Passing of actor Warren Mitchell
Actor Warren Mitchell, best known for starring as Alf Garnett in the TV series Till Death Us Do Part which screened from 1965-75, has died aged 89.
ACTOR Warren Mitchell, best known for starring as Alf Garnett in the TV series Till Death Us Do Part which screened from 1965-75 in Britain and Australia, died on November 14 aged 89.
The veteran of the stage and screen, who settled in Sydney and became an Australian citizen in 1989, was born Warren Misell in Stoke Newington, north London, on January 14, 1926 into an Orthodox family that arrived from Russia in 1910.
However, after his bar mitzvah he stopped practising as a Jew and later described himself as an atheist. He changed his surname when he embarked on an acting career in his late 20s.
His big break did not come until 1965 – 14 years after he became a professional actor – with the role of Garnett, a bad-tempered, anti-Semitic, loud-mouthed, highly opinionated bigot who lived in the working class suburb of Wapping with his long- suffering wife Else (played by Dandy Nichols) and daughter and son-in-law played by Una Stubbs and Anthony Booth.
Mitchell played a wide variety of roles during his career, including the title role of Shakespeare’s King Lear and as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Among his Jewish roles in Australian productions were in I’m Not Rappaport for the Melbourne Theatre Company, the TV mini-series The Dunera Boys and the film Norman Loves Rose.
At his 2005 stage show, Warren Garnett and Alf Mitchell in …, at Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre, he spoke about his secret for learning his lines: “When you are offered $10,000 to learn Shakespeare in three weeks, it’s easy!”
In the show his jokes covered all nationalities and religions. “I’m Jewish so I can say anti-Semitic jokes,” he told The AJN in an interview at the time.
Mitchell’s son Daniel is an actor living in Sydney – a career choice that he always encouraged.
“I enjoyed acting so much that I couldn’t say to him not to do it,” Mithcell said. “But I made sure that he understood that he may starve!”
A statement from Mitchell’s family announcing his passing said: “He has been in poor health for some time, but was cracking jokes to the last.”
REPORT by Danny Gocs
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