Glynis Johns
Glynis Johns
Glynis Johns
Johns made her first stage appearance in Buckie’s Bears as a child ballerina at the Garrick Theatre in 1935. She made her 1938 film debut in the movie version of Winifred Holtby’s novel, South Riding. In 1944, she appeared with her father in Halfway House, and in 1948 starred as a mermaid in Miranda (Johns later reprised the role in a 1954 sequel, Mad About Men). In 1952, she co-starred in the movie version of Arnold Bennett’s novel The Card. She made a successful transition to Hollywood, appearing in Personal Affair (1953) starring Gene Tierney and in The Court Jester (1956) as Danny Kaye’s love interest. The following year, she starred in the especially sad Christmas film All Mine to Give. Johns received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the 1960 film The Sundowners. One of her best known film roles was that ofWinifred Banks, the children’s mother, a suffragette, in Mary Poppins (1964). Her last film appearance was in the 1999 film Superstar.
Glynis Johns
Johns has also appeared on television and on stage, most memorably in Stephen Sondheim’s musical A Little Night Music. The song “Send in the Clowns” was written with her in mind, and in 1973, she won a Tony award for her role in the musical. She later appeared in London in Cause Célèbre by Terence Rattigan. In the 1962-1963 television season, Johns guest starred in the CBS anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show. She also starred in the premiere of Horton Foote’s A Coffin in Egypt in 1998 at the Bay Street Theatre as Myrtle Bledsoe.
In the fall of 1963, she and Keith Andes starred as a married couple in her sitcom-drama television series called Glynis. In the story, Glynis Johns is a mystery writer, and Andes is a criminal defense attorney.