Otto Wilhelm Fischer (, ; 1 April 1915 – 29 January 2004) 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.

While Fischer enjoyed a great career, unlike countrymen 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.

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 (1936) as Schauspieler des Burgtheaters
 Anton the Last (1939) as Graf Willy von Erlenburg
 My Daughter Lives in Vienna (1940) as Chauffeur Karl Ewald Hauser
 Der Meineidbauer (1941) as Franz Ferner
 Sommerliebe (1942) as Franz von Haflinger
 Vienna 1910 (1943) as Karl Lechner
 Die beiden Schwestern (1943) as Andreas Holk
 Sieben Briefe (1944) as Felix Lombard, Author
 Glück unterwegs (1944) as Kapellmeister Florian
 Spiel mit der Liebe (1944) as Dr. Hall
 Leuchtende Schatten (1945)
 Triumph der Liebe (1947) as Agathos
 The Immortal Face (1947) as Anselm Feuerbach
 Hin und her (1948) as René
 Verlorenes Rennen (1948) as Robert Rimml
 Don't Dream, Annette (1949)
 Rosen der Liebe (1949) as König Raoul
 Märchen vom Glück (1949) as Fernando
 Archduke Johann's Great Love (1950) as Erzherzog Johann
 A Tale of Five Cities (1951)
 Dreaming Days (1951) as Florian Faber
 A Heidelberg Romance (1951) as Hans-Joachim, Prinz von Reiningen
 Desires (1952) as Hans Falkner
 A Thousand Red Roses Bloom (1952) as Andreas Mahler
 Ich hab' mich so an Dich gewöhnt (1952) as Dr. Peter Heider - Jurist
 Until We Meet Again (1952) as Paul Mayrhöfer
 Cuba Cabana (1952) as Robby Tomsen
 Dreaming Lips (1953) as Peter
 A Heart Plays False (1953) as Peter van Booven
 As Long as You're Near Me (1953) as Frank Tornau
 Diary of a Married Woman (1953) as Paul Holzmann
 A Love Story (1954) as Jost v. Fredersdorff, Rittmeister
 Portrait of an Unknown Woman (1954) as Jan Maria Keller
 Ludwig II (1955) as Ludwig II
 Napoleon (1955) as Le prince Karl von Metternich
 Hanussen (1955) as Eric Jan Hanussen
 Ich suche Dich (1956) as Dr. Paul Venner
 My Father, the Actor (1956) as Wolfgang Ohlsen
 King in Shadow (1957) as Friedrich Struensee
 Scandal in Bad Ischl (1957) as Dr. Franz Duhr
  (1957) as Ibrahim
  (1958) as Dr. Stefan Donat
 Peter Voss, Thief of Millions (1958) as Peter Voss
 Il bacio del sole (Don Vesuvio) (1958) as Don Mario Borrelli (Don Vesuvio)
 Arms and the Man (1958) as Hauptmann Bluntschli
 Whirlpool (1959) as Rolph
 And That on Monday Morning (1959) as Alois Kessel
 Menschen im Hotel (1959) as Baron Felix von Gaigern
 Rebel Flight to Cuba  (1959) as Peter van Houten
 Peter Voss, Hero of the Day (1959) as Peter Voss
 Grounds for Divorce (1960) as Dr. Thomas Werther
 Mit Himbeergeist geht alles besser (1960) as Philipp Kalder
 Das Riesenrad (1961) as Rudolf von Hill
  (1961) as Thomas Lieven
  (1961) as Thomas Lieven
 Axel Munthe, The Doctor of San Michele (1962) as Axel Munthe
 Breakfast in Bed (1963) as Henry Clausen
 The Secret of the Black Widow (1963) as Wellby
 Uncle Tom's Cabin (1965) as Pierre Saint-Claire
 El marqués (1965) as Marquis Antonio de las Nieves
 Geh ins Bett, nicht in den Krieg (1966) as U-Boot-Kommandant Backhaus
 Komm, süßer Tod (1969) as Il Conte
 Shiva und die Galgenblume (1993) as Kriminalassistent Egge (final film role)

Honours and awards
 1950, 1951: Danube females
 1953–1955: Bambi award
 1955: Filmband in Silver (best actor) for Ludwig II: Glanz und Ende eines Königs
 1956 – San Sebastián International Film Festival: Silver shell (Director, actor) for Ich suche Dich
 1956: Price of Spanish film journalists (screenplay) for Ich suche Dich
 1958–1961: Bambi award
 1958–1963: Bravo Otto
 1959: Filmband in Gold (best actor) for Arms and the Man (film)
 1960: Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
 1961: Europa Prize for Das Riesenrad
 1961: Honorary Member of the Association of the Spanish film journalists
 1970: Appointed Professor
 1977: Filmband in Gold for long and outstanding achievements in German film
 1987, 1990: Bambi award
 1987: Cordon Bleu du Saint Esprit
 1995: Grand Silver Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
 1996: Grand Gold Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
 Grand Merit Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany

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

References

Further reading 
 Holba, Herbert:  O. W. Fischer, Phänomen einer schauspielerischen Persönlichkeit, Wien 1964
 Popa, Dorin: O. W. Fischer, Seine Filme – sein Leben, Heyne, München 1989. 
 F.F.G.: ...was mich ankommt, als Gesicht, Traum und Empfindung. Das denkwürdigste Interview von O. W. Fischer, Strom, Zürich 1977.

External links
 

1915 births
2004 deaths
Deaths from kidney failure
Austrian male film actors
20th-century Austrian male actors
Austrian film directors
People from Klosterneuburg
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
Recipients of the Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
Recipients of the Bambi (prize)
German Film Award winners