Editing Warren Mitchell (section)

==Career==
Richard Burton's description of the acting profession had convinced him that it would be better than completing his chemistry degree and so Mitchell attended [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art|RADA]] for two years, performing in the evening with London's [[Unity Theatre, London|Unity Theatre]].{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} After a short stint as a DJ on [[Radio Luxembourg]], in 1951, Mitchell became a versatile professional actor with straight and comedy roles on stage, radio, film and television. His first broadcast was as a regular on the radio show ''[[Educating Archie]]'', and this led to appearances in both the radio and television versions of ''[[Hancock's Half Hour]]''.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

By the late 1950s, Mitchell regularly appeared on television. These roles included [[Sean Connery]]'s trainer in boxing drama ''[[Requiem for a Heavyweight#British television version|Requiem for a Heavyweight]]'' (1957), with [[Charlie Drake]] in the sitcom ''[[Drake's Progress]]'' (BBC, 1957) and a title role in ''Three 'Tough' Guys'' (ITV, 1957), in which he played a bungling criminal. He also appeared in several episodes of ''[[Armchair Theatre]]''. During the first of these, ''[[Underground (1958 TV play)|Underground]]'' (1958), one of the lead actors died during the live performance.<ref>Sweet, Matthew. [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/do-not-adjust-your-set-by-kate-dunn-587580.html "Do Not Adjust Your Set By Kate Dunn"]{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''[[The Independent]]'', 20 July 2003</ref> He also had roles in ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' in addition to many [[ITC Entertainment|ITC]] drama series including: ''[[The Adventures of William Tell|William Tell]]'', ''[[The Four Just Men (TV series)|The Four Just Men]]'', ''[[Sir Francis Drake (TV series)|Sir Francis Drake]]'', ''[[Danger Man]]'' and as a recurrent guest in ''[[The Saint (TV series)|The Saint]]'', as in the second episode of the first season, "The Latin Touch" in 1962, depicting an Italian taxi driver.<ref name=BFI/>

Mitchell's cinema début was in [[Guy Hamilton]]'s ''[[Manuela (1957 film)|Manuela]]'' (1957), and he began a career of minor roles as sinister foreign agents, assisted by his premature baldness and facility with [[Eastern Europe]]an accents. He appeared in ''[[The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone]]'' (1961), the Hammer horror ''[[The Curse of the Werewolf]]'' (1961), ''[[Carry On Cleo]]'' (1964), ''[[Where Has Poor Mickey Gone?]]'' (Gerry Levy, 1964), and ''[[Help! (film)|Help!]]'' ([[Richard Lester]], 1965) and played leads in ''All the Way Up'' ([[James MacTaggart]], 1970), ''[[The Chain (1984 film)|The Chain]]'' ([[Jack Gold]], 1984), ''[[The Dunera Boys]]'' ([[Ben Lewin]], 1985) and ''[[Foreign Body (1986 film)|Foreign Body]]'' ([[Ronald Neame]], 1986).<ref name=BFI/>

In 1965, Mitchell was cast in the role for which he became best known, as the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]-voting, bigoted [[cockney]] [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]] supporter [[Alf Garnett]] in a play for the BBC ''[[Comedy Playhouse]]'' series, broadcast on 22 July 1965. This was the pilot edition of the long-running series ''Till Death Us Do Part'', with [[Gretchen Franklin]], [[Una Stubbs]] and [[Anthony Booth]]. The part of Mum, played by Franklin, was recast with [[Dandy Nichols]] in the role when the programme was commissioned as a series.<ref name="smh obit">{{cite news | url = http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/alf-garnett-star-warren-mitchell-dies-20151116-gkznqc.html |title= Alf Garnett star Warren Mitchell dies | newspaper = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]] | date = 16 November 2015 | access-date = 17 November 2015 | first = Chris | last = Moncrieff }}</ref> Mitchell's real life persona was different from Alf Garnett, being Jewish, [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]-voting and a staunch supporter of [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]]. The show ran from 1966 to 1975, in seven series, making a total of 53 30-minute episodes. While the series aimed to satirise [[racism]], it actually also gained the support of many bigoted racists who perceived Alf as "the voice of reason".<ref>Clark, Anthony. [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/465503/index.html Till Death Us Do Part (1966–75)] accessed 11 April 2016</ref>

Mitchell reprised the role of Alf Garnett in the films ''[[Till Death Us Do Part (film)|Till Death Us Do Part]]'' (1969) and ''[[The Alf Garnett Saga]]'' (1972), in the [[Associated Television|ATV]] series ''[[Till Death...]]'' (1981), and in the BBC series ''[[In Sickness and in Health]]'' (1985–92). He also reprised his role as Alf Garnett in 1983 in the television series ''The Main Attraction'' where comedians recreated their famous acts from their past in front of a live and television audience (similar to ''An Audience with...'' that began in 1976). In 1997 he played the role in ''An Audience with Alf Garnett''. The same year, ITV aired a series of mini-episodes called ''A Word With Alf'', featuring Alf and his friends. All the TV shows and both films were written by [[Johnny Speight]]. When Speight died in 1998, the character of Alf Garnett was retired at Mitchell's request.

