Glynis Johns, best known for playing Jane and Michael Banks’ suffragette mother Winifred in “Mary Poppins,” has died at the age of 100, according to The Washington Post.
A Tony winner for her work on Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music,” Johns had her role as Mrs. Banks expanded by Walt Disney beyond how the character was portrayed in P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins” novels.
To that end, Mrs. Banks was rewritten as a suffragette whose commitment to the push to grant women the right to vote left her children in need of a nanny like Mary Poppins, and Johns got her own song with the Sherman Brothers’ number “Sister Suffragette.”
Johns appeared in “Mary Poppins” opposite David Tomlinson, who played the workaholic Mr. Banks who learns to bond with his children. Tomlinson and Johns had starred alongside each other 16 years prior to “Mary Poppins” in the 1948 film “Miranda,” where she plays a mermaid who wants to learn about life in London.
Johns also received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her work in the 1960 film “The Sundowners,” a dramedy set in the Australian Outback in the 1920s in which she played a pub owner in the town of Cawndilla. At the time of her death, Johns was the oldest living Oscar nominee.
Towards the end of her career, Johns appeared in the 1995 romcom “While You Were Sleeping,” starring Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman. She also played grandmother to Molly Shannon in the comedy “Superstar” in 1999.
“Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit, and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives,” her manager Mitch Clem said in a statement. “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.”
