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).

[8] Originally of English descent, Alyce's family found fame as performing actors, singers and musicians, touring Australia, New Zealand and South Africa with their musical programmes;[9] her grandmother, Elizabeth Steele-Payne, was one of the first accomplished women violinists of her time.

[5] Johns made her theatrical debut in October 1923 at just three weeks old, carried onto the London stage by her grandmother, Elizabeth Steele-Payne, a violinist-impresario[6] who had inherited the production's company from her father.

"[38] On stage, Johns reprised her role as Miranda Bute in Richard Bird's play Quiet Weekend, which ran from 22 July 1941 to 29 January 1944 at Wyndham's Theatre in London.

Her successes in Miranda (1948), Third Time Lucky (1949) and in other movies made her a household name, both in Britain and the United States; director Ken Annakin was an early admirer of her work.

[41] Johns supported Richard Todd in Flesh and Blood the following year[42] and having previously declined parts in Hollywood productions, because of her loving devotion to British cinema, appeared in the Hollywood-financed No Highway in the Sky, in which an expert's misgivings about a plane's air-worthiness are ignored.

[43] As unflappable stewardess Marjorie Corder, Johns appeared alongside James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich in this Henry Koster adaptation of the Nevil Shute novel No Highway.

[1] Following this, she co-starred with David Niven in Appointment with Venus (1951) for director Ralph Thomas, which recreates a wartime mission to rescue a pedigree cow from the Nazi-occupied island of Amorel and in which Johns plays Channel-Islander Nicola Fallaize.

[1] In The Card (1952), a "droll" adaptation of Arnold Bennett's eponymous novel,[1] she was Alec Guinness' main love interest, dance teacher Ruth Earp, about which The New York Times' Bosley Crowther wrote, "Miss Johns' self-propelling young lady is a bundle of feminine guile.

[50] Johns was reunited with Richard Todd for two swashbucklers made for Walt Disney: The Sword and the Rose (1953), directed by Ken Annakin, and Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (1953).

[51] At the same time, she made Personal Affair,[52] a British drama film starring Gene Tierney and directed by Anthony Pelissier, in which Johns plays teenager Barbara Vining, who pursues her Latin teacher, Leo Genn's Kay Barlow.

[56] Ralph Thomas's 1954 Technicolor comedy film Mad About Men starred Johns alongside actors Donald Sinden and Anne Crawford in this sequel to Miranda.

[57] Johns starred as Jo Luton in Roy Boulting's 1955 comedy Josephine and Men, a romantic comedy film in which Jack Buchanan's Uncle Charles Luton examines his niece's relationships,[58] and supported Danny Kaye in the musical-comedy medieval romance costume drama film The Court Jester of the same year, playing Jean with "cunning precision".

When the episode "Doctor's Orders" of Star Trek: Enterprise aired in 2004, Johns made a surprise guest appearance when a clip of The Court Jester was shown on screen.

[62] Alongside Cameron Mitchell, Johns starred in the 1957 Technicolor melodrama film All Mine to Give, based on the novel by Dale Eunson and his wife Katherine Albert.

[65] Johns returned to the United States in 1956 to again play the title role, this time in a Broadway revival production of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara.

"[72] The following year, Johns supported Jackie Gleason in George Marshall's adaptation of the eponymous Corinne Griffith memoir Papa's Delicate Condition, a role described by Jeffrey Kauffman as "neatly understated".

[76] "Johns is endearing as the mother," wrote The Hollywood Reporter's James Powers in 1964, "happy as a lark at getting chained to a lamp post for the cause ... she comes in strongly as a singing actor.

[83] Johns guest-starred in the CBS anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show in the episode "A Game for Alternate Mondays" of the 1962–63 television season, playing widow Leah Marquand, with Leslye Hunter as her daughter Isabella.

[1] In 1967, she appeared in four episodes of the Batman television series as villainess Lady Penelope Peasoup, one-half of the evil duo with Rudy Vallée as her brother Lord Marmaduke Ffogg.

"[96] Following this, Johns starred in Joseph Hardy's production of Ring Round the Moon at the Center Theatre Group,[97][98] Los Angeles, from 1 April 1975 to 10 May 1975, with Michael York.

From 17 March 1976, she starred in Peter Dews' production of 13 Rue de l'Amour at the Phoenix Theatre in London with film and stage actor Louis Jourdan.

[101] Of her original performance as Mrs. Amworth in the eponymous 1975 short film, Ian Holloway on Wyrd Britain wrote, "the titular lady" is "played with flamboyant aplomb by the fabulous Glynis Johns.

[103] Johns had a starring role in Nukie (1987), a South African science-fiction film in which she played the decisive Sister Anne alongside actors Anthony Morrison, Steve Railsback, and Ronald France.

[91][111] In 1991, Johns returned to A Little Night Music aged 68, this time playing Madame Armfeldt, the mother of her original character Desiree, with Gordon Davidson directing at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Los Angeles.

Following this, she starred as Myrtle Bledsoe in the premiere of Horton Foote's A Coffin in Egypt from June to July 1998 at the Bay Street Theatre in New York City.

[112] On screen, Johns had the main part of Darjeeling alongside Honor Blackman and Derek Jacobi on the American children's television anthology series ABC Weekend Specials (in the short "The Secret Garden", which aired on 5 November 1994).

She played the camera-toting grandmother in the 1995 Sandra Bullock hit While You Were Sleeping[26] and the waspish Grandma Rose in Ted Demme's 1994 black comedy film The Ref.

Of this role, Caution Spoilers' Sarah noted, "Glynis Johns as the awful Rose is terrific"; her character was often at odds with her son Lloyd Chasseur, played by Kevin Spacey.

[94][136] In a 1973 interview with Robert Berkvist, Johns described – in her experience – the compatibility of theatre and marriage: "Acting is my highest form of intelligence, the time when I use the best part of my brain.