Inside John Cleese and Connie Booth’s marriage
Reclusive Connie Booth and her second husband snuck in to see John Cleese‘s on-stage adaptation of the nostalgic Fawlty Towers on Wednesday.
The actress, 83, who co-wrote the series with John in 1974, watched her ex-husband and daughter star in the show featuring Torquay’s most chaotic hotel from the audience with her partner John Lahr.
But in 1975, it was Connie performing as Polly Sherman in the hit series, which went on to be crowned the best British sitcom by Radio Times.
Connie’s marriage to John broke down before the second series aired, and the pair divorced in 1978. She went on to marry her current husband, John Lahr, in 2000, but it took her ex-husband two other marriages until he found his current wife.
Unlike John, who maintained a career in the spotlight, Connie said the breakdown of her marriage put her off the industry entirely, leading her to withdraw from all public appearances and switch jobs to become a psychotherapist in north London before retiring.
Connie Booth is best known for her role as Polly Sherman in Fawlty Towers (pictured), but after her divorce from John Cleese, she left it all to become a psychotherapist
Connie was born in Indiana in 1940 to a stockbroker father and an actress mother. When the family uprooted to New York City Connie entered the world of acting.
She had established herself as one to watch out for before she had met Cleese and worked on stage while juggling waitressing roles, according to Camden New Journal.
When she went on to study drama in the Big Apple, she encountered her first husband – John Cleese, who was touring the comedy circuit.
They fell in love and married in 1968. Soon after they tied the knot, the pair moved to London, where they both picked up roles in the British comedy troupe Monty Python. By 1971, the couple welcomed their first and only child together, Cynthia, now 53.
She went on to have a successful career, and by 1975, she starred in the likes of BBC’s After-Dinner Game and 85 Charring Cross Road.
But it was Fawlty Towers in 1975 where both Connie and John gained star status. The series, which ran from 1975 to 1979, followed inept hotel manager Basil Fawlty, played by Cleese, as he tried to keep his hotel and marriage afloat.
Fawlty Towers is set in a hotel in the seaside town of Torquay. Basil Fawlty is the irritable owner of the hotel, who is often rude to demanding guests.
Basil is constantly berated by his wife, Sybil, portrayed by Prunella Scales, and has comedic run-ins with their Spanish waiter Manuel, played by Andrew Sachs.
After meeting in New York City, John and Connie (pictured) wed in 1968 and had their daughter Cynthia Cleese in 1971
Connie has featured in several different productions, including Agatha Christie’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (pictured)
The cast Of The Fawlty Towers. From Left To Right: Prunella Scales Connie Booth John Cleese And Andrew Sachs
On Wednesday, Connie appeared in high spirits as she attended the Fawlty Towers play in London
Fawlty Towers was awarded many plaudits, including two Bafta awards for best situation comedy. In 2019, the show was named the greatest British sitcom of all time by a panel of television experts for the Radio Times magazine.
But while the booming success of Fawlty Towers was stronger than ever, the same couldn’t be said for Connie and John’s marriage.
The show added pressure to their relationship, an experience John called draining, according to The Independent. Each episode took over a month to write, with added pressure for the second series due to the success of the first.
Only 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers were made and the pressure of writing, rehearsing, and filming the show — each episode took six weeks to make — inevitably took its toll on John and Connie’s relationship.
The pair started marriage counselling, but it was no avail, and in 1978, they got divorced.
Cleese continued his career in the spotlight and went on to marry twice more to Barbra Trentham in 1981, and Alyce Eichelberger in 1992, until settling down with his current wife – Jennifer Wade, whom he wed in 2012.
Meanwhile, Connie’s life took a complete U-turn. Not only did she call it quits with John, but also with her on-screen career.
She claimed that her ex-husband had put her off the job completely. Connie said: ‘I used to watch a lot of comedy until I got divorced. Then I went off it,’ according to the Independent.
Fawlty Towers was so successful that it was branded the best British Sitcom by Radio Times
Connie remarried John Lahr in 2000 and moved to London’s Highgate (the couple are seen together in 2013)
Former Monty Python star Cleese went on to star in hit movies, such as A Fish Called Wanda. By contrast, Connie turned her back on television after a series of low-profile roles and began a new career in counselling.
