
Connie Booth
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
Known For
Credits
- 2023 · Fawlty Towers: 50 Years of Laughs as Self
- 2018 · Michael Palin: A Life on Screen as
- 2017 · A Good Day to Die, Hoka Hey as Polly Sherman (archive footage)
- 2014 · A Life on Screen as Herself
- 2009 · Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened as Self / Polly Sherman
- 2005 · Fawlty Towers Revisited as Herself
- 2004 · Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball? as Self
- 2004 · The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 3 as Self (archive footage)
- 2004 · The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 2 as Self (archive footage)
- 2004 · The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 1 as Self (archive footage)
- 1999 · The Monty Python Story as Self
- 1999 · Monty Python: From Spam to Sperm as Self
- 1995 · The Buccaneers as Jackie March
- 1994 · Faith as Pat Harbinson
- 1993 · Leon the Pig Farmer as Yvonne Chadwick
- 1991 · Smack and Thistle as Ms Kane
- 1991 · American Friends as Caroline Hartley
- 1990 · The World of Eddie Weary as Madge
- 1988 · High Spirits as Marge
- 1988 · Hawks as Nurse Javis
- 1987 · 84 Charing Cross Road as The Lady from Delaware
- 1987 · The Return of Sherlock Holmes as Violet Morstan
- 1986 · Past Caring as Linda
- 1986 · Rocket to the Moon as Belle Stark
- 1984 · Nairobi Affair as Mrs. Gardner
- 1983 · The Hound of the Baskervilles as Laura Lyons
- 1982 · The Deadly Game as Helen Trapp
- 1982 · The Story of Ruth as Ruth Baker
- 1982 · American Playhouse as Belle Stark
- 1981 · Bergerac as Monica McLeod
- 1980 · Little Lord Fauntleroy as Mrs. Errol
- 1980 · Why Didn't They Ask Evans? as Sylva Bassington-ffrench
- 1979 · Worzel Gummidge as Aunt Sally II
- 1977 · The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It as Mrs. Hudson / Francine Moriarty
- 1977 · The Mermaid Frolics as Various
- 1977 · Spaghetti Two-Step as Sheila
- 1976 · The Secret Policeman's Ball as Self
- 1975 · 84 Charing Cross Road as Ginny
- 1975 · Fawlty Towers as Polly Sherman
- 1975 · Monty Python and the Holy Grail as The Witch
- 1975 · The After Dinner Game as Lee-Ann Good
- 1974 · Romance with a Double Bass as Princess Costanza
- 1973 · Is This a Record? as Various
- 1971 · And Now for Something Completely Different as Best Girl
- 1970 · Play for Today as Lee-Ann Good
- 1970 · Play for Today as Ginny
- 1969 · Monty Python's Flying Circus as Various
- 1969 · Monty Python's Flying Circus as Second Juror
- 1969 · How to Irritate People as Various