New York:
Glynis Johns, the raspy-voiced British actress widely recognized for her role as a woman reunited with her children thanks to a magical nanny in the 1964 blockbuster film musical Mary Poppins, has died at the age of 100 .
Johns, a versatile film and stage veteran who won a Tony Award for his role in the 1973 Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music and was nominated for an Oscar for the 1960 film The Sundowners, lives in an assisted living facility. Died of natural causes. Los Angeles area, said his manager Mitch Clem.
She appeared in dozens of films during her film career spanning more than 60 years, but her breakout role was Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins, a distracted suffragette mother who cares more about her cause than her two children, whose She will play that role. Will be missed most.
With its charming blend of musical and fantasy, Mary Poppins is one of the most enduringly popular films ever made by Walt Disney, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in the lead roles, with Joe Johns and David Tomlinson in key supporting parts. Supported by a winning performance. Her harsh banker husband.
Wearing white gloves, a straw hat and a sash stating Votes for Women, Johns sang the Sister Suffragette song and declared, “We are clearly soldiers in petticoats and fearless warriors for votes for women.” The film was nominated for 13 Oscars and won five. Andrews, who played the nanny who flies with the help of an umbrella and brings the family together, won Best Actress.
Johns also played a flirtatious mermaid in Miranda (1948), and then appeared in dual roles in the 1954 mermaid sequel, Mad About Men (1954). She said she had no problem with the mermaid costume. Johns told Newsday in 1998, “I was quite an athlete, dancing had strengthened my muscles, so the tail was perfect. I swam like a porpoise.”
She was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role as a hotel keeper in the Australian-set adventure “The Sundowners” alongside Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr and Peter Ustinov.
Johns was also an accomplished stage actress. Sondheim wrote the bittersweet song “Send in the Clowns” especially for Johns, who sang it in the original Broadway production of A Little Night Music. Johns said, “I always said ‘Send in the Clown’ was the best gift I was ever given.”
A member of a show business family, Johns was born in South Africa on October 5, 1923, when her Welsh parents were performing there, and she began acting as a child. Johns had a son who predeceased him.
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