From a Swiss refugee camp to the heights of Australian stage and screen
In short: Born to Holocaust survivors in a Lausanne refugee camp, Henri Szeps overcame a fragmented childhood and language barriers to become a beloved fixture of Australian television. His journey from a displaced child to a Helpmann Award winner is a remarkable story of resilience and artistic triumph.
Henri Szeps' early life was marked by the profound displacements of World War II. Born on 2 October 1943 in Switzerland, his parents were Polish refugees who had fled to France in 1938. His father had joined the French Resistance, and following health concerns in the refugee camp, Szeps was fostered by a German-speaking Swiss couple in Blumenstein when he was only 11.5 months old. The struggle to reconnect with his heritage was literal; by age four, he found it difficult to communicate with his mother because he could not speak Polish or French.
After moving to Sydney as a child in the early 1950s, Szeps pursued a dual path of intellect and art. While studying for degrees in science and electrical engineering at Sydney University, he trained in the Stanislavski technique at the Ensemble Theatre. Though he was offered a postgraduate scholarship at age 23, he chose to commit fully to acting, eventually finding fame in roles such as 'Robert the Dentist' in the sitcom Mother and Son.
His career spanned continents and genres, from performing Shakespeare in the United Kingdom to starring in Australian classics like Number 96 and various David Williamson plays. Beyond the screen, he was a respected author, writing 'All in Good Timing' in 1996, a text still used by drama schools. In his later years, he became a public voice for those facing cognitive decline, discussing his battle with early onset dementia on the ABC series Just Between Us before passing away in July 2025.
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