Warren Mitchell the "Cantankerous Old Jew"

Almost nobody in America knows who Warren Mitchell is/was.

They might have a vague idea that Carroll O'Connor's "All in the Family" was based on a British TV show. But what show was that? They couldn't say, even if the title "Till Death Do Us Part" was listed in the rolling credits.

PBS didn't choose to import it, as it did "Upstairs Downstairs" and that stupid sitcom about the department store, and even "Dear Minister."

One can't fault them TOO much.

IF I'M BEING HONEST, some British shows just don't translate well or mean much in America. What might be a brilliant character in one country (Alf or Steptoe) fails in another, especially if that other country has already seen comfy American versions (Archie Bunker and Fred Sanford).

I have no idea if a lot of episodes about Alf the Bigot involved salty comments about the Jews. While it would've made Roger Waters a fan for life, it would've also been an amusing irony, since (as most Brits know) Warren Mitchell was born Warren Misell, and was a typical non-practicing Atheist variety of Jew.

What was remarkable about the guy, aside from his decades plumbing the Alf character for a public that didn't seem to tire of it, was that he didn't get typed completely. He could (as Carroll O'Connor did in America) demonstrate his fine acting on stage and in other roles on TV or film.

Mitchell was probably only partially acting when, in 2004, he played the "cantankerous old Jew" in "The Price," a somewhat obscure Arthur Miller play. Mitchell had transverse myelitis, which caused him the kind of pain a lot of irritable old people have. He was around 78 at the time, and at 82, he was back to Jewing the scenery in "Visiting Mr. Green," another study of a crotchety Semite.

I'd say that Warren Mitchell treading the boards at 82 (he died the other day at 89), was a damn remarkable feat. But it was duplicated in America by the old Jewish actor Eli Wallach.

I did see Wallach in the original production of "Visiting Mr Green," and I think Eli was the same age as Warren Mitchell: 82. This was virtually a one-man play. It required a LOT of memorization.

Not to sound like a cantankerous old Jew, but these days, we don't have many great actors, and few are trained to pull off a live stage production. Eli Wallach, Warren Mitchell...the list of great actors continues to dwindle. Very few older stars (James Earl Jones, Al Pacino) even have the passion to perform a show live, night after night. Fewer stars under 50 even attempt anything beyond a showy "limited engagement" of 12 weeks (or less), especially since they usually get negative reviews for their amateurism.

Yes, it was almost "Tell Death..." that this veteran star gave up his beloved profession; one that brought him respect, and even love.