About the artist
Glynis Johns was a British actress and singer born on 5 October 1923 in Pretoria, South Africa, to a Welsh actor father and a South African-born mother, and raised largely in England. She built a long career spanning British and Hollywood film, television and stage, becoming one of the defining leading ladies of mid-20th-century cinema before turning to musical theatre later in her career.
Her most celebrated musical role came in 1973, originating the part of Desiree Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's «A Little Night Music» on Broadway. Sondheim wrote the show's signature song, «Send in the Clowns», specifically to suit her light, conversational singing voice and limited vocal range, and the number became one of the most recorded songs of the American musical theatre canon, later covered by Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins and many others. The role earned her a Tony Award.
She was also widely loved for her film work, most notably as Mrs. Banks in Disney's «Mary Poppins», singing «Sister Suffragette». Unlike a conventional pop or rock artist, Johns's musical identity was inseparable from her acting craft: her songs are theatrical character pieces, delivered with wit, restraint and dramatic nuance rather than vocal power, which is why her recordings remain closely tied to the shows and films that produced them.