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James Booth

 
Artist: George Formby, Sr.
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Similar Artists:

Charles Coborn, Mark Sheridan, George Lashwood, Harry Ford, Harry Fargson, Billy Williams
  • Born: 1877, Manchester, England
  • Died: 1921
  • Active: '10s, '20s
  • Genres: Vocal Music

Biography

George Formby Sr. was the prototype of the northern comedy act, and passed on much of what he learned to his son, who became an even brighter star in the British music hall than his father. Born in 1877, the elder Formby spent much of his youth working in a Manchester iron foundry and there developed a harsh cough he later made part of his act. The catch phrase "coughing better tonight" made him a working-class hero for those who shared his condition (and would later die of bronchitis, as he did). Formby specialized in the character of the henpecked husband, a northern archetype, and recorded several times before his early death in 1921. Though he had been reluctant to see his son enter the business, the younger Formby, still just a teenager, began performing after his father's death, initially reprising several of his father's routines. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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Actor: James Booth
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Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Dec 19, 1930 in Croydon, Surrey, England
  • Occupation: Actor, Writer
  • Active: '60s-'80s
  • Major Genres: Action, Drama
  • Career Highlights: Dead Alive, Zulu, Adam's Woman
  • First Major Screen Credit: In the Nick (1960)

Biography

A product of RADA and the London Theatre Workshop, plumpish character actor James Booth ascended to British stage stardom as Tosher in Fings Ain't Wot They Used to Be. Effective in both kindly and unsavory roles, Booth has been permitted a wide range of characterizations since his 1959 screen debut in Jazz Boat (1959). While some filmgoers most closely associate Booth with the role of hero-by-default private Henry Hook in Zulu (1964), others prefer his portrayal of Shirley MacLaine's seducer in The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968). When asked the stage and screen roles that he preferred, James Booth replied, "Those I can relax in." In 1990, James Booth appeared as the toadying Ernie Niles in David Lynch's TV cult favorite Twin Peaks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: James Booth
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
James Booth
Born David Geeves
December 19, 1927(1927-12-19)
Croydon, Surrey, England
Died August 11, 2005 (aged 77)
Hadleigh, Essex, England
Years active 1958-2005
Spouse(s) Paula Delaney

James Booth (born David Geeves; 19 December 1927 - 11 August 2005) was an English film, stage and television actor and screenwriter. Though handsome enough to play leading roles, and versatile enough to play a wide variety of character parts, Booth naturally projected a shifty, wolfish, or unpredictable quality that led inevitably to villainous roles and comedy, usually with a cockney flavour.

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Biography

He was born in Croydon, Surrey, England on 19 December 1927, the son of a probation officer. He was educated at Southend Grammar School, which he left aged 17 to join the army. He rose to the rank of captain. He spent several years working for an international trading company. However, his interest in acting soon took priority. He was trained at RADA and he made his first professional appearance as a member of the Old Vic company, before joining Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East in 1958. The Workshop's musical Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be became a hit and Booth, who played its most pungent character, looked poised for stardom. Producer Irving Allen signed Booth to an exclusive contract with Warwick Films. The sixties, and especially the early sixties, represented the most active period of Booth's movie career, with Zulu being the film for which he is best remembered. He will also be remembered for playing the part of Kenny Ames, a pornography baron living in enforced exile in Spain, in series 2 of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet in 1985.

Though many observers expected Booth to become a major star, Booth's acting career stalled and nearly died. In interviews, Booth was surprisingly forthcoming about the reasons for his professional difficulties. These included his appearance in the flop Twang!, his alcoholism, his unaggressive approach to selling himself, his lack of connections, and his own failure to work hard because everything came so easily to him at first. Booth also turned down the lead role of Alfie.

When no one would offer Booth an acting job,he tried his hand at screenwriting and found a market for his services in Hollywood. From the mid-seventies to sometime in the nineties, Booth lived in southern California and worked primarily as a screenwriter, with occasional film or TV appearances.

In late life Booth moved back to England. He never retired.

He married Paula Delaney in 1960 and they had two sons and two daughters. He died in Hadleigh, Essex on 11 August 2005 aged 77. His last film - Keeping Mum - was dedicated to his memory.

Filmography

Selected stage work

Further reading

  • Noble, Peter. British Film and Television Yearbook: 1960/61. British and American Film Press, 1961.
  • Walker, John. The Once and Future Film: British Cinema in the Seventies and Eighties. London: Methuen, 1985.

External links


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Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
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Copyrights:

Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "James Booth".  Read more