
O. W. Fischer
'Otto Wilhelm Fischer' (
April 1,
1915 –
January 29,
2004) was an
Austrian actor. A leading man of
German cinema, he began his career with
Max Reinhardt's stage company.
He was born in
Klosterneuburg near
Vienna. While he 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 replaced by
David Niven when Fischer reportedly lost his memory during filming. Fischer directed and starred in a 1955 movie detailing the life of
Erik Jan Hanussen, the Devil's Prophet. While the film is considered highly romanticized, it assisted historians and biographers in uncovering previously unknown facts. He also starred in the title role in the classic German film, ''
Ludwig II''.
In the early
1970s, he retired to concentrate on
linguistics and
philosophy, on which he lectured and published a number of books. He died in
Lugano, Switzerland of
kidney failure.
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