Name | James Booth |
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Birthname | David Geeves |
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Birthdate | December 19, 1927 |
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Birthplace | Croydon, Surrey, England |
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Deathdate | August 11, 2005 |
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Deathplace | Hadleigh, Essex, England |
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Othername | David Geeves-Booth |
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Yearsactive | 1958-2005 |
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Spouse | Paula Delaney (1960-2005) (his death) 4 children |
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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. He is probably best known for his role as Vic Fielding in the British soap opera Coronation Street.
Biography
He was born in
Croydon, then-
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.
Selected filmography
The Narrowing Circle (1956)
The Girl in the Picture (1957)
Jazzboat (1960)... as Spider Kelly
Let's Get Married (1960)... as Photographer
The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960)... as Alfred Wood
In the Nick (1960)
In the Doghouse (1961)
''The Hellions (1961) as Jubal
French Dressing (1963)...as Jim
Sparrows Can't Sing (1963)... as Charlie Gooding
Zulu (1964)... as Private Henry Hook VC
French Dressing (1964)
Ninety Degrees in the Shade (1965)
The Secret of My Success (1965)... as Arthur Tate
Robbery (1967)... as Inspector George Langdon
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968)... as Ambrose Tuttle
Fräulein Doktor (1969)... as Meyer
Adam's Woman (1970)
Darker Than Amber (1970)
Macho Callahan (1970)
The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970)
Revenge (1971)... as Jim Radford
Rentadick (1972)
That'll Be The Day (1973)... as Mr MacLaine
Penny Gold (1973)
Percy's Progress (1974)... as Jeffcott
Brannigan (1975)... as Charlie the Handle
I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight (1976)
Airport '77 (1977)... as Ralph Crawford
Caboblanco (1980)
The Jazz Singer (1980)
Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981)... as Valasquez
Pray for Death (1985) as Limehouse
Bad Guys (1986)... as Lord Percy
Avenging Force (1986)... as Admiral Brown (also co-wrote)
American Ninja 4 (1990)... as Mulgrew
Inner Sanctum II (1994)... as Detective Hooper
The Breed (2001)... as Fleming
The Pool (2004)... as Patrick
Keeping Mum (2005)... as Mr. Brown
Selected television
Twin Peaks (1990) (TV series)... as Ernie Niles
Selected stage work
The Hostage (1958)... as an IRA officer at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop
A Christmas Carol as Bob Cratchit for the Theatre Workshop
Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be... as Tosher
The Hostage (1959)... as an IRA officer at Wyndham's Theatre
''The Fire-Raisers... for the Royal Court Theatre
''The Caretaker (1962)... as Mick
The Comedy of Errors (1962)... for the RSC at Stratford-on-Avon
King Lear (1962)... as Edmund for the RSC at Stratford-on-Avon
A Thousand Clowns
Twang! (Shaftesbury (1965)... as Robin Hood
The Entertainer... as Archie Rice
Travesties (1975)... as James Joyce
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
BBC News - Zulu actor James Booth dies at 77
The Scotsman - Obituaries: James Booth
The Stage: Actor James Booth dies
Category:1927 births
Category:2005 deaths
Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Category:English actors
Category:People from Croydon