Warren Mitchell dies

[struth]

Alf Garnett and much more.... Fabulous actor and in reciept of an Olivier award for a 1979 stage appearance as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, a performance described by Miller himself as the finest interpretation of the part he had ever seen.
A year later, he played Shylock in a BBC TV production of The Merchant of Venice, and received much praise for his role in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker at the National Theatre. Alas, in a way he will always be remembered as the Tory racist which couldn't be further from the truth.

The irony of a left-wing, Jewish, Spurs supporter playing a Conservative-voting West Ham fan was not lost on Mitchell, although he became concerned that some of his audience failed to recognise the show as satire.

He recalled an exchange with a fellow Tottenham fan who had come up to congratulate him on "having a go" at immigrants. "Actually," Mitchell tersely replied, "we're having a go at idiots like you."

My tribute to a lovely man. RIP


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qlZkRF45K6M

[Barry]

Nicely worded obituary Grant.

I saw his excellent portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice on TV some time ago.

RIP Warren

[struth]

I stole parts of it I'm ashamed to say :doh: but Ive always liked the man and even when young I understood the basis of Alf. It was always going to attract a few folk who would think him a like minded bigot, but I think many caught the irony.

[walpurgis]

I liked Warren too. Very classy actor, who could mould himself to any role. I particularly liked the interplay between him and Ken Campbell (another great actor who's gone) in the later Alf series.

[Tarzan]

God speed Warren.:(

[Macca]

A great actor, one of the best. For a 1970s situation comedy 'Till Death Do Us Part' was revolutionary in its style: no real plot just the character of Alf interacting with the others - it takes a really good script and actor to make that interesting and compelling. Probably one of the reasons it was mis-interpreted by many as Mitchell totally inhabited the character and made him completely believable.

[Oddball]

Thanks for the memories Warren:youtheman:

[StanleyB]

First Warren Mitchell, then Cynthia Payne (Madame Sin ). The world is a sadder place for that.

[gsq4848]

As previously mentioned, Warren Mitchell was a staunch Spurs supporter. I recall being at White Hart Lane on a couple occasions some years back when he would come onto the pitch at half time as his Alf Garnett character - making out (like his character) that his real life football allegiance was that of a West Ham supporter rather than Spurs - very funny, the crowd used to lap it up!