Glynis Johns, Tony-Winning Star of A Little Night Music and Mary Poppins, Dies at 100

Glynis Johns, the Tony Award-winning star of A Little Night Music, also known for her role as the distracted suffragist mother Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins, died on January 4 at an assisted living facility in Los Angeles, aged 100. Johns' publicist Mitch Clem confirmed the death.

“I’ve been working at something ever since I was born!” Johns told ABC 7 in late 2023 for a segment celebrating the occasion of her 100th birthday.

For originating the role of disenchanted stage star Desiree Armfeldt in the Hugh Wheeler-Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music, Johns won the 1973 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Famously, Sondheim wrote the song "Send in the Clowns" with shorter phrasing to accommodate Johns’ voice, which he described as “silvery” but unable to sustain notes. Sondheim is quoted in Meryle Secrest's book Stephen Sondheim: A Life as saying, “One of the reasons I like the song is that nobody can sing it as well as she."

But Johns will perhaps be best remembered for her performance as Winifred Banks in the 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins. According to the Sherman Brothers’ autobiographical book Walt's Time, when Johns met with Walt Disney, she had thought she was being offered the title role, which went to Julie Andrews. The songwriting duo wrote "Sister Suffragette" for Johns that same day.

Johns was born on October 5, 1923 in Pretoria, South Africa, where her parents, actor Mervyn Johns and pianist Alys Maude, were on tour. On the radio program Desert Island Discs, Johns shared that she made her “stage debut” when she was just three weeks old, carried on stage by her violinist grandmother. She made her official stage debut at age 12 in Buckie's Bears before playing Napoleon's daughter in the 1936 short play St Helena at the Old Vic in London. Her screen debut followed soon after, in 1938’s South Riding, followed by World War II thriller The 49th Parallel with Sir Laurence Olivier in 1941.

After more screen roles, including the 1950 conspiracy thriller State Secret, Johns made her Broadway debut in 1952 as the title character in the Enid Bagnold play Gertie. Subsequent Broadway credits include Major Barbara, Too True to be Good and The Circle, her final Broadway performance, in which she starred opposite Rex Harrison. Her other screen credits include The Sundowners, The Court Jester (in which Johns did her own trapeze stunts), The Cabinet of Caligari and the 1972 film version of Under Milkwood, as well as the 1960s Batman series, where she played Lady Penelope Peasoup.

After appearing in the 1999 comedy Superstar, Johns retired to Los Angeles. Her son, the actor Gareth Forwood, died in 2007. She is survived by a grandson and three great-grandchildren.