1. James Booth is best known for his role as Private Henry Hook in Zulu.
29 Facts About James Booth
1. 2.
James Booth spent several years working for an international trading company.
3.
James Booth successfully applied for a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he studied from 1954 to 1956.
4.
James Booth made his first professional appearance as a member of the Old Vic company in a production of Timon of Athens with Ralph Richardson.
5.
James Booth's first film role was a bit in The Narrowing Circle and he had small a part in The Girl in the Picture.
6.
James Booth joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East in 1958.
7.
In 1960 he starred in the stage musical Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be which became a hit and James Booth, who played its most pungent character, looked poised for stardom.
8.
The reason for James Booth's success lay simply with his personality.
9.
James Booth appeared on TV in The Ruffians and The Great Gold Bullion Robbery, as well as the Rank comedy In the Doghouse.
10.
In 1962 James Booth spent a season with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
11.
James Booth appeared in King Lear alongside Paul Scofield for Peter Brook.
12.
James Booth then made Zulu, the film for which he is best remembered; he was billed above Michael Caine.
13.
James Booth did Stray Cats and Empty Bottles for TV and played the lead in a comedy, French Dressing, the feature debut of Ken Russell.
14.
James Booth was in Herb Gardner's play, A Thousand Clowns in London 1964.
15.
James Booth starred in 90 Degrees in the Shade, a thriller, and the comedy, The Secret of My Success.
16.
James Booth later claimed the failure of the musical put him out of work for a year.
17.
James Booth was a policeman in a heist movie, Robbery, for Levine, alongside his Zulu co-star Stanley Baker.
18.
James Booth did a comedy with Shirley MacLaine, The Bliss of Mrs Blossom then Fraulein Doktor and The Vessel of Wrath for TV.
19.
James Booth went to Australia to make Adam's Woman and played Rod Taylor's best friend in The Man Who Had Power Over Women.
20.
James Booth worked with Taylor again in Darker Than Amber.
21.
James Booth returned to leads in the films Rentadick and Penny Gold and TV comedy Them.
22.
James Booth could be seen in That'll Be the Day, Percy's Progress, The Confederacy of Wives, Brannigan, and I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight.
23.
James Booth appeared on Broadway in 1975 in a production of Travesties.
24.
James Booth then relocated to Hollywood and found work as a character actor in films like Airport '77, Murder in Peyton Place, Wheels, Evening in Byzantium, Jennifer: A Woman's Story, Caboblanco, The Jazz Singer and Zorro: The Gay Blade.
25.
When no one would offer James Booth an acting job, he tried his hand at screenwriting and found opportunities in Hollywood.
26.
James Booth was in Pray for Death which he wrote; he did double duty on Avenging Force.
27.
James Booth played a pornography baron living in enforced exile in Spain in series 2 of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet in 1986 and was seen in Moon in Scorpio, Deep Space, The Lady and the Highwayman, and Have a Nice Night.
28.
James Booth wrote American Ninja 2: The Confrontation and American Ninja 4: The Annihilation ; he acted in the latter and was in episodes of Bergerac and Twin Peaks.
29.
James Booth married Paula Delaney in 1960 and they had two sons and two daughters and lived in Buckinghamshire, Los Angeles and Hadleigh, Essex, where he died on 11 August 2005 aged 77.