Bobj

I'm interested in the way the careers of these two actors turned out.
I believe both were born in London in the early 1930s. By the time both were cast in Zulu (1964) Booth was the more established of the two with a greater body of work behind him. While Booth remained in Britain to film his scenes in the studio Caine travelled to Africa on location to do his scenes. Both emerged from the movie with credit but after Robbery (1967) Booth's career seemed to take a downward turn whereas Caine built on his success. Both spent time in the US Caine appearing in movies of varied quality. Booth appearing in TV movies and pursuing a parallel career in writing. Caine has managed to reinvent himself at intervals whereas Booth has largely been forgotten by the public although he seems to have been in constant employment.
I'm not a great fan of Caine and I don't believe either are truly brilliant actors, although of the two I prefer Booth. So what do you think has been the difference? Is it luck - being in the right place at the right time, personal life choices, choice of roles etc? I'd be interested in others views.


ps Just found a good website on James Booth - www.jamesbooth.org

[ 30. September 2004, 23:23: Message edited by: Bobj ]

smudge

Can't really say. Is it possible that one difference was that Caine, for quite a while, virtually did anything that was thrown at him, a) for the money and [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img] it kept him in the public eye.

Booth, on the other hand, can often be more engaging than Caine (maybe because he wasn't just doing it for the money?) and does, I feel, have the upper hand as an actor.

These are just reactions ; I don't know enough about Booth to give any better judgement.

SMUDGE

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jacobean

Saw James Booth in The Bill a couple of years back playing an old lag I think (I only happened upon him whilst channel switching - hate The Bill)
Looked almost the same except a little older and with white hair.
He sort of disappeared without trace after playing a bit part in Airport 77