Beloved actress Glynis Johns turned 100 October 5, and the Tony winner sat down with ABC 7 to reflect on her century of life. Watch the segment above.
Known for introducing Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” in A Little Night Music and playing the suffragette mother Winifred Banks in the film musical Mary Poppins, Johns was born October 5, 1923, in South Africa to Welsh actor Mervyn Johns and classical concert pianist Alys Maude Steele-Payne.
"I've been working at something ever since I was born!" Johns says in the video, referring to her early start as a child star. Johns quickly established a persona in light comedy roles as a wide-eyed, slightly ditzy performer with big eyes, an abundance of blonde hair, and a husky voice with a plummy accent, all of which she displayed in more than 60 films from 1938 to 1999, including State Secret and Mad About Men. Johns was Oscar nominated in 1960 for The Sundowners, and is now the oldest Oscar nominee currently living.
A Tony winner, she made her Broadway debut in 1952, and appeared on the New York stage in Gertie, Major Barbara, Too True to Be Good, and The Circle in addition to A Little Night Music.
In A Little Night Music, which awarded Johns her Tony, she introduced the Sondheim classic "Send In The Clowns". Said Johns of the song, "I got applause for that. I loved doing it, I felt it."
Johns is now retired in Los Angeles, where she has lived for many years.
Glynis Johns in the original Broadway production of A Little Night Music
