It was August 27, 1964. And if you were lucky enough to see Mary Poppins in a theater that summer, you probably still remember the feeling. The music. The magic. That practically perfect nanny floating down from the sky.
The Disney musical won five Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song for the Sherman Brothers’ “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” It became one of the most beloved films our generation ever saw.
But what happened to the actors who brought it all to life? Here is a look at the cast of Mary Poppins, then and now.
Julie Andrews — Mary Poppins
Andrews was already talented when she took on the role of the magical nanny. But Mary Poppins launched her into a different stratosphere entirely. She won the Oscar for Best Actress and made “A Spoonful of Sugar” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” part of our shared memory forever.
A whole new generation discovered her as the Queen of Genovia in The Princess Diaries films and as the voice of the mysterious narrator Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton. Queen Elizabeth made her a dame in 2000 in recognition of her services to the performing arts.
More than 70 years into her career, Andrews is still captivating audiences. In March 2017, she said, “What I know now is that there’s always something more to learn, because you never stop, really. Nothing you do in life is wasted.”
Dick Van Dyke — Bert
If Andrews was the heart of Mary Poppins, Van Dyke was its irresistible spark. As Bert the chimney sweep, he danced, mugged, and charmed his way through every scene. He even took on a second role, Mr. Dawes Sr., the stern boss at Mr. Banks’ bank.
In November 2024, he said that he “wept” when the Sherman brothers first played him the film’s music. He called it “the most beautiful thing” he had ever heard.
“I loved working with kids. You do a lot of clowning and get to know them,” he said in 2011.
Over the course of his career, Van Dyke collected a Tony, a Grammy, a People’s Choice Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement honor. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1998.
“I always loved what I was doing,” he told Deadline in May 2024. “If it had felt like work, I probably would have stopped it a long time ago.”
Van Dyke married Margie Willet early in his career, and the couple had four children. After they split in 1984, he spent nearly 35 years with companion Michelle Triola, until her death in 2009. He has been married to makeup artist Arlene Silver since 2012. In December 2025, Van Dyke turned 100.
Glynis Johns — Mrs. Banks
As Winifred Banks, Glynis Johns played the well-meaning suffragette mother who was perpetually distracted from her own children. Her performance of “Sister Suffragette” was a showstopper.
When she turned 100 in October 2023, she told ABC7, “I’ve been working at something ever since I was born, I think.” Asked how it felt to reach that milestone, she quipped: “Well, I looked very good for every age.”
Johns passed away in January 2024, shortly after celebrating her 100th birthday.
David Tomlinson — Mr. Banks
David Tomlinson played the uptight father whose transformation, from stern taskmaster to kite-flying dad, is really the emotional center of the whole film. His final scene singing “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” still gets people every time.
Tomlinson was a Disney Legend who worked across more than 50 films in his career. After Mary Poppins, he returned to Disney to play an evil character in The Love Bug (1969) and a professor of magic in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). He passed away in 2000.
Karen Dotrice — Jane Banks
As Jane, the eldest Banks child, Karen Dotrice helped kick off the whole story when she and her screen brother pleaded for the right kind of nanny in “The Perfect Nanny.” She also appeared in “Chim Chim Cher-ee” alongside Garber, Van Dyke, and Andrews.
She retired from acting in the early 1980s. She was named a Disney Legend in 2004 and made a cameo appearance in Mary Poppins Returns in 2018. She has been married to Ned Nalle since 1994 and has two children with him.
Matthew Garber — Michael Banks
Matthew Garber played Michael, the younger Banks child whose accidental bank run nearly brought down his father’s career. He and Dotrice had already worked together before Mary Poppins in The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963), and they reunited again for The Gnome-Mobile (1967).
Garber died in 1977 at just 21 years old, after contracting hepatitis. He was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 2004.
Sixty-plus years on, Mary Poppins still feels like a gift. The songs, the laughter, the magic of that London rooftop and the remarkable people who made it all real. It is the kind of film you never quite stop carrying with you.