Actress Glynis Johns, most known for her role as Mrs Banks in the 1964 film Mary Poppins, has died at the age of 100, her manager confirmed.
Johns starred opposite Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in the classic movie where she played Winifred Banks, the suffragette mother of the children in need of a nanny.
The movie was nominated for 13 Oscars and won five.
Johns went on to win a Tony Award in 1973 for playing Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music on Broadway.
She was also nominated for an Oscar for the 1960 film The Sundowners alongside Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr and Peter Ustinov.
Mitch Clem, her manager, said Johns had died “peacefully” of natural causes at an assisted living facility in the Los Angeles area.
In a statement to the PA news agency, he said: “My heart is heavy today with the passing of my beloved client Glynis Johns.
“Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit, and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives.
“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 sombre 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.”
Johns also made frequent TV appearances and starred in a short-lived US sitcom “Glynis” in 1963. She even played a villain, Lady Penelope Peasoup, in the popular “Batman” series in the 1960s.
Her last acting role was in the 1999 film “Superstar” starring Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell.
A member of a showbusiness family, Johns was born on 5 October 1923, in South Africa while her Welsh parents were performing there, and she took to acting as a child.
John was was known to be a perfectionist about her profession, telling the Associated Press in 1990: “As far as I’m concerned, I’m not interested in playing the role on only one level.
“The whole point of first-class acting is to make a reality of it. To be real. And I have to make sense of it in my own mind in order to be real.”
Johns had one son who predeceased her.
Source: PA/Reuters
