Mary Poppins actress Glynis Johns dies aged 100

Sister Suffragist: Actress Glynis Johns who starred in Disney's Mary Poppins has died aged 100. Photo / Donaldson Collection, Getty Images

English actress Glynis Johns who was beloved for her musicals and playing a dippy suffragist mother in Disney’s Mary Poppins has died aged 100.

Johns’ manager Mitch Clem said the actress died on Thursday of natural causes at her residence in Los Angeles.

“Today’s a sad day for Hollywood,” Clem said. “She is the last of the last of old Hollywood.”

Her manager told Variety that Johns’ death marked the end of the golden age of cinema.

“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.”

Glynis Johns was born in Pretoria to a family of English actors, while they were touring South Africa. As the fourth generation in a family of West End stars, Johns was predestined for a career in entertainment. She began performing in London aged just 12.

However, her biggest parts were to be in America.

The flamboyant actress burst onto the US scene in the early 1960s, and was awarded a Tony for her role as Desiree Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.

Her husky, flirtatious voice provided a memorable introduction to the song Send in the Clowns - which Sondheim wrote for Johns.

Actress Glynis Johns who played the mother opposite Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins has died aged 100. Photo / Carlos Rene Perez, AP

She is best known for her role in Mary Poppins. Having worked as an actress for 20 years in England, Johns was delighted to be cast in Disney’s adaptation of P.L. Travers children’s books. However, it appears that Johns got the wrong end of the stick thinking she would be playing the title role.

Walt Disney later revealed that he came up with a ploy to “help the medicine go down” breaking the news that they had rewritten the part of Mrs Banks, the children’s mother, especially for her. He commissioned his writing team, the Sherman brothers, to write a musical number for Johns which would become Sister Suffragette in the musical.

The part remains a favourite, despite many finding Mrs Banks’ suffragist values at odds with her relation to the Mr Banks character, played by David Tomlinson in the film.

Despite the Disney-commissioned musical number, Johns said her favourite remained Sondheim’s Send in the Clowns.

“I´ve had other songs written for me, but nothing like that,” Johns said in the 90s. “It’s the greatest gift I´ve ever been given in the theatre.”

Johns’ signature musical number has since been covered by everyone from Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand to Elijah Wood, most recently, in the 2023 TV series Yellowjackets.

With over 90 credits including in Will Ferrell’s 1999 comedy Superstar, the actress and singer says that she has continued to return to the stage and screen, never able to fully retire.

“I’ve retired many times. My personal life has come before my work. The theatre is just part of my life. It probably uses my highest sense of intelligence, so therefore I have to come back to it, to realise that I´ve got the talent. I´m not as good doing anything else.”