Warren Mitchell

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Warren Mitchell (1978)

Warren Mitchell (born January 14, 1926 in Stoke Newington , County of London , as Warren Misell , † November 14, 2015 in Highgate , London) was a British actor .

life and career

Warren Mitchell came from an Orthodox Jewish family; his mother died when he was thirteen. He initially took up a degree in chemistry at University College , Oxford, but dropped out in 1944 to serve in the Royal Air Force with his friend Richard Burton . Burton also encouraged him to pursue an acting career, and eventually Mitchell studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . He was initially mainly active in the theater and was heard during the 1950s on the popular radio series Educating Archie and Hancock's Half Hour . From the late 1950s, the early bald actor was regularly seen in movies, where he played older characters from an early age, for example as a professor in the horror film The Devil's Cloud of Monteville (1958).

He became known to a wide audience through the role of the reactionary Cockney Alf Garnett in the television series Till Death Us Do Part , which was produced between 1965 and 1975. At the British Academy Television Awards , he was awarded the prize for best actor in 1967. In 1969 and 1972 there were two films with Alf Garnett. The Till Death Us Do Part , written by Johnny Speight , formed the model for the television series All in the Family in the USA and Ein Herz und ein Seele in the 1970s , in which Carroll O'Connor (as Archie Bunker) and Heinz Schubert (as "disgust" Alfred Tetzlaff) embodied Mitchell's role as the racist head of the family. Mitchell later played the role of Alf Garnett in the television series Till Death… (1981) and In Sickness and Health (1985–1992) as well as the television special A Word with Alf (1997). For the politically more left-wing Mitchell, Alf Garnett's popularity among many British people, who saw him as a kind of national hero, was rather uncanny.

Although Mitchell was largely identified with this role by the audience, it gave him many rewarding character roles in later years, such as a major supporting role in Terry Gilliam's fantasy film Jabberwocky . In 1979 he won for his portrayal of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller the Laurence Olivier Award . He won another Laurence Olivier Award in 2004 for his appearance as an elderly furniture dealer in Der Preis , another play by Miller. Mitchell was still on stage when he was over 80.

He was married to his wife Connie from 1951 until his death and they had three children. Since his son later emigrated to Australia and Mitchell spent a lot of time there, he also took citizenship of that country. He died two months before his 90th birthday in his native London.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Bruce Eder: Warren Mitchell | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. In: AllMovie . Retrieved March 31, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Michael Brooke: Mitchell, Warren (1926-). In: BFI Screenonline. October 26, 2015, accessed March 31, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Jonathan Margolis: Warren Mitchell: Actor known as Alf Garnett in Till Death Us Do Part. In: The Independent . November 15, 2015, accessed March 31, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Vanessa Thorpe: Warren Mitchell dies aged 89. In: The Guardian . November 14, 2015, accessed March 31, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Mitchell, Warren
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Misell, Warren (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Stoke Newington , County of London , England
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 2015
Place of death Highgate , London, England