The actor Warren Mitchell has died aged 89. Whilst best known for his portrayal of racist bigot Alf Garnett in Till Death Us Do Part and In Sickness and in Health, he was a classically trained actor and performed on the stage, appeared in many classic television shows and in films such as Carry on Cleo, Help! and Jabberwocky. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...arnett-in-till-death-us-do-part-a6735311.html RIP Warren. Love him or hate him, Alf was a memorable comedy character.
In Till Death Do Us Part he played a racist who didn't like leftie politics and inspite of the insults to his wife loved her dearly when it came to it. He was also portrayed however as a shallow fool who wasn't well educated who probably wasn't racist but didn't know better. A character of the times. This was the 60's and 70's after all; people/society didn't know better unlike now. In later years he expressed the view that actually the program was poking fun at the viewer for sharing the views and laughing at the jokes, perhaps he was right. In real life I don't believe he shared the views of Alf Garnett, he was only an actor after all playing a part, he did lots of stuff however remembered for that part probably the most. He was a good actor and also a strong Royalist and loved his country; I remember years ago when he did a musical act from The King and I in front of the Queen Mother back in the day, he was chuffed to bits and really honoured to be there, it was quite heartwarming at the time to see. I think in real life he was a gentle man.
