Watch: Oliver! Film Star Shani Wallis Recreates Her 'As Long As He Needs Me' on Britain's Got Talent

The 92-year old stage and screen actor proved that six decades had nothing on her vocal cords.

March 11, 2026 By Logan Culwell-Block

It's a fine life when Shani Wallis is back and singing her greatest hits! The stage and screen star, who perhaps most memorably played heroine Nancy in the 1968 Oscar-winning film version of Oliver!, joined Britain's Got Talent March 10 to give an extra special performance of her character's most iconic song, "As Long As He Needs Me." Nearly six decades after the movie released and at the age of 92, Wallis does now perform the song down a third. But watch above to see the singer show her that instrument remains in remarkably fine shape. Consider ourselves moved!

No surprise—Wallis wows the judges, who all approve her to move on to this season's live competition episodes. Hopefully that means we have more televised performances ahead from the movie musical icon.

Before filming Oliver!, Wallis had starred in London stage productions of Call Me Madam, Wish You Were Here, Wonderful Town, and Irma La Douce, among others. She even made a Broadway debut just two years before the film hit movie theatres, in 1966's A Time For Singing. Since her breakout performance in the Lionel Bart musical, Wallis starred on screen in Arnold, Terror in the Wax Museum, Mayday at 40,000 Feet, The Great Mouse Detective, Round Numbers, The Pebble and the Penguin, and Mojave Phone Booth. She's never strayed too far from musical theatre, including later stage performances in 42nd Street, Follies, and Always.