BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS FOR MY FAVOURITE ACTOR - GLYNIS JOHNS

GLYNIS JOHNS (ONE OF MY FAVOURITE FILM ACTORS CELEBRATING HER ONE HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY - GLYNIS' LIFE STORY IS A FABULOUS ROMP

Lovely to hear the voice of of one of my favourite film actors Glynis Johns, who celebrated her 100th birthday on 5 October.  I met Glynis in London in the late 1950s and have now mentioned her in my new book. She was born in South Africa to another favourite actor of mine, her father Mervyn Johns and classical concert pianist Alys Maude Steele-Payne. 

"I've been working at something ever since I was born!" she mentioned in the new video (credit ABC 7) 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. Glynis 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."   Glynis now lives in Los Angeles.