Glynis Johns, Star of ‘Mary Poppins’ and Broadway, Has Died Aged 100

The English actress Glynis Johns, who played the suffragette mother Mrs. Banks in the Disney classic Mary Poppins in 1964, died Thursday at 100 years old, her manager confirmed to multiple media outlets.

Johns died from natural causes at an assisted living home in Los Angeles, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

Johns had a star-studded career that spanned decades, where she performed as an actress, dancer, pianist, and singer.

Known for her crackling husky voice, which she herself attributed to having “slightly twisted” vocal cords, Johns was a distinctive standout in her dozens of performances on screen and stage.

Johns’ acting career began in England, but she was quickly a regular in Disney films, namely the entertainment giant’s adaptation of P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins” novels. Johns also portrayed Mary Tudor in The Sword and the Rose (1953) and played the wife of a Scottish freedom fighter in Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue the same year, a pair of Disney films.

Her performances caught the eye of Walt Disney himself, who ordered his musical team to put together a big number for Johns’ character in Mary Poppins.

Johns starred in the role, and continued to enjoy success in Hollywood and on Broadway afterwards. She famously sang “Send in the Clowns,” a performance that helped her win her a Tony Award as Desiree Armfeldt in the original 1973 production of A Little Night Music.

Johns, a native of South Africa, was married four times and had one son, the late actor Gareth Forwood.

In a recent interview with WABC-TV about turning 100, Johns replied: “It doesn’t make any difference to me. I’ve looked good at every age.”