1991. “It’s hard to turn down the opportunity to star with Laurence Olivier and say, ‘No, she has to go to school.’ ‘They had a big decision to make; I don’t know if she would have done better than them.”
In that interview he also expressed that he had longed to explore other careers. “When I was young, I was interested in everything,” Johns said wistfully. “I wanted to be a scientist. I would have loved to go on and on and on at university. But you can’t do everything in life. And at that moment I had no choice.”
The British actress worked constantly on the London stage until the end of 1938, when she landed her first film role in the drama “South Riding”, starring the famous English actor Ralph Richardson.
In 1963, Johns starred in the television comedy series “Glynis,” in which she played an easily distracted mystery fiction writer trying to solve real-life mysteries with her lawyer husband.
Johns received an Academy Award nomination for supporting actress for the 1960 comedy-drama “The Sundowners.”
Throughout his career, Johns appeared in more than 50 films and had credits on more than 30 television series.
He is survived by his grandson Thomas and three great-grandchildren. Johns will be buried next to her father in the United Kingdom
