Glynis Johns, the actress who played Mary Poppins, dead at the age of 100

Glynis Johns, the Mary Poppins actor, died on January 4 at the age of 100, after a decades-long career in Hollywood.

Glynis Johns, who played Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins, died of natural causes on January 4 in a Los Angeles assisted living facility, according to her manager Mitch Clem. She was 100 years old.

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

Prior to her appearance in the beloved 1964 Disney film, Johns was well-known for her roles in the 1960 film The Sundowners, for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and in the 1962 film The Chapman Report, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama.

While she is most recognized for her appearances in The Court Jester (1955), The Ref (1994), and While You Were Sleeping (1995), Johns also had a strong stage presence and appeared in a number of theatrical productions.

The British actress was a member of the original cast of Stephen Sondheim’s 1973 musical A Little Night Music, for which he wrote the song “Send in the Clowns” expressly for her voice.

“I’ve had other songs written for me, but nothing like that,” Johns said in 1990, according to NBC. “It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever been given in the theater.”

She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal as Desiree Armfeldt.

“That’s better than nothing, isn’t it?” the singer said last year on ABC in honor of her 100th birthday. “I got a standing ovation for that [performance].” I had a great time doing that. “I sensed it.”

Johns was married four times: from 1942 to 1948 to actor Anthony Forwood, from 1952 to 1956 to aviator David Foster, from 1960 to 1962 to businessman Cecil Henderson, and from 1964 to 1980 to writer Elliott Arnold.