FOLLOWING an acclaimed run in the West End, Sean Holmes' production of Arthur Miller's deeply moving comedy The Price is coming to Malvern Theatres.

The production won Warren Mitchell, who plays the part of furniture dealer Solomon in the play, an Olivier Award.

This is a repeat triumph for the actor, who won the award in 1979 for his role as Willy Loman in Miller's Death Of A Salesman.

In The Price, Solomon, a 90-year-old furniture dealer, finds himself in the middle of an uneasy reunion between two long estranged brothers who are haunted by the memory of the American Depression.

Warren is best known in his role as the East End bigot Alf Garnett in the TV sitcom Till Death Us Do part.

He was born Warren Misell in 1926 in Stoke Newington, and at the age of four he told a dirty joke to his family, his father laughed, clipped him round the ear and sent him to bed.

"I learned then that showbiz is quite tricky and audiences fickle," he said.

After meeting Richard Burton at Oxford, they joined the RAF together and trained in Canada together.

Afterwards Warren studied at RADA, and that's when his long hard slog to acting success began.

He said his father, a china and glass merchant, was not particularly pleased when he announced he wanted to be an actor.

"But I went ahead with it anyway," said Warren.

Warren said his entry into the acting profession in 1951 after RADA "caused no great excitement."

"I was mostly on the night shift at Walls Ice Cream Factory, the Standard Bottle Company and at Euston Station," he said.

"After RADA I worked in all sorts of jobs, a labourer, a porter keeping body and soul together."

Warren's big break came in 1965 when he was offered the part of Alf in Till Death Us Do Part.

"I leapt at the chance of playing such an awful man," he said.

The Price is at Malvern Theatres from Monday, September 20 to Saturday, September 25.

For details of times, matinee performances and tickets, call the box office on 01684 892277.