Helmut Fischer was the son of a businessman and a tailor who grew up in the Munich district of Neuhausen at Donnersbergerstraße 50a,[1] where he also went to school.

When the character of Veigl was "retired" in 1981, Fischer was promoted to Commissioner Ludwig Lenz, and until 1987 solved a total of seven cases.

Fischer's final breakthrough as a television actor came in 1983 when Dietl cast him as the lead in the series Monaco Franze – Der ewige Stenz.

In the series, which has now reached cult status, Fischer alongside Ruth Maria Kubitschek, Christine Kaufmann, Karl Obermayr [de] and Erni Singerl [de] played an easy-going dandy, charmer and ladies' men, who always manages to wiggle his way out of awkward situations with his trademark sheepish smile.

Famous quotes by the character ("A bisserl was geht immer") became popular quickly, to the point where they found their way into the everyday use of Germans.

Between 1987 and 1992, he appeared on the screen as "Josefbärli", along with Veronika Fitz