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

Filmography

• 2025Fawlty Towers: The Play — Writer
• 2025The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
• 2018Michael Palin: A Life on Screen
• 2017A Good Day to Die, Hoka Hey — Polly Sherman (archive footage)
• 2005The Funny Blokes of British Comedy — Polly Sherman (archive footage) (uncredited)
• The Buccaneers — Jackie March
• Faith — Pat Harbinson
• 1993Leon the Pig Farmer — Yvonne Chadwick
• 1991American Friends — Caroline Hartley
• For the Greater Good — Naomi Balliol
• 1991Smack and Thistle — Ms Kane
• 1990The World of Eddie Weary — Madge
• 1988Hawks — Nurse Javis
• 1988High Spirits — Marge
• 198784 Charing Cross Road — The Lady from Delaware
• 1987The Return of Sherlock Holmes — Violet Morstan
• 1986Past Caring — Linda
• 1986Rocket to the Moon — Belle Stark
• Worlds Beyond — Betty Hewart
• 1984Nairobi Affair — Mrs. Gardner
• 1983The Hound of the Baskervilles — Laura Lyons
• American Playhouse — Belle Stark
• 1982The Deadly Game — Helen Trapp
• 1982The Story of Ruth — Ruth Baker
• Bergerac — Monica McLeod
• 1980Little Lord Fauntleroy — Mrs. Errol
• 1980Why Didn't They Ask Evans? — Sylva Bassington-ffrench
• Worzel Gummidge — Aunt Sally II
• 1978Snavely — Creator
• 1978Thank You, Comrades — Annie
• 1977Spaghetti Two-Step — Sheila
• 1977The Mermaid Frolics — Various
• 1977The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It — Mrs. Hudson / Francine Moriarty
• Dickens of London — Sophie
• 197584 Charing Cross Road — Ginny
• Fawlty Towers — Polly Sherman, Writer, Creator
• 1975Monty Python and the Holy Grail — The Witch
• 1975The After Dinner Game — Lee-Ann Good
• 1974Romance with a Double Bass — Princess Costanza, Adaptation
• 1973Is This a Record? — Various
• Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus — Various Characters
• 1971And Now for Something Completely Different — Best Girl
• Play for Today — Lee-Ann Good, Ginny
• 1969How to Irritate People — Various
• ITV Saturday Night Theatre — Libby
• Monty Python's Flying Circus — Various, Second Juror

Appearances as themselves (12)

• 2023Fawlty Towers: 50 Years of Laughs — Self
• A Life on Screen — Self
• 2009Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened — Self / Polly Sherman
• 2005Fawlty Towers Revisited — Herself
• 2004Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball? — Self
• 2004The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 1 — Self (archive footage)
• 2004The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 2 — Self (archive footage)
• 2004The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 3 — Self (archive footage)
• 1999Monty Python: From Spam to Sperm — Self
• 1999The Monty Python Story — Self
• The Secret Policeman's Ball — Self
• Film '72 — Self