A TV legend till death us did part ...stars mourn Alf Garnett star Warren Mitchell
WARREN MITCHELL – the actor best known for playing loudmouth Alf Garnett in BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part – died yesterday at the age of 89.
Stars of comedy paid tribute to the man who made an icon of the foulmouthed bigot at the heart of the controversial and ground-breaking show.
Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office, said: ‘Alf Garnett was one of the most influential and important characters and performances in comedy history. RIP Warren Mitchell.’
And actor Colin Salmon tweeted: ‘To play the bigot without fear is not an easy choice but only one of many fearless choices. Go well maestro.’
Mitchell, who is understood to have been in poor health for some time, died in the early hours of yesterday. In a statement, his family said he had been ‘cracking jokes to the very end’.
His great nephew Jerry Barnett hailed him as ‘ the last of his generation, a wonderful and funny man’.
Mitchell served in the RAF with Richard Burton, who encouraged him to take up acting. He became one of Britain’s most acclaimed stage actors, winning two Olivier Awards for his starring roles in Death Of A Salesman and The Price, both by Arthur Miller.
He was also a memorable Shylock in the 1980 BBC adaptation of The Merchant Of Venice, and Rupert Goold, artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, last night called Mitchell ‘a deeply soulful and erudite man who genuinely loved the theatre’.
But despite his dramatic success he will always be remembered as Eastender Garnett, a passionate fan of both West Ham and the Tories, who never missed a chance to lambast the state of Britain in unashamedly racist and sexist terms.
Mitchell and the show’s writer Jonny Speight always stressed that Garnett was meant to be a satire, not a role model. Mitchell, who was of Russian and Jewish descent, always described himself as a socialist.
Key to the show was Garnett’s fraught relationships with his wife Else, played by Dandy Nichols, his daughter Rita, played by Una Stubbs, and her husband Mike played by Tony Booth, Cherie Blair’s father.
Garnett would call his son-in-law ‘a long haired layabout’ or ‘randy Scouse git’; his long-suffering wife was known as ‘silly moo’ and virtually every bigoted comment he made was preceded with the prefix ‘It stands to reason...’
Till Death Us Do Part ran for a decade from 1965 and was briefly revived by ITV. The BBC then returned to the characters in the mid-1980s for a follow-up, In Sickness And In Health.
BBC comedy chief Shane Allen said last night: ‘Warren was one of our finest comedy character actors with an incredibly distinguished legacy across television, film and theatre.
‘Through Alf Garnett he became the reactionary comic voice of a generation – an enduring and iconic performance that put him up there with the all-time greats. The terraces of West Ham have been a much quieter place in Alf’s absence.’
Mitchell is survived by his wife Constance and their three children.