Skip to content
Glynis Johns

File:GLynis.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ272579· pop 59· linked from 488 articles

Glynis Johns

Sign in to save

Also known as Glynis Margaret Payne Johns, Glynis John, Glynnis Johns

British actress (1923–2024)

OverviewAI-generated

Glynis Johns was a British artist active from 1923 until 1999. She was associated with Broadway, musical theater, and soundtracks, with tags including "sondheim." Her recorded works include *A little night music* and *Bargain for Frances and Other Frances Stories*.

Born on October 5, 1923, Johns had one child. She passed away on January 4, 2024. Her musical catalog includes five works, while her authorship is credited with three. She is referenced by 488 other encyclopedia articles.

Johns noted, "I would sooner play in a good British picture than in the majority of American pictures I have seen."

Synthesized by Vinony from 18 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works
3

Top works

  • A little night music
  • A little night music
  • Bargain for Frances and Other Frances Stories

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Country
GB
Active from
1923-10-05
Active to
2024-01-04

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
28,872
Total plays
108,905

Tags

BroadwaySoundtrackmusical theatersondheimSoundtracks

Glynis Johns (born 5 October 1923) is a British stage and film actress, dancer, pianist and singer (notably of "Send in the Clowns" in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music). With a career spanning seven decades, Johns is often cited as the "complete actress", who happens to be a trained pianist and singer. She is also an accomplished dancer, and was qualified to teach ballet by the age of ten. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Glynis+Johns">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Glynis Johns

Quotes

  • I would sooner play in a good British picture than in the majority of American pictures I have seen.
  • Relatives cannot help you in the studios. You stand or fall by your own efforts. My father and I have only ever worked in one picture together – that was Halfway House – and the producer was casting a father and daughter. Perhaps it was natural that he chose us, but my father did not get me that job, neither did I get him his.
  • Acting is my highest form of intelligence, the time when I use the best part of my brain. I was always told, by my married friends, for example, that I could apply that intelligence to something else, some other aspect of living, but I can't. I don't have the same flair in other things.
  • I'd tread very softly in that area. Very softly. I certainly wouldn't rush into anything again, and I'd have to have an awful lot in common with anyone I'd consider marrying next time. Why so many marriages? It was absolute conservatism on my part. I was brought up to feel that if you wanted to have an affair with a man, well, you married him. I have friends who, if they'd followed that rule, would have collected an awful lot of pieces of paper by now.
  • I like being a woman, and it may be small‐minded of me, but I also like being given flowers, having the door opened for me, being cherished by a man. And a woman should look after a man, mother him. It's give and take. It evens out. I'm a complete romantic – and very happy to be one.
  • For me, most relationships with men have been like pregnancies – they last only nine months. One of my marriages lated only three months. It wasn't a marriage at all but a serious mistake.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (5 October 1923 – 4 January 2024) was a British actress and singer. In a career exceeding seven decades on stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. She 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. Before her death at age 100, she was considered one of the last surviving 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 the United States 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).

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Glynis Johns” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (12)