Mitchell had a long and distinguished career on stage and television. Other small screen roles included a 13-episode series, ''[[Don't Just Lie There, Say Something!#Television|Men of Affairs]]'' with [[Brian Rix]] (ITV, 1973–74), based on the [[West End of London|West End]] hit [[farce]] ''[[Don't Just Lie There, Say Something!]]''  There were also performances in 1975 in ''[[Play for Today]]'' (showing that he could play a serious character role in the episode, ''Moss''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073408/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_45 Play for Today: Moss] at IMDb</ref>),  as William Wardle, a crooked accountant in ''[[The Sweeney]]'' episode ''Big Spender'' ([[Thames Television]] for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]], 1978), ''[[Lovejoy]]'' (BBC), ''[[Waking the Dead (TV series)|Waking the Dead]]'' (BBC), ''[[Kavanagh QC]]'' ([[ITV Central|Central Television]] for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]], he played a concentration camp survivor in the episode ''Ancient History''),<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0618988/fullcredits#cast "Kavanagh QC" Ancient History (1997)] at IMDb website. Retrieved 13 June 2012</ref> as [[Shylock]] in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' (BBC, 1980) and ''[[Gormenghast (TV serial)|Gormenghast]]'' (BBC, 2000). In 1991 he starred as Ivan Fox, a Jewish atheist from London living in Belfast in ''So You Think You've Got Troubles'', a [[BBC One]] comedy series written by [[Maurice Gran]] and [[Laurence Marks (British writer)|Laurence Marks]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 November 2015 |title=So You Think You've Got Troubles, 1991 |url=https://www.britishclassiccomedy.co.uk/so-you-think-youve-got-troubles-1991 |access-date=13 August 2021 |website=British Classic Comedy}}</ref>

In 2001, Mitchell appeared in a Christmas Special episode of ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'', "Potts in Pole Position".{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

Mitchell was a subject of the television programme ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' in 1972 when he was surprised by [[Eamonn Andrews]].

On stage, Mitchell received extensive critical acclaim for his performances as [[Willy Loman]] in [[Arthur Miller]]'s ''[[Death of a Salesman]]'' at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] directed by [[Michael Rudman]] (1979, being originally cast in the role by [[Stephen Barry]] at the [[The Playhouse Theatre (Perth)|Playhouse]] in [[Perth]], Australia);<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/04/1075853912687.html "A man of many cantankerous parts"], ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'', 4 February 2004. Accessed 11 April 2016.</ref> [[Harold Pinter]]'s ''[[The Caretaker (play)|The Caretaker]]'' at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]]; Pinter's ''[[The Homecoming]]'' at London's [[Comedy Theatre]] (1991) and Miller's ''The Price'' at the [[Apollo Theatre]] in 2003.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/14/warren-mitchell-there-was-more-to-the-versatile-actor-than-cockney-foghorn-chairman-alf | title = Warren Mitchell: there was more to him than Cockney foghorn Chairman Alf | first = Mark | last = Lawson | date = 14 November 2015 | access-date= 17 November 2015 | work = [[The Guardian]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Brockes, Emma  |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2003/sep/10/theatre.television |title=Emma Brockes talks to Warren Mitchell |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=10 September 2003 |access-date=17 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/theprice-rev |title=Theatre review: The Price at Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue |publisher=Britishtheatreguide.info |author= Fisher, Philip|access-date=17 November 2015}}</ref>

Mitchell had a number of musical roles in his lengthy career, beginning with the role of Theophile in the original London production of ''Can-Can'' and the small role of Crookfinger Jake in ''The Threepenny Opera''. He also sang briefly in the film ''Till Death Do Us Part'' and played Alfred Doolittle on the studio album of ''My Fair Lady'', Music Hall Songs, songs of the [[First World War]], and other recordings such as ''The Writing's on the Wall'', from 1967, on CBS, all in the Alf Garnett persona, were released in LP and 45 rpm single form, too, in Britain and Australia.

In 2008, at the age of 82, Mitchell was performing alongside [[Ross Gardiner]] at the [[Trafalgar Studios]], in London's [[West End theatre|West End]], as a retired dry-cleaner in [[Jeff Baron]]'s portrait of Jewish-American life ''[[Visiting Mr. Green]]''.<ref name=obit/><ref name=daisy>{{cite web|author=Bowie-Sell, Daisy |url=http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/actor-warren-mitchell-dies_39147.html |title=Actor Warren Mitchell dies |publisher=[[WhatsOnStage.com]] |date=14 November 2015  |access-date=17 November 2015}}</ref>