Glynis Johns
Birth Place: Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA
Mirvish Theatres in Toronto Will Dim Marquee Lights in Honour of Theatre Producer Paul Elliott (Jan 28, 2026)
Review: AN EVENING WITH LEN CARIOU at The Laurie Beechman Theatre Valuable and Unforgettable (Dec 18, 2025)
Review Roundup: THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, Starring Sarah Snook (Mar 28, 2025)
BIO
Glynis Margaret Payne Johns is a British retired actress, dancer, musician and singer. In a career spanning eight decades on stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. She has received various accolades throughout her career, including a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award. She is widely considered as being one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood and classical years of British cinema.
Johns was born in Pretoria, South Africa, the daughter of Welsh actor Mervyn Johns. She appeared on stage from a young age and was typecast as a stage dancer from early adolescence, making her screen debut in South Riding (1938). She rose to prominence in the 1940s following her role as Anna in the war drama film 49th Parallel (1941), for which she won a National Board of Review Award for Best Acting, and starring roles in Miranda (1948) and Third Time Lucky (1949). Following No Highway in the Sky (1951), a joint British-American production, Johns took on increasingly more roles in America and elsewhere. She made her television and Broadway debuts in 1952 and took on starring roles in such films as The Sword and the Rose (1953), The Weak and the Wicked (1954), Mad About Men (1954), The Court Jester (1955), The Sundowners (1960), The Cabinet of Caligari (1962), The Chapman Report (1962), and Under Milk Wood (1972). On television, she starred in her own sitcom Glynis (1963).
Renowned for the breathy quality of her husky voice, Johns sang songs written specifically for her both on screen and stage, including "Sister Suffragette", written by the Sherman Brothers for Disney's Mary Poppins (1964), in which she played Winifred Banks and for which she received a Laurel Award, and "Send In the Clowns", composed by Stephen Sondheim for Broadway's A Little Night Music (1973), in which she originated the role of Desiree Armfeldt and for which she received a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.
Photos
STAGE CREDITS
Movies
[ 1938 ] Marjorie Osborne
[ 1938 ] Midge Carne
[ 1938 ] Nina
[ 1939 ] Mary Carr
[ 1940 ] Sheila Briggs
[ 1940 ] Winnie
[ 1941 ] Anna
[ 1943 ] Paula Palacek
[ 1944 ] Gwyneth - RhysDaughter
[ 1945 ] Dizzy Clayton
[ 1946 ] Millie
[ 1947 ] Judy
[ 1947 ] Mabel Chiltern
[ 1948 ] Miranda Trewella
[ 1949 ] Joan Burns
[ 1949 ] Mimi Warburton
[ 1950 ] Lisa Robinson
[ 1951 ] Katherine
[ 1951 ] Marjorie Corder
[ 1951 ] May Jones
[ 1951 ] Nicola Fallaize
[ 1952 ] Ruth Earp
[ 1953 ] Barbara Vining
[ 1953 ] Helen Mary MacPherson MacGregor
[ 1953 ] Princess Mary Tudor
[ 1954 ] Caroline Trewella, Miranda Trewella
[ 1954 ] Jean Raymond
[ 1954 ] Marion Southey
[ 1954 ] Martha Jones
[ 1955 ] Josephine Luton
[ 1955 ] Maid Jean
[ 1956 ] Cary
[ 1956 ] Sporting Lady's Companion
[ 1957 ] Jo Eunson
[ 1958 ] Kay Trevor
[ 1959 ] Kitty Brady
[ 1960 ] Clarissa Hailsham-Brown
[ 1960 ] Mrs. Firth
[ 1962 ] Teresa Harnish
[ 1963 ] Amberlyn Griffith
[ 1964 ] Mrs. Winnifred Banks
[ 1965 ] Vina Leaf
[ 1968 ] Sabine Manning
[ 1969 ] Mrs. Squeezum
[ 1971 ] Myfanwy Price
[ 1987 ] Sister Anne
[ 1988 ] Co-Co
[ 1994 ] Rose
[ 1995 ] Elsie
[ 1999 ] Grandma
TV Shows
Trudie Pepper
Awards and Nominations
Glynis JohnsCause Celebre
winner
Glynis Johns, A Little Night Music
winner
Glynis Johns , A Little Night Music
Videos
VIDEO: Get A First Look At HARRY TOWNSEND'S LAST STAND at New York City Center
by Alan Henry - 2019-12-03 15:37:54
TV: Len Cariou, Craig Bierko & More Explain What HARRY TOWNSEND'S LAST STAND Is All About
by Nicole Rosky - 2019-11-11 14:15:47
STAGE TUBE: Watch Lost Documentary Footage from SONDHEIM: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE
by Nicole Rosky - 2013-09-23 15:32:22
News
by Stephi Wild - Jan 28, 2026
Toronto's Mirvish Theatres will dim their marquee lights on January 28 at 8 PM to honor the late Paul Elliott, a prominent UK theatre producer who passed away recently.
by Stephen Mosher - Dec 18, 2025
This is one of the reasons we choose to be New Yorkers.
