Where Mary Poppins cast are now as Glynis Johns dies aged 100 – including Dick Van Dyke’s 46-year age gap marriage
IT’s 60 years since the Disney classic Mary Poppins was released and this week the world lost one of its iconic stars.
Glynis Johns, who starred as mum and suffragette Winifred Banks, has died at the age of 100 after a glittering showbiz career.
The endearing musical catapulted British actress Julie Andrews to fame and has been watched by generations of children for almost six decades.
But what happened to the rest of the cast – from kids Michael and Jane to the fleet-footed Dick van Dyke?
Julie Andrews – Mary Poppins
Amazingly, Mary Poppins was Julie’s film debut, when she was 29 years old.
Child star Karen Dotrice later said the star shocked the kids by swearing and smoking in full prim Edwardian nanny get-up,
She also reportedly had a car sticker that read “Mary Poppins is a junkie.”
The Brit star won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in the film and went onto star in The Sound of Music the next year.
But the accomplished singer and actress was devastated after a botched throat operation in 1999 left her unable to sing, and she later sued the US surgeons for an undisclosed amount.
Julie turned down a cameo role in the 2018 reboot Mary Poppins Returns, starring Emily Blunt, reported to be worth £790,000, telling director Rob Marshall: “This is Emily’s show and I want her to run with this.”
But she continues to work on new projects, including the hit movie Aquaman and Netflix series Bridgerton, which she narrates.
Now 88, she has an estimated net worth of £35million and lives in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.
Dick Van Dyke – Bert the chimney sweep
Dick Van Dyke’s famous ditty Chim Chim Cher-ee won the film an Oscar for Best Original Song – while the role also helped him bag a part in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
But the actor later admitted he was suffering from alcohol addiction at the time of filming and would turn up for shoots suffering from the night before.
The actor said: “I would go to work with terrible hangovers, which if you’re dancing is really hard.”
Now 98, the American actor has more recently starred in Night At The Museum (2006) and Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb (2014).
He made an emotional cameo in Mary Poppins Returns, switching roles to play Mr Dawes Jr, the son of the crotchety banker from the 1964 movie.
Emily Blunt described his appearance as “utterly moving”and it also reduced director Rob to tears.
In 2012, dad-of-four Dick, who has seven grandchildren, married make-up artist Arlene Silver. He was 86 and she was 40.
He was spotted last year wearing a sweater with the words “A Spoonful in Sugar”, a reference to the film’s iconic song.
Karen Dotrice – Jane Banks
Karen Dotrice was just nine when she played daughter Jane in the popular Disney movie.
She later starred alongside her on-screen brother Michael (Matthew Garber) in The Gnome Mobile and the 70s servant drama Upstairs Downstairs.
Now 68, Karen retired from the industry to focus on being a mum in 1984.
She has three kids from two marriages and made a brief comeback with a cameo in Mary Poppins Returns.
David Tomlinson – Mr Banks
David Tomlinson played the dad George in Mary Poppins, then went onto star in 1968 film The Love Bug and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, opposite Angela Landsbury, in 1971 .
Tragically, Tomlinson’s first wife Mary killed herself and her two sons, in 1943, by jumping from a hotel in New York, after learning she couldn’t take children Michael, eight, and John, six, to join her husband in England until the end of the war.
He married second wife Audrey, ten years later, and had four sons.
David died in 2000, at the age of 83, following a sudden stroke and was posthumously named as a Disney Legend in 2002.
Glynis Johns – Mrs Banks
Glynis Johns played mum Winifred in the film, with the Sherman brothers writing the feminist anthem Sister Suffragette specifically for her.
The South African film star, a mum-of-one, retired from showbiz in 1999.
Although she had a couple of movie parts, including the 1969 comedy Lock Up Your Daughters, most of Glynis’ career was on the stage.
She’s was married four times but claimed her career always came first, saying: “Acting is my highest form of intelligence, the time when I use the best part of my brain.”
On January 4, 2024, Glynis died from natural causes at the age of 100. According to her publicist Mitch Clem, Glynis was living in West Hollywood, California, at the time of her death.
Matthew Garber – Michael Banks
Matthew was just eight when he starred as little Michael in the film.
He went on to star in The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Gnome Mobile, both alongside his on-screen sister Karen.
Tragically Matthew Garber died at the age of 21 after contracting hepatitis on a trip to India, which developed into pancreatitis.
Co-star Karen paid tribute to the child actor, saying: “He was how he looked — an imp, and I loved being his shadow.
“He loved being naughty, finding and jumping off of small buildings on the back lot. While I was Victorian proper and wouldn’t let myself get dirty or muddy, Matthew had a great sense of fun and danger.
“He was a daredevil and could have been a race car driver. And he did live a full life over his 21 years.”