Warren Mitchell: Difference between revisions
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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===Early life=== |
===Early life=== |
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Mitchell was born '''Warren Misel''' in [[Stoke Newington]], [[London]]. He is of Russian [[Jew]]ish descent<ref name="Behr1">{{cite news | last =| first =| coauthors=| title =Variety Club - Jewish Chronicle colour supplement "350 years"| pages=28-29| publisher =The Jewish Chronicle| date =[[2006-12-15]] | url =| accessdate =2006-12-24 }}</ref>, but typically describes himself as an [[atheist]] in interviews.<ref name="scotsun"> |
Mitchell was born '''Warren Misel''' in [[Stoke Newington]], [[London]]. He is of Russian [[Jew]]ish descent<ref name="Behr1">{{cite news | last =| first =| coauthors=| title =Variety Club - Jewish Chronicle colour supplement "350 years"| pages=28-29| publisher =The Jewish Chronicle| date =[[2006-12-15]] | url =| accessdate =2006-12-24 }}</ref>, but typically describes himself as an [[atheist]] ("thank god") in interviews.<ref name="scotsun"> |
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{{cite web |last=Deveney |first=Catherine |title=The pride of prejudice |accessdate=2007-07-20 |work=[[Scotland on Sunday]] |url=http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum.cfm?id=1174402004 |date=[[2007-10-10]]}}</ref> |
{{cite web |last=Deveney |first=Catherine |title=The pride of prejudice |accessdate=2007-07-20 |work=[[Scotland on Sunday]] |url=http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum.cfm?id=1174402004 |date=[[2007-10-10]]}}</ref> |
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Mitchell was interested in acting from an early age, and attended the ''Gladys Gordon's Academy of Dramatic Arts'' in [[Walthamstow]] from the age of seven. He did well at school and read physical chemistry at [[University College, Oxford]]. There he met his contemporary [[Richard Burton (actor)|Richard Burton]], and together they joined the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] in 1944. Mitchell completed his navigator training just as the [[World War II|war]] ended<ref name=BFI>[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/465537/index.html BFI screen online biography] accessed 27 Jun 2007</ref>. |
Mitchell was interested in acting from an early age, and attended the ''Gladys Gordon's Academy of Dramatic Arts'' in [[Walthamstow]] from the age of seven. He did well at school and read physical chemistry at [[University College, Oxford]]. There he met his contemporary [[Richard Burton (actor)|Richard Burton]], and together they joined the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] in 1944. Mitchell completed his navigator training just as the [[World War II|war]] ended<ref name=BFI>[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/465537/index.html BFI screen online biography] accessed 27 Jun 2007</ref>. |
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Revision as of 12:09, 5 October 2007
Warren Mitchell | |
|---|---|
| Born | Warren Misel |
| Years active | 1951 – present |
| Spouse | Connie (1950 – present) |
Warren Mitchell (born 14 January 1926) is an English actor.
Biography
Early life
Mitchell was born Warren Misel in Stoke Newington, London. He is of Russian Jewish descent[1], but typically describes himself as an atheist ("thank god") in interviews.[2] Mitchell was interested in acting from an early age, and attended the Gladys Gordon's Academy of Dramatic Arts in Walthamstow from the age of seven. He did well at school and read physical chemistry at University College, Oxford. There he met his contemporary Richard Burton, and together they joined the RAF in 1944. Mitchell completed his navigator training just as the war ended[3].
Career
Richard Burton's description of the acting profession had convinced him that it would be better than completing his physics degree and so Mitchell attended RADA for two years, performing in the evening with the Unity Theatre. 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 on Hancock's Half Hour. By the late fifties, he regularly appeared on television: as Sean Connery's trainer in boxing drama 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 many ITC drama series, for ITV: William Tell, The Four Just Men, Sir Francis Drake, The Avengers, Danger Man and as a recurrent guest in The Saint[3].
His cinema début came in 1957, with Guy Hamilton's Manuela, and he began a career of minor roles as sinister foreign agents, assisted by his premature baldness and facility with eastern European accents. He appeared in The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (José Quintero, 1961), and Help! (Richard Lester, 1965) and played leads in All The Way Up (James MacTaggart, 1970), The Chain (Jack Gold, 1984), The Dunera Boys (Ben Lewin, 1985) and Foreign Body (Ronald Neame, 1986)[3].
In 1965, he was cast as 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 (now Tony Blair's father-in-law). The part of Mum played by Gretchen Franklin was taken by Dandy Nichols when the programme was commissioned as a series. Mitchell may be best known for his role as the bigoted Cockney West Ham United F.C. supporter, Alf Garnett, but ironically, his real life persona is quite the opposite, being a left-winger, Jewish, and a staunch supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.. The show ran from 1966 to 1975, in seven series, making a total of 53 30-minute episodes[4].
He has a long and distinguished career on stage and television. Other small screen roles include performances in Lovejoy, Waking the Dead, Kavanagh QC, The Merchant of Venice (BBC, 1980) and Gormenghast.
On stage he received extensive critical acclaim for his performances in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Harold Pinter's The Caretaker at the National Theatre; and Pinter's The Homecoming and Miller's The Price in the West End.
Even after the cancellation of the Alf Garnett sequel series In Sickness And In Health, Mitchell still played him on a number of occasions. ITV aired a series of mini episodes called A Word With Alf featuring Alf and his friends. When Johnny Speight died in 1998, the series was cancelled at the request of Mitchell saying he no longer wanted to play Alf now that Speight was dead.
Awards
Warren was voted TV Actor of the Year in 1965, for his portrayal of Alf Garnett, in Til Death Do Us Part'. For his 2003 performance in The Price, he was awarded the 2004 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role, and also nominated for a London Evening Standard Award for Best Actor. In 1982, he received an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for the film, Norman Loves Rose.
Personal life
Mitchell is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.
He has been married since 1950 to Connie, they have three children; Rebecca, Daniel and Anna( aka Georgia Mitchell) . Warren is a naturalised citizen of Australia.
For over twenty years, Mitchell has suffered pain from nerve damage, caused by a virus, and is a supporter of the Neuropathy Trust[5].
Footnotes
- ^ "Variety Club - Jewish Chronicle colour supplement "350 years"". The Jewish Chronicle. 2006-12-15. pp. 28–29.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^
Deveney, Catherine (2007-10-10). "The pride of prejudice". Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c BFI screen online biography accessed 27 Jun 2007
- ^ Till Death Us Do Part (1966-75) accessed 27 Jun 2007
- ^ Neuropathy Trust accessed 27 Jun 2007