Henri Szeps
Henri Szeps OAM (born 2 October 1943) is a Swiss Australian character actor of stage and television, and has also featured in films.
He acted in classic Australian comedy series Mother and Son as Dentist Robert Beare with Garry McDonald and the late Ruth Cracknell. Another prominent role was in Palace of Dreams for which he received a Penguin Award. He also played the role of Saul, central character Frank's doctor in Travelling North a part played by Leo McKern. He has played numerous role's throughout career which spans over 4 decades.
Career
Studied acting at Ensemble Theatre on weekends, while gaining Science & Electrical Engineering degrees at Sydney University. In 1963, while sitting for the B.Sc. in maths & physics during the day he was appearing every night at the Ensemble Theatre in his first play there, called? The Physicists. It played for six months. He met his wife of 47 years, New Zealand Australian actress Mary Ann Severne, during the Sydney season of The Boy's In The Band, and they were married soon after. They have two grown up sons. Henri played the Doctor in the world première of David Williamson's play, TRAVELLING NORTH, and was asked to repeat the performance in the film with Leo McKern & Graham Kennedy. Henri is best known for his character of Robert Beare, the selfish brother in the TV comedy series Mother and Son with Ruth Cracknell & Garry McDonald. Six seasons were produced by the ABC from 1983 to 1993 Henri won the Penguin Award for best actor for ABC's 10 part series Palace of Dream's. He has written a book on acting: ALL IN GOOD TIMING. 1996. Used by drama schools. Has Performed In 5 one-man shows, produced by Ensemble Theatre, the last three self-penned: The DOUBLE BASS - 1990; SKY - 1992 (written for Henri by John Misto); I'M NOT A DENTIST - 1997; WHY KIDS - 2003; WISH I'D SAID THAT - 2010).
Honours and awards
PENGUIN AWARD, Best Actor in a mini-series - PALACE OF DREAMS
1985 Norman Kessell Award (Outstanding Performance) for I'M NOT A DENTIST
1998 OAM for Service to Arts and Community
2001 HELPMANN AWARD for CABARET, 2003.
The HENRI SZEPS GREEN ROOM - declared at Ensemble Theatre in 2014
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - Glugs, 2015