Glynis Johns (1923-2024)
The British actress Glynis Johns has died at the age of 100 on 4th January 2024. She was best known for her iconic role in "Mary Poppins" as the suffragette mother Winifred Banks. She appeared in dozens of films in a distinguished career spanning over six decades and was also an accomplished stage actress.
Born on 5th October 1924 in Pretoria, South Africa, she was the daughter of the Welsh actor Mervyn Johns. From an early age, she performed on stage and was typecast as a stage dancer from her early teens, eventually breaking into the big screen in "South Riding". She burst onto the scene in the 1940s after playing Anna in the war drama "49th Parallel" and starring in "Miranda" (which made her a star in the UK) and "Third Time Lucky". Later, she starred opposite James Stewart in "No Highway in the Sky" and "The Card" with Alec Guinness. In the United States and elsewhere, Johns took on more and more roles, including two live-action Disney swashbucklers "Rob Roy" and "The Sword and the Rose" with Richard Todd, "The Weak and the Wicked", "Mad About Men" and "The Court Jester". In 1956, she and Hermione Gingold briefly appeared in the all-star vehicle "Around the World in 80 Days" as "sporting ladies" - in other words, prostitutes.
Johns was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1960 for her role in "The Sundowners". While "Mary Poppins" introduced Julie Andrews as a singing English nanny, Ms. Jones was a wonderfully eccentric and competent singer in the supporting role of the children's mother, Mrs Banks.
On television, she was the star of her sitcom "Glynis" and made numerous appearances in shows, such as "Batman", where she played a henchwoman Lady Penelope Peasoup. Before retiring in the US, her last film roles included "While You Were Sleeping" and "Superstar".
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