Warren Mitchell, the Olivier award-winning star of Till Death Us Do Part, died in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was 89.
His spokeswoman confirmed Mitchell's death with a statement from the family, saying: "Sadly we can confirm Warren Mitchell died in the early hours of Saturday 14th November surrounded by his family.
"He has been in poor health for some time but was cracking jokes to the last."
Mitchell was best known for playing the role of Alf Garnett, the East End bigot who was loved by the British public, despite his staunch anti-Irish, anti-Catholic, racist, misogynistic and anti-Semitic views. Mitchell, a Jew of Russian descent, was offered the part after it was turned down by Peter Sellers, Leo McKern and Lionel Jeffries.
Garnett was a character Mitchell played for more than three decades from 1965. After Till Death Us Do Part finished in 1975, ITV reprised the sitcom as Till Death ... in 1981, and BBC sequel In Sickness and in Health between 1985 and 1992.
Mitchell also starred in two Alf Garnett films, Till Death Us Do Part, in 1969, and The Alf Garnett Saga three years later.
The actor went on to star in the comedy chat show, The Thoughts of Chairman Alf, until 1998.
But Mitchell was also appreciated on stage and in more serious roles for TV programmes such as Waking the Dead and Kavanagh QC, in which he played a concentration camp survivor, Gormenghast and The Merchant of Venice, in which he took on the role of Shylock.
He balanced his Alf Garnett years with critically acclaimed performances on stage, as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman and as The Caretaker, in a National Theatre production of Harold Pinter's play of the same name. In 2004 he appeared in Arthur Miller's The Price, despite suffering a stroke a week before – he won his second Olivier Award for his performance, after winning the first as Willy Loman.
Born in Stoke Newington, North London, in 1926, Mitchell was a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur fan. He married his wife Connie, an actress, in 1951, with whom he had three children. He is survived by all of them.
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