Leon Lissek

Lissek initially studied law at Melbourne University but left halfway through his course in order to take up acting. Already involved with amateur dramatics since high school, he honed his skills on stage as a member of the Marlowe Society in the late 1950s. In 1963, Lissek moved to Buckinghamshire in England, became a member of Peter Brook's avant-garde Theatre of Cruelty and then made his British screen debut as Lavoisier in Marat/Sade (1967). Specialising in off-beat, eccentric characters of assorted ethnicity, he went on to appear in small roles on television (The Avengers (1961), Special Branch (1969), EastEnders (1985), Foyle's War (2002)) and motion pictures (Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Countess Dracula (1971) and Time Bandits (1981)). The self-professed "non-resident Australian" returned to the country of his birth in the 1970s to play colourful criminal solicitor David Garside in the mini-series Power Without Glory (1976). This, in turn, led to his casting as Jewish grocer Hans Kauffman in the popular Australian TV soap The Sullivans (1976). By the end of the decade, Lissek went to Japan for eight weeks to play the role of a Jesuit priest in Shogun (1980), alongside Richard Chamberlain and Toshirô Mifune. His extensive theatrical portfolio has encompassed diverse roles in Australia with the Union Theatre Repertory Company, as well as in Britain and in the United States (both on and off-Broadway). Lissek was married to the English stage and TV actress Heather Canning who predeceased him in 1996.