Billy Connolly en route to NZ after cancer treatment

Billy Connolly has been treated for prostate cancer, and the early stages of Parkinson's.

Scottish comic and actor Billy Connolly has had surgery for prostate cancer and is being treated for the "initial symptoms" of Parkinson's Disease, his spokeswoman says.

The 70-year-old star, who has built a film and voice-over career after success as a comic, will continue to work in TV and on stage.

He is also planning to go ahead with a tour of New Zealand next year.

"Billy Connolly recently underwent minor surgery in America after being diagnosed with the very early stages of prostate cancer," his spokeswoman said on Monday.

"The operation was a total success, and Billy is fully recovered.

"In addition, Billy has been assessed as having the initial symptoms of Parkinson's disease, for which he is receiving the appropriate treatment.

"Billy has been assured by experts that the findings will in no way inhibit or affect his ability to work, and he will start filming a TV series in the near future, as well as undertaking an extensive theatrical tour of New Zealand in the new year."

A former shipyard welder in Glasgow who became a folk singer and then an acclaimed comic, Connolly made his cinematic breakthrough in the 1997 film Mrs Brown opposite Judi Dench, as a member of Queen Victoria's staff with whom she develops a scandalous relationship.

He is married to New Zealand-born, Australian clinical psychologist and writer Pamela Stephenson.

- AP

Billy Connolly has been treated for prostate cancer, and the early stages of Parkinson's.