Speaking after the marriage ended, Booth said: ‘There had been difficulties for some time in the marriage, which is why we went for counselling. If it hadn’t been for group therapy, I don’t think we could have worked on the second series.’
Connie went on to take career up in psychotherapy after studying for five years at University of London.
What’s more, the couple’s daughter Cynthia also followed her parents into the world of showbiz and become an actress herself – appearing alongside John Cleese in the critically acclaimed movie A Fish Called Wanda.
She found love again with theatre critic of The New Yorker magazine, John Lahr, the son of the Bert Lahr, known for his role as the lion in The Wizard of Oz.
After spending 15 years together, the pair married in 2000 and live together in Highgate.
Nearly 30 years after their marriage broke up amid the stress of writing Fawlty Towers, in 2007, there was a poignant attempt to reunite its creative stars John Cleese and Connie Booth.
Both Cleese, who played the manic hotelier Basil Fawlty, and Connie, who excelled as the hard-pressed maid Polly, were asked by the BBC to put aside their differences and join a retrospective with former Today presenter Sue MacGregor.
John married Jennifer Wade in 2012, who is 32 years his junior (the couple are seen together in 2016)
John Cleese and Connie Booth are photographed as Basil Fawlty and Polly Sherman in Fawlty Towers
As part of Radio 4’s The Reunion, the pair were asked to talk publicly for the first time about the making of the landmark sitcom and the emotional fallout surrounding its demise.
Other members of the cast — including Prunella Scales, who played Cleese’s dragon-like wife Sybil, and Andrew Sachs, who starred as the hapless Spanish waiter Manuel — agreed to take part.
Three-times married Cleese indicated that he, too, was willing to appear. But American-born Connie refused robustly to have anything to do with the project.
Reunion producer David Prest told the Daily Mail at the time: ‘We had most of the Fawlty Towers cast lined up, but Connie simply didn’t want to have anything to do with it. We felt that as we didn’t have everybody on board, we had to abandon the idea.’
Her determination to not appear in the public eye made her appearance at Wednesday’s night’s Fawlty Towers the Show a surprise for some.
She posed for a snap with the theatre performer Victoria Fox, who currently plays her part in the West End show.
While meeting the new cast on the theatrical set, Connie was greeted with requests for autographs and pictures.
She appeared in top spirits for her visit as she had a chat with each of the 18 cast members.
Cynthia followed in her parents footsteps and entered the world of acting (seen with John in 2008)
The cast members would have been surprised by the meet and greet as she has been keeping out of the limelight.
Her renowned American theatre critic husband confessed in April that she would not be giving interviews and would be keeping a low profile.
Ahead of the show’s opening night in April, he told MailOnline: ‘She’ll be going to see it – probably not on opening night, but she’ll be there.’
The American actress declined to comment about the new production, with Lahr adding: ‘I understand people are interested – why wouldn’t they be? Connie is not giving interviews. She doesn’t generally do it anymore.’
After nearly 50 years since it first hit UK TV screens, the nostalgic performance made its debut on May, 4, at the Apollo Theatre.
It has been adapted by comedy legend John and directed by Caroline Jay Ranger.
Last year Connie told how she had no idea John was writing a reboot of the TV show – this time with daughter Cynthia Cleese – plans to return as Basil and will star alongside Camilla, his daughter with his late second wife, American model and actress Barbara Trentham.
Connie said: ‘I’d have appreciated learning about the project from John rather than reading about it in the papers.
‘Because a previous American reboot of Fawlty Towers had failed some years ago, I was surprised that another was being planned.
‘I was even more surprised to read that John intends to write and to perform in it together with his daughter Camilla.’
But Connie is said to have wished the pair well with the revival which will be set in the Caribbean and will explore how the hapless Basil manages to navigate the modern world.
It has not been announced which channel the revival will be shown on but John said last year: ‘I’m not doing it with the BBC because I won’t get the freedom.
‘I was terribly lucky before, because I was working for the BBC in the late ’60s, ’70s, and the beginning of the ’80s.
‘That was the best time because the BBC was run by people with real personalities who loved the medium and who were operating out of confidence, which was okay because there wasn’t so much competition.’
