Disney Legend and ‘Mary Poppins’ Star Glynis Johns Has Passed Away at 100
Disney Legend and Academy Award-nominated actress Glynis Johns has passed away. She was 100 years old.
Johns was born to Welsh parents on October 5, 1923, in Pretoria, South Africa. By age 12, she had won 25 gold medals for dance in England, and a year later, she appeared in her first film, South Riding.
As an adult, her first role came in The Invaders, which starred Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, and Raymond Massey. By 19, she became the youngest actress to play Peter Pan on stage. At this time, she was considered one of the brightest young stars in Britain.
A Star of Stage and Screen
Johns would go on to appear in An Ideal Husband with Paulette Goddard, Dear Brigette with Jimmy Stewart, The Secret Graden with Derek Jacobi, and Miranda, where she played a mermaid. Glynis won an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Sundowners opposite Robert Mitchum.
She also received a Tony Award in 1973 for her performance as Desiree Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, in which she debuted the now-classic “Send in the Clowns.” Sondheim often said that Glynis’ performance of the song was among his favorites.
In total, she appeared in over 50 feature films and starred in more than two dozen plays.
Winifred Banks In ‘Mary Poppins’
Johns is perhaps most famous for her role as the feminist mother Winifred Banks in Disney’s Mary Poppins.
The actress, who was personally asked by Walt Disney to play the iconic role, would not only light up the screen with her charm and wit but also perform the song “Sister Suffragette.”
When Walt initially approached Johns about the film, however, the actress mistakenly thought she was being asked to play Mary Poppins herself. To ensure that she accepted the supporting role, Walt asked the Sherman Brothers to write a song specifically for her character.
A True Hollywood Legend
Johns was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1962 and was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1998.
With the death of Olivia de Havilland in 2020, Johns became the oldest living Academy Award nominee in an acting category. Following the 2021 death of Betty White, she became the oldest Disney Legend.
Johns was married and divorced four times to Anthony Forwood, David Ramsey Foster, Cecil Henderson, and Elliot Arnold. She is survived by a son, Gareth.