ANTHONY BOOTH

26 Sept

(9 October 1931 - 25 September 2017)

Liverpool-born actor Tony Booth, who has died aged 85 from heart failure (following Alzheimer’s and a stroke), will be remembered on two counts, first as Mike, the layabout son-in-law of Alf Garnett in TV’s Till Death Us Do Part, and for fathering his daughter Cherie who became the wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair. Booth’s acting began while he was in the army, after which he did repertory theatre work before entering television in 1959. His TV appearances included Z Cars, The Avengers, Dixon of Dock Green, The Saint, Coronation Street, EastEnders, The Bill, Emmerdale and Holby City. Till Death Us Do Part grew out of a Comedy Playhouse pilot in 1965 and went on to comprise over fifty episodes (and two feature films). For the cinema Booth appeared in Mix Me a Person (1962), with Anne Baxter and Adam Faith, The Valiant with John Mills, The L-Shaped Room, Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall, several of the Confessions of… series, Brannigan with John Wayne, Priest, written by Jimmy McGovern, and Treasure Island with Jack Palance. His last appearance was in Moving On (2010), the Jimmy McGovern TV series. Anthony Booth was married four times, including to Patricia Phoenix shortly before she died. He fathered eight children by his wives and other partners.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

ANTHONY BOOTH

HUGH HEFNER

SUZAN FARMER