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Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

54

Gender

Female

Birthday

1940-12-02 (85 years old)

Place of Birth

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Also Known As

Конни Бут

Constance "Connie" Booth Bollinger

Constance Booth Bollinger

Connie Booth

Biography

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

Acting

Romance with a Double Bass

1974

Romance with a Double Bass

as

Princess Costanza

Little Lord Fauntleroy

1980

Little Lord Fauntleroy

as

Mrs. Errol

Rocket to the Moon

1986

Rocket to the Moon

as

Belle Stark

Is This a Record?

1973

Is This a Record?

as

Various

Leon the Pig Farmer

1993

Leon the Pig Farmer

as

Yvonne Chadwick

American Friends

1991

American Friends

as

Caroline Hartley

Hawks

1988

Hawks

as

Nurse Javis

Smack and Thistle

1991

Smack and Thistle

as

Ms Kane

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

1987

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

as

Violet Morstan

Spaghetti Two-Step

1977

Spaghetti Two-Step

as

Sheila

Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened

2009

Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened

as

Self / Polly Sherman

The Deadly Game

1982

The Deadly Game

as

Helen Trapp

A Good Day to Die, Hoka Hey

2017

A Good Day to Die, Hoka Hey

as

Polly Sherman (archive footage)

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

1980

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

as

Sylva Bassington-ffrench

84 Charing Cross Road

1987

84 Charing Cross Road

as

The Lady from Delaware

Past Caring

1986

Past Caring

as

Linda

High Spirits

1988

High Spirits

as

Marge

The Mermaid Frolics

1977

The Mermaid Frolics

as

Various

The After Dinner Game

1975

The After Dinner Game

as

Lee-Ann Good

Nairobi Affair

1984

Nairobi Affair

as

Mrs. Gardner

The Story of Ruth

1982

The Story of Ruth

as

Ruth Baker

Bergerac

Bergerac

as

Monica McLeod

Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers

as

Polly Sherman

The Buccaneers

The Buccaneers

as

Jackie March

Faith

Faith

as

Pat Harbinson

Play for Today

Play for Today

as

Lee-Ann Good

Worzel Gummidge

Worzel Gummidge

as

Aunt Sally II

American Playhouse

American Playhouse

as

Belle Stark

Production

Crew

Snavely

1978

Snavely

as

Directing