GLYNIS VOTED OUT
Hello again deadpoolers, the DDP 2024 has well and truly started with newcomer time joining Banana and I. Outgoing Reptile has also been invaluable in assuring a smooth transition, and the four of us (plus Whitehouse in a guest capacity) have bulldozed through the new celeb bios. As usual there’s plenty of work to still be done that will all be sorted in due time, but the teams, celebs, and Drop 40 are all here, and now the obits too.
To the surprise of no one, Jimmy Carter received an overwhelming vote of 222 and topped the Drop 40 easily – he could only have dreamed of those numbers in 1980. But perhaps no one on the Drop 40 was happier to see a strong vote than Glynis Johns. Her largest pop culture footprint was as perky suffragette mum Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins, who memorably cheerleads Emmeline Pankhurst in early number “Sister Suffragette”.
It was the cherry on top of a beloved career. She made her theatre debut at three weeks of age when her grandmother carried her onto the stage, by 8 she was a proper theatre actress and by 15 she made her film debut. Her breakout role was as the titular mermaid in comedy Miranda, and she was a popular figure in comedy, drama, and swashbucklers alike throughout the 50s. In the early 60s she was nominated for an Oscar as the slovenly innkeeper in dramedy The Sundowners, and by this point had enough American popularity to star in a short-lived titular US sitcom.
Her theatre career flourished, and reached its apex with Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music. She won a Tony for her portrayal of yesteryear actress Desiree Armfeldt, and Sondheim wrote the melancholic pillar “Send in the Clowns” with her husky voice in mind. Sondheim considered her to remain the song’s definitive interpreter even as Sinatra and other greats tackled it, noting that the more professional singers performed it too smoothly to capture the pathos the way Johns did.
She remained active on US TV, including 60s Batman nemesis Lady Penelope Peasoup, Diane’s mum in an early Cheers episode, and obligatory spots on Murder, She Wrote and The Love Boat. Her later theatre roles included the lead in Cause Célèbre, depicting the 30s murder trial of Alma Rattenbury, and a revisiting of A Little Night Music, this time as Desiree’s mum. After a few gran roles in 90s Hollywood films, she retired in 1999.
Glynis Johns made 100 and had a hearty DDP vote to her name. Diego, JoeRam, and Eternity Tours were among the 44 to step in time, along with joker points for klinews and Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel. Also picking her was Deathlist.net, who had rebuffed popular demand to pick her for years before finally obliging days before her death. Such good timing on their part you’d think they were conducting a séance with Jimmy Jones!
Glynis Johns
5 October 1923 – 4 January 2024, aged 100
44 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀 + 40 = 7 POINTS, 🃏 (x2) 14 POINTS)