
Acting
Connie Booth
Born 1940-12-02 · Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Constance "Connie" Booth (born 2 December 1940) is an American writer and actress, known for appearances on British television and particularly for her portrayal of Polly Sherman in the popular 1970s television show Fawlty Towers, which she co-wrote with her then husband John Cleese. In 1995, she quit acting and worked as a psychotherapist until her retirement. Booth was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on December 2, 1940. Her father was a Wall Street stockbroker and her mother was an actress. The family later moved to New York State. Booth entered acting and worked as a Broadway understudy and waitress. She met John Cleese while he was working in New York City; they married on February 20, 1968. Booth secured parts in episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–74) and in the Python films And Now for Something Completely Different (1971) and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, as a woman accused of being a witch). She also appeared in How to Irritate People (1968), a pre-Monty Python film starring Cleese and other future Monty Python members; a short film titled Romance with a Double Bass (1974) which Cleese adapted from a short story by Anton Chekhov; and The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977), Cleese's Sherlock Holmes spoof, as Mrs. Hudson Booth and Cleese co-wrote and co-starred in Fawlty Towers (1975 and 1979), in which she played waitress and chambermaid Polly. For thirty years Booth declined to talk about the show until she agreed to participate in a documentary about the series for the digital channel Gold in 2009. Booth played various roles on British television, including Sophie in Dickens of London (1976), Mrs. Errol in a BBC adaptation of Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980) and Miss March in a dramatisation of Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers (1995). She also starred in the lead role of a drama called The Story of Ruth (1981), in which she played the role of the schizophrenic daughter of an abusive father. In 1994, she played a supporting role in "The Culex Experiment", an episode of the children's science fiction TV series The Tomorrow People. Booth also had a stage career, primarily in the London theatre, appearing in 10 productions from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, notably starring with John Mills in the 1983–1984 West End production of Little Lies at Wyndham's Theatre
Acting credits
7.8King Arthur, accompanied by his squire, recruits his Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot and Sir Galahad the Pure. On the way, Arthur battles the Black Knight who, despite having had all his limbs chopped off, insists he can still fight. They reach Camelot, but Arthur decides not to enter, as "it is a silly place".
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1975
7.2A collection of Monty Python's Flying Circus skits from the first two seasons of their British TV series.
And Now for Something Completely Different
1971
5.8When a hotelier attempts to fill the chronic vacancies at his castle by launching an advertising campaign that falsely portrays the property as haunted, two actual ghosts show up and end up falling for two guests.
High Spirits
1988
7.3Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Little Lord Fauntleroy
1980
7.2When a humorous script-reader in her New York apartment sees an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature for a bookstore in London that does mail order, she begins a very special correspondence and friendship with Frank Doel, the bookseller who works at Marks & Co., 84 Charing Cross Road.
84 Charing Cross Road
1987
6.5When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1983
5.4An irreverent comedy is set in motion when Leon Geller, a sensitive Jewish boy from London, accidentally learns that his is the product of artificial insemination.
Leon the Pig Farmer
1993
NR67 year-old Victor is forced to move into an old people's home but he prefers to grow old disgracefully.
Past Caring
1986
6.7This intriguing story is set in the 1930s at a country house, where two amateur sleuths, Bobby Jones and Lady Frankie Derwent, try to unravel the mystery behind a tale of murder, suspense and false identities. And the only clues the two have to go on are the puzzling last words of a dying man. Featuring characters created by Agatha Christie, Why Didn't They Ask Evans is a classic crime thriller sure to please murder-mystery fans.
Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
1980
Movie with some of the greatest brittish comedians such as Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese.
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005
6.3Francis Ashby, a senior Oxford don on holiday alone in the Alps, meets holidaying American Caroline and her companion Elinor, the blossoming Irish-American girl she adopted many years before. Ashby finds he enjoys their company, particularly that of Elinor, and both the women are drawn to him. Back at Oxford he is nevertheless taken aback when they arrive unannounced. Women are not allowed in the College grounds, let alone the rooms. Indeed any liaison, however innocent, is frowned on by the upstanding Fellows.
American Friends
1991
9.0Compilation of the best Sketches of the first series of Monty Python's Flying Circus, which ran from 5 October 1969 to 11 January 1970. Memorable moments include: 'The 127th Upperclass Twit of the Year Competition from Hurlingham Park'; 'Bicycle Repair Man'; 'Vicious Gangs of Old Ladies - the Layabouts in Lace'; 'The Man with Three Buttocks'; 'The Lumberjack Song'; 'Vocational Guidance Councillor'; and 'The Joke That Kills People'. Oh, and a sketch about a dead parrot.
The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 1
2004
9.0All the best sketches from the second series of the ground-breaking comedy. Memorable moments include: 'It's in the Mind'; 'The New Cooker Sketch'; 'Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition'; and 'The Ministry for Silly Walks'. Originally Broadcast from 15 September to 22 December 1970
The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 2
2004
TV play by Jim Hawkins based on real events in Russia and the USA just after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Thank You, Comrades
1978
5.6A former green beret is hired by the Kenyan government to stop increasingly bold and violent poachers. As if that wasn't hard enough, he has to deal with his estranged father, now a safari guide, and with the woman they both love.
Nairobi Affair
1984
NRAll the best sketches from the third and fourth series of the ground-breaking comedy. Memorable moments include: 'The Finals of the All-England Summarise Proust Competition'; 'Stand and Deliver! It's That Highwayman Dennis Moore'; 'Thrust: A Quite Controversial Look at the World Around Us'; 'Whicker's Island'; and 'The Fifteenth Ideal Loon Competition'. Originally broadcast from 19 October 1972 to 18 January 1973, and 31 October to 5 December 1974.
The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 3
2004
6.2This is the story of a man's bravery to cover the world at war, and what it takes to get images published for the world to see. This is Jason P. Howe's story of survival and change.
A Good Day to Die, Hoka Hey
2017
8.430 years after Fawlty Towers (1975) ended, Stephen Fry narrates a documentary about the making of this classic sitcom.
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
2009
10.0In 1938 New York City, a dentist finds his business and marriage failing as he embarks on a love affair with a young dental assistant.
Rocket to the Moon
1986
6.1A bassist shows up early for the betrothal ball of a beautiful princess, and whiles away the time having a dip in the river. The princess is doing the same, unbeknownst to the bass player, but when someone steals their clothes, the bass player helps the princess to preserve her dignity by transporting her back to the castle in his bass case, and along the way they discover they have feelings for each other. Based on a short story by Anton Chekhov.
Romance with a Double Bass
1974
4.8The Secret Policeman benefit shows for Amnesty International brought together comedy grand masters - from Python and Beyond the Fringe - and performers then relatively unknown, like Rowan Atkinson. Narrated by Dawn French, the programme includes interviews with many of the comedians and musicians who took part: John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Michael Palin, Sting, Lenny Henry and many more. The shows and their stars had a huge effect on modern British comedy. There are few comics today whose careers have not been heavily influenced by the anarchic and surreal humour of these events.
Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
2004
NRFawlty Towers is a sitcom that needs no introduction for those familiar with British comedy, and yet it only lasted for two short series with a total of 12 episodes. Created by comedy legends John Cleese and Connie Booth, the show quickly became iconic after its first series in 1975. Basil Fawlty, the hotel owner with a short fuse, and his chaotic attempts to run a Torquay hotel, captivated millions. The series reached heights of popularity few shows at the time could rival. So, why does the show only exist in a re-cut, sanitised, edited form, with some of the original scenes deleted? In this programme, we explore these controversies, peeling back the layers of Fawlty Towers and examining its sometimes uncomfortable place in today's world. Through unearthed deleted scenes and archival interviews, we piece together the story of how a sitcom that seemed untouchable in the 1970s came to be viewed through a more critical lens.
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025
6.0Sherlock Holmes is brought back to life by Watson's female descendant after being cryogenically frozen for eighty years.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
1987
Alex Conway is an actor who plays the part of 'Eddie Weary', a sympathetic, down-at-heel, shabby, Northern, working-class private detective, in a TV show. Except Conway is actually a complete idiot in real-life: stuck up, pretentious and selfish, the constant focus of tabloid interest for his bad, usually drunken behaviour. But then he discovers he gets truckloads of mail from fans who think he really is Eddie Weary, asking for his help, so he decides to help them - with the aid of his assistant, Birdie.
The World of Eddie Weary
1990