Aged in their 20s,the pair moved to London,where they became prominent members of the 1970s acting scene. Szeps starred inI,Claudius alongside David Warner and toured in the Prospect Theatre Company with Derek Jacobi.

Returning to Australia for his 30th birthday,he became a fixture of Australian stage and television. Geoffrey Atherden’sMother and Sonwas voted the best Australian television program ever,and Szeps lovingly called his character,Robert,“the arsehole of the family”.

The son of Holocaust survivors from Poland,Szeps was born in a Swiss refugee camp in 1943. His father had already left the family to join the French Resistance and his mother had Henri fostered out to a Swiss couple when he was a baby. He lived with the couple on and off until 1949.

He was then reclaimed by his mother,Rose,but due to illness,he spent time in a French orphanage until 1951,when he migrated to Australia with his mother and younger sister Maria.

Szeps first studied acting at the Ensemble Theatre,where he appeared on stage in productions such asThe Apple Cart andDon’t Drink the Water. His early TV breakthroughs came in the police dramaHomicide and the children’s seriesSkippy the Bush Kangaroo.

He also played an arch villain in the TV version ofMission:Impossible starring Peter Graves,and a French plantation owner opposite Glenn Close and Harry Connick Jr inSouth Pacific.

On the big screen,Barry Humphries tapped Szeps to play a down-on-his-luck scientist,Charles Herpes,inLes Patterson Saves the World (Szeps also played his own twin sister,a dolled-up nightclub singer named Desiree). He starred in beloved films likeRun,Rebecca,Run andWarming Up,and forged a lifelong friendship withRumpole of the Bailey’s Leo McKern on the set of playwright David Williamson’sTravelling North. (Szeps had created the same character,Saul,in the original stage production.)

His theatre performances ranged from Gandalf in a stage production ofThe Hobbitto Sigmund Freud in the award-winningFreud’s Last Session;Glengarry Glen Ross;Twelve Angry Men;Sam Mendes’ reboot ofCabaret with Tina Arena and Toby Allen,for which Szeps won a Helpmann Award for best male actor in a supporting role in a musical;and many other musicals and plays.

He cherished his long collaboration with Williamson,with whom he also worked onCelluloid Heroes,Dead White Males,Heretic andCruise Control.

Despite an invitation to join the Royal Shakespeare Company in London,Szeps resisted the temptation to advance his career abroad,for the sake of his family. The final chapter of his showbiz life was defined by a string of sold-out,semi-autobiographical one-man shows that he developed and wrote at his original stamping ground,the Ensemble Theatre.

He jokingly described himself as a travelling troubadour on national tours ofI’m Not a Dentist,Why Kids?,andWish I’d Said That. The first two scripts were published as a compendium book,One Life,Two Journeys. He also wrote a book on the craft of acting and the art of good comic timing,entitledAll In Good Timing.

By the time Szeps finished the run of his final play – Williamson’sCruise Control – at the age of 70,he concluded that his memory was no longer up to the task,and retired from the stage.

Szeps also studied electrical engineering at Sydney University and married Severne in 1969. The couple have two sons – Amos,a psychologist and master coach,and Josh,a broadcaster and journalist – and four grandchildren.

He was awarded many acting prizes and received an Order of Australia Medal in 2001.

Funeral details are yet to be announced.

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