The ‘Til Death Us Do Part’ and Coronation Street actor Tony Booth has passed away at the age of 85, his family – which included Cherie Blair, the wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair – has announced in a statement.
The ‘Confessions of a Window Cleaner’ actor – who developed his passion for acting in the Army, and spent five years in repertory theatre in Paris after being posted there on military duty – had been battling Alzheimer’s since 2004 and suffered a stroke in 2010. He also suffered chronic heart problems.
The political activist was married four times – including to late Coronation Street star Pat Phoenix – and had eight daughters.
With his first wife, Gale Howard, he had Cherie and Lyndsey, and Joanna with third wife Nancy Jaeger.
He also had Jenia and Bronwen with Julie Allen, Lucy with Ann Gannon, and Lauren and Emma with model Pamela ‘Susie’ Smith.
Tony’s fourth wife, Steph, previously spoke of how tough it was caring for the Alzheimer’s-stricken ‘Contender’ star.
She said last year: “He was always a very ebullient character, he was out there and forthright and opinionated.
“Now we’re at the stage where he’s completely passive, and that in itself is heartbreaking. The husband I had, I no longer have, because he’s just very passive.
“Sometimes I really wish he’d argue with me, just so that there was some spark of my Tony left there.
“It’s just the everyday things that you take for granted in a relationship that disappear; when you’re going to bed and you’re making sure the cat’s in and the dogs are settled, and you’ve got a glass of water…
“He is much quieter on the whole, and he can’t do conversations any more because I can say something to him and within seconds of me saying it, he’s completely forgotten what I’ve said.
“It’s a very lonely place to be.”