South African born award winning actress Glynis Johns died January 4, 2024 at the age of 100 as a result of natural causes at the assisted living home where she lived in Los Angeles.
Best known to movie fans as the children’s mother – Mrs. Banks – in “Mary Poppins” and in “A Little Night Music”, Johns was the first person to sing the Steven Sondheim hit “Send in the Clowns” – a song that was written for her.
A perfectionist, Johns spoke on her profession saying, “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.” She called her performance of the song, “the greatest gift I’ve ever been given in the theater.” Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, Olivia Newton-John, and Elijah Wood have all performed the song.
Her parents met while her father was at RADA – Royal Academy of Dramatic Art – and her mother was at the RAM – Royal Academy of Music. They were visiting South Africa when Glynis was born. Glynis Margaret Payne Johns was born in Pretoria, South Africa on October 5, 1923. By the time she was 12 years old, she was dancing on the stage at the West End. Two years later she made her acting debut as a mermaid in “Miranda”.
Her other stage roles include “South Riding”, “Peter Pan”, “Gertie”, “The Circle”, “Major Barbara”, “Too True to Be Good” and the performance that won her a Tony and a Drama Desk Award – “A Little Night Music”.
Johns made her screen debut in 1938 in”South Riding” and went on to appear in over 90 film and television productions including performing with her father in “Halfway House”. Her other roles include “The 1939 ”The Fugitive”, An Ideal Husband”, “Miranda”, “The Magic Box”, “The Sword and the Rose”, “The Beachcomber”, “Around the World in 80 Days”, “Mary Poppins”, four episodes of “Batman” as Lady Penelope Peasoup, “Murder, Se Wrote”, “While You Were Sleeping”, and her final role in 1999 as the grandma in “Superstar”.
Married and divorced four times, John is predeceased by her son Gareth Forwood. She is survived by her grandson Thomas Forwood.
Feature photo credit: Glynis Johns in the trailer for The Sundowners (1960). She received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for this role.