In 1959 he joined the Reykjavík Theatre Company, remaining with that company until 1976 as an actor and director and serving terms as its president and on its board, until he rejoined the National Theatre in 1976.
[1] In 1972 he co-founded the Icelandic Directors' Association (Félag leikstjóra á Íslandi) and was its first chairman.
[1] In 1964 he won the Silver Lamp Award for the best performance by an actor for his role as Franz in an adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's The Condemned of Altona.
[7] They had two sons, [1] Hallgrímur Helgi Helgason and Skúli Þór Helgason and a daughter, Helga Vala Helgadóttir, together, and Helgi had a stepdaughter from before his marriage to Helga, named Þórdís Bachmann.
[8] and their daughter, Helga Vala Helgadóttir is currently a member of the Althing.