Glynis Johns, the Oscar-nominated and Tony-winning actor, dancer and singer who most notably performed Mrs. Banks in Disney’s 1964 film musical “Mary Poppins,” died Thursday in Los Angeles, her supervisor confirmed to The Instances. She was 100.
“My coronary heart is heavy at present with the passing of my beloved shopper Glynis Johns,” Mitch Clem, Johns’ supervisor of 25 years, wrote Thursday on Fb. “Glynis powered her means via life with intelligence, wit, and a love for efficiency, affecting tens of millions of lives. … Her mild shined very brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that might cease you in your tracks powered by a coronary heart that beloved deeply and purely. Immediately is a somber day for Hollywood. Not solely will we mourn the passing of our expensive Glynis, however we mourn the top of the golden age of Hollywood.”
Identified for her breathy but husky voice, Johns graced each the silver display screen and the Broadway stage for greater than six many years. She received a Tony Award for actress in a musical when she originated the position of Desiree Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s 1973 “A Little Evening Music.” Within the musical, Johns carried out the now-classic Broadway tune “Ship within the Clowns.”
In a 2003 New York Instances interview, the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist mentioned he crafted “Ship within the Clowns” particularly for Johns.
“Glynis had a beautiful, crystal voice, however sustaining notes was not her factor,” Sondheim mentioned. “I needed to write down quick phrases, so I wrote a music filled with questions.”
In 1964, Johns starred because the foolish and jovial Winifred Banks in Disney’s “Mary Poppins,” alongside Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. Enjoying a strident ally to the ladies’s motion of the early twentieth century, Johns acquired a breakout music within the basic movie with the tune “Sister Suffragette.”
Born Glynis Margaret Payne Johns in 1923 in what’s now South Africa to British dad and mom , Johns acquired her begin within the performing world as a dancer on the age of 5. She was thought-about a baby prodigy in dance and by age 10 acquired a level to start educating dance. She finally pursued appearing at 12, a selection she mentioned was made by her dad and mom.
“They had been conditions that had been arduous for folks to show down,” Johns instructed the Los Angeles Instances in 1991. “It’s tough to show down an opportunity to star with Laurence Olivier, to say, ‘No, she has to go to high school.’ That they had a giant resolution to make; I don’t know if I’d’ve carried out any higher than they did.”
In that interview she additionally expressed that she had longed to discover different careers. “As a teenager, I used to be involved in every thing,” Johns mentioned wistfully. “I needed to be a scientist. I’d’ve beloved to go on and on and on on the college. However you possibly can’t do every thing in life. And I didn’t have any selection on the time.”
The British actor labored steadily on the London stage till late 1938, when she landed her first movie position within the drama “South Driving,” starring famed English actor Ralph Richardson.
In 1963, Johns starred within the TV comedy sequence “Glynis,” through which she performed an simply distracted thriller fiction author who makes an attempt to unravel real-life mysteries alongside her lawyer husband.
Johns acquired an Academy Award nomination for supporting actress for 1960’s comedy-drama “The Sundowners.”
All through her profession, Johns appeared in greater than 50 movies and had credit in greater than 30 tv sequence.
She is survived by her grandson, Thomas, and her three great-grandchildren. Johns shall be buried subsequent to her father within the U.Ok.