by A.A. Cristi - Mar 28, 2025
Oscar Wilde’s tale of beauty, excess, and a deal with the devil comes to Broadway in The Picture of Dorian Gray, starring Emmy Award-winner Sarah Snook. Check out what the critics had to say about the New York premiere of this acclaimed production!
by Cary Ginell - Mar 23, 2025
5-Star Theatricals uses low-angle lighting to highlight the decadence of pre-Nazi era Berlin, but the performances are not as bold as previous productions of 'Cabaret' have been. Sean Samuels plays The Emcee as if he were a Chippendale's dancer while Emily Goglia channels Glynis Johns rather than Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles.
by R. Scott Reedy - Jun 4, 2024
Late in the second act of “A Little Night Music,” the Stephen Sondheim musical about love – and the amorous, sometimes adulterous, always complicated entanglements that accompany it – the opening lines of the plaintive ballad “Send in the Clowns” ask, “Isn’t it bliss? Don’t you approve?” When it comes to the enchanting Sullivan Rep production of the show, now at Newton City Hall through June 8, the answer to both is a resounding yes.
by Stephi Wild - Feb 27, 2024
In the U.K., the rating has been changed on the 1964 film Mary Poppins. Find out why here!
by Gil Kaan - Feb 2, 2024
Luke Yankee’s Marilyn, Mom & Me world premieres February 16, 2024, at the International City Theatre. Written by Luke, he also directs the cast of Laura Gardner, Alisha Soper, Jacquelin Lorraine Schofield, Brian Rohan and Noah Wagner.
by Michael Major - Jan 4, 2024
BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Tony-winner Glynis Johns has passed away at age 100. She is known for Disney's Mary Poppins (1964), in which she played Winifred Banks, and for originating the role of Desiree Armfeldt and for which she received a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jan 3, 2024
International City Theatre will open its 2024 season with the world premiere of Yankee’s deeply personal comic drama, Marilyn, Mom & Me.
by - Oct 6, 2023
Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is October 6, 2023 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours.
by Stephi Wild - Oct 5, 2023
Tony Award winning stage and screen actor Glynis Johns is celebrating her 100th birthday. In a new segment on ABC 7 she reflects on her career amidst this important birthday milestone. Watch the video here!
by Donna Marie Nowak - Jul 27, 2023
What did our critic think of THE MUSIC MAN at Moorestown Theater Company?
by Jeffrey Kare - Jul 20, 2023
From July 25th-30th, North Carolina Theatre will be presenting MARY POPPINS at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, which is located inside the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts. I had the great pleasure of interviewing actress Sara Jean Ford, who will be taking on the role of Winifred Banks. Some of her previous Broadway credits include THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, FINIAN’S RAINBOW, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, and CATS.
by Nicole Rosky - Feb 25, 2023
A Little Night Music opened on Broadway on February 25, 1973. Watch videos of the original and revival casts!
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jun 6, 2022
A 2016 winner of the prestigious National Theatre Company Grant Award by the American Theatre Wing, Classical Theatre Company has announce the lineup for its 2022-2023 15th Anniversary Mainstage Season. As the only professional theatre company in the State of Texas that solely produces classical drama on a year-round basis,
by Stephen Mosher - Jun 3, 2022
With her new Stephen Sondheim tribute show, Donna McKechnie is thrilling audiences and honoring a dear friend.
by A.A. Cristi - Mar 31, 2022
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Burry Fredrik Foundation championing the growth and continuing health of Connecticut's non-profit professional producing theaters. Since 2012, the Foundation has granted over $3 million to a dozen Connecticut theaters with a proven track record of accomplishments. In 2022, $500,000 will be awarded. The Foundation was established by Burry Fredrik (1925-2012), a Tony Award-winning producer and noted director, who lived in Weston, CT.
by Stephen Mosher - Mar 24, 2022
Liz Callaway was there for the last forty years, and, now, she is sharing the music and the memories in TO STEVE WITH LOVE, her musical cabaret honoring Mr. Sondheim.
by Jackie Camborde - Mar 15, 2022
Full confession: I was not jumping up and down to see another production of Cabaret. Chalk it up to Cabaret being the show that wouldn't die when I was in college - cast as a chorus member, it was a grueling rehearsal period and extended run, then we won American College Theater Festival for our region and had to come back early from winter break to recreate it, it literally went on for a good two thirds of my sophomore year. Some of the songs can give me PTSD. True fact.
by Jim Munson - Nov 2, 2021
BroadwayWorld talks to leading lady Alison Ewing about playing Desiree in 42nd Street Moon's new production of Stephen Sondheim's 'A Little Night Music' playing November 4 to 21 in San Francisco.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Glynis Johns has appeared on Broadway in 6 shows.
Glynis Johns has not appeared in the West End.
Actress of the Year in a New Play (Olivier Awards) for Cause Celebre, Outstanding Performance (Drama Desk Awards) for A Little Night Music and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Tony Awards) for A Little Night Music.
Glynis Johns won the Outstanding Performance award at the Drama Desk Awards for A Little Night Music. She also received the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her role in A Little Night Music.
Videos