[1] He was a stockbroker before he made the switch to acting, appearing in films; stage plays such as The Fiddler on the Roof, in which he played the lead role of Tevye; television shows including The Practice, on which he had a recurring role; and commercials, including ones for stock brokerage firms Dean Witter Reynolds and Paine Webber.

[1] A New York City producer who saw the show offered Mitchell a chance to play the same role in an off-Broadway production of the musical in Brooklyn.

[4][6] During the 1970s, he became co-owner of a jazz club and bar that operated seasonally in Maine; he spent the off-season acting on stage in southern California.

[1][2][6] He portrayed roles in commercials for stock brokerage firms Dean Witter, as the company spokesman,[6][7] and Paine Webber, as an executive.

[8][9] In the 1993 film Gettysburg, set during the American Civil War (1861–65), he portrayed the real-life Union Army flag bearer Sergeant Andrew Jackson Tozier.

[10] In the early to mid-2000s, he survived three cancers and then moved back to Blue Hill with his family, where he semi-retired while occasionally appearing in local stage productions.