O. W. Fischer


Otto Wilhelm Fischer was an Austrian film and theatre actor, a leading man of West German cinema during the Wirtschaftswunder era of the 1950s and 1960s.

Biography

He was born in Klosterneuburg near Vienna, where he obtained his Matura degree at the local gymnasium secondary school. Fischer began studying English and German philology and art history at the University of Vienna, in 1936, however, he enlisted at the Max Reinhardt Seminar drama school. He had first engagements as an actor at the Vienna Theater in der Josefstadt, the Munich Kammerspiele, and the Vienna Volkstheater. In 1945 he reached the highpoint of his theatre career when he joined the ensemble of the Burgtheater.
Fischer began filming in 1936, his performance in the 1942 propaganda movie Vienna 1910 earned him an entry on Goebbel's Gottbegnadeten list. He made his breakthrough after the war starring in A Heidelberg Romance and numerous other romance films, often with female co-stars Maria Schell and Ruth Leuwerik.
Fischer enjoyed a great career, but unlike countrymen and -women Oskar Werner, Curd Jürgens, Maria Schell and Romy Schneider, he never made it internationally. Worse, his American break ended before it began: he was signed to star with June Allyson in a remake of My Man Godfrey in 1956, but was fired after 16 days of shooting and replaced by David Niven when Fischer reportedly lost his memory during filming. Fischer directed and starred opposite Anouk Aimée in a 1956 film, Ich suche Dich, based on the play, Jupiter Laughs, by A. J. Cronin. In 1955, he directed and starred in Hanussen, a movie detailing the life of clairvoyant Erik Jan Hanussen. While the film is considered highly romanticized, it assisted historians and biographers in uncovering previously unknown facts. He also starred in the title role of tragic King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the classic German film, Ludwig II: Glanz und Ende eines Königs by Helmut Käutner.
He was hired by the Rank Organisation to star in Whirlpool which was not a success.
In 2021 Senta Berger claimed that O. W. Fischer attempted to rape her in a hotel room during production on Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein
In the early 1970s, he retired to live in Vernate, Ticino and to concentrate on linguistics and philosophy, on which he lectured and published a number of books. He died in Lugano, Switzerland of kidney failure.

Selected filmography

Court Theatre as Schauspieler des BurgtheatersAnton the Last as Graf Willy von ErlenburgMy Daughter Lives in Vienna as Chauffeur Karl Ewald HauserDer Meineidbauer as Franz FernerSommerliebe as Franz von HaflingerVienna 1910 as Karl LechnerDie beiden Schwestern as Andreas HolkSieben Briefe as Felix Lombard, AuthorGlück unterwegs as Kapellmeister FlorianSpiel mit der Liebe as Dr. HallLeuchtende Schatten Triumph der Liebe as AgathosThe Immortal Face as Anselm FeuerbachHin und her as RenéVerlorenes Rennen as Robert RimmlDon't Dream, Annette Rosen der Liebe as König RaoulMärchen vom Glück as FernandoArchduke Johann's Great Love as Erzherzog JohannA Tale of Five Cities Dreaming Days as Florian FaberA Heidelberg Romance as Hans-Joachim, Prinz von ReiningenDesires as Hans FalknerA Thousand Red Roses Bloom as Andreas MahlerIch hab' mich so an Dich gewöhnt as Dr. Peter Heider – JuristUntil We Meet Again as Paul MayrhöferCuba Cabana as Robby TomsenDreaming Lips as PeterA Heart Plays False as Peter van BoovenAs Long as You're Near Me as Frank TornauDiary of a Married Woman as Paul HolzmannA Love Story as Jost v. Fredersdorff, RittmeisterPortrait of an Unknown Woman as Jan Maria KellerLudwig II as Ludwig IINapoleon as Le prince Karl von MetternichHanussen as Eric Jan HanussenIch suche Dich as Dr. Paul VennerMy Father, the Actor as Wolfgang OhlsenKing in Shadow as Friedrich StruenseeScandal in Bad Ischl as Dr. Franz DuhrEl Hakim as Ibrahim' as Dr. Stefan DonatPeter Voss, Thief of Millions as Peter VossIl bacio del sole as Don Mario Borrelli Arms and the Man as Hauptmann BluntschliWhirlpool as RolphAnd That on Monday Morning as Alois KesselMenschen im Hotel as Baron Felix von GaigernRebel Flight to Cuba as Peter van HoutenPeter Voss, Hero of the Day as Peter VossGrounds for Divorce as Dr. Thomas WertherMit Himbeergeist geht alles besser as Philipp KalderDas Riesenrad as Rudolf von HillIt Can't Always Be Caviar as Thomas Lieven

Honours and awards

Publications

  • : Auferstehung in Hollywood. Texte, Wien: Österreichische Staatsdruckerei, o.J.
  • 1986: Engelsknabe war ich keiner. Erinnerung an eine Jugend, Munich: Langen Müller
  • 1999: Ferner Klang. Texte, Ulm: Hess
  • 2000: Meine Geheimnisse. Erinnerungen und Gedanken, Munich: Langen Müller