Glynis Johns, the actress who portrayed plucky suffragette Mrs. Banks in Disney’s 1964 classic Mary Poppins, died at the age of 100 in Los Angeles on Thursday, January 4, according to her manager, Mitch Clem. She was staying at an assisted living facility. Her death, according to Clem, is nothing short of the end of the golden age of Hollywood.
“Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit, and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives,” Clem said in a heartfelt statement provided to Variety on Thursday. “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.”
As news breaks of her death after a century of life, here’s what to know about Glynis Johns.
She Was a Prolific Actress
Aside from her role as the unforgettable feminist mother Winifred Banks opposite Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins, Glynis was a hard-working actress and singer who appeared in dozens of films and TV shows over the years. In fact, Glynis worked all the way up until the mid to late 1990s, appearing opposite Dennis Leary in 1994’s The Ref, opposite Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping in 1995, and opposite Molly Shannon in Superstar in 1999. Glynis was also a gifted stage actress, completing her final live performance in 1998 in A Coffin in Egypt at the Bay Street Theater.
Glynis Was Nominated for an Academy Award
Glynis was once nominated for the highest honor in acting. In 1961, she was bestowed a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Sundowners. Though she lost the honor to Shirley Jones in Elmer Gantry, Glynis would go on to win a Laurel Award for Mary Poppins in 1965, a Tony Award for Broadway’s A Little Night Music in 1973, and a well-earned Disney Legends honor in 1998. In A Little Night Music, she performed Send in the Clowns, an unforgettable song penned by the legendary Sondheim just for her.
She Was Married Several Times
Glynis was married four times during her long life. She married her first husband, English actor Anthony Forwood, on August 29, 1942, with their only child being born in 1945. They divorced in June of 1948, with Glynis citing alleged adultery, per her Wikipedia.
On February 1, 1952, she married her second husband, Royal Navy Officer David Foster. They divorced four years later, in 1956. Businessman Cecil Henderson became her next spouse, as they married in 1960 in London. They divorced in 1962. Glynis married U.S. Air Force captain Elliott Arnold in 1964, and they divorced in 1973.
Glynis Was a Mother of One
Though she was married four times over, Glynis only welcomed one child during her life — son Gareth Forwood. Following in the footsteps of his parents, Gareth was an actor as well, appearing in movies including 1982’s Gandhi. He married Veronique Lecoq in 1973, and together they welcomed one son, making Glynis a grandmother.
Tragically, Glynis’ only child died of a heart attack in London in 2007. Her grandson, Thomas Forwood, is a writer and director.
She Was Confident
In an October 2023 interview, the centenarian proved that she was confident, funny, and feisty to the very last months of her life. When asked by a KABC-TV reporter what it felt like to turn 100, she quipped, “It doesn’t make any difference to me. I’ve looked good at every age.” When the topic of her Tony Award came up, she hilariously joked, “That’s better than nothing, isn’t it?”