Mary Poppins Star Glynis Johns Dead at 100
Andrew Mccoy Glynis Johns, the British actress who starred as suffragette Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins alongside Julie Andrews, died at 100 in an assisted living facility in Los Angeles on Thursday, her manager, Mitch Clem, confirmed to the New York Times. Clem also told The Hollywood Reporter that she died of natural causes.
Johns was raised in a family of performers; her parents were actually on tour in South Africa in 1923 when she was born. She began dancing and acting as a child in London, but later also found success in Hollywood. Over the course of her decades-long transatlantic career, Johns received critical recognition for roles on both the screen and stage. She won a Tony Award in 1973 for originating the role of Desirée Armfeldt in the Broadway musical A Little Night Music. (Stephen Sondheim wrote the song “Send In the Clowns” specifically for Johns.) She was previously nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Mrs. Firth in the 1960 movie The Sundowners. She also earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role in The Chapman Report in 1962, and got her own CBS sitcom, Glynis, the following year. In the ‘90s, Johns worked with Sandra Bullock, Molly Shannon, and Will Ferrell in her final acting projects before her retirement from the industry. She is survived by her grandson, Thomas Forwood, and three great-grandchildren.
