British actress, dancer, musician and singer Glynis Margaret Payne John dies aged 100.
In a career spanning eight decades on stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. She received various accolades throughout her career, including a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award.
She was widely considered to have been one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood and classical years of British cinema.
She died Thursday at an assisted living home in Los Angeles of natural causes, according to her manager.
Johns also introduced the world to the bittersweet Send in the Clowns by the American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the song for her role as Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music on Broadway, for which she won a Tony in 1973. Sondheim wrote the show’s hit song to suit Johns’ distinctive husky voice, but she lost the part in the 1977 film version to Elizabeth Taylor.
“I’ve had other songs written for me, but nothing like that,” Johns told the Associated Press in 1990. “It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever been given in the theater.”
In a statement to the Guardian, her manager, Mitch Clem said:
“My heart is heavy today with the passing of my beloved client Glynis Johns. Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives
“She entered my life early in my career and set a very high bar on how to navigate this industry with grace, class and truth. Your own truth. Her light shined very brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that could stop you in your tracks powered by a heart that loved deeply and purely. Today is a somber day for Hollywood. Not only do we mourn the passing of our dear Glynis, but we mourn the end of the golden age of Hollywood.”
Johns is best known for appearing in Mary Poppins, in which she played suffragette Mrs Winifred Banks, the mother who reconnects with her children thanks to Julie Andrews‘ magical nanny.
Mary Poppins is considered Walt Disney’s crowning live-action achievement, and is the only one of his films which earned a Best Picture nomination during his lifetime.
In the film, Johns plays Winifred Banks, the wife of George Banks, mother of Jane and Michael, and member of Emmeline Pankhurst’s “Votes for Women” suffrage movement, to which she is completely dedicated.
When first approached by Walt Disney, Johns thought it was to play the title role of Mary Poppins (played by Dame Julie Andrews), not Mrs. Banks. To ensure she accepted, he explained the mishap over lunch and arranged for the Sherman Brothers to write her a musical number: the song “Sister Suffragette”, a pro-suffrage protest song pastiche, was written in 1964 with her in mind.
“Johns is endearing as the mother,” writes The Hollywood Reporter’s James Powers in 1964, “happy as a lark at getting chained to a lamp post for the cause … she comes in strongly as a singing actor.”
The role earned her the Laurel Award for Best Female Supporting Performance.
Throughout her decades-spanning career, Johns took on multi-faceted roles and became known for being a perfectionist. She said in 1990:
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m not interested in playing the role on only one level. The whole point of first-class acting is to make a reality of it. To be real. And I have to make sense of it in my own mind in order to be real.”
In 1998, Johns was named a Disney legend in the film category. Her last film appearance was as the grandmother of Molly Shannon’s Mary Gallagher in the 1999 film Superstar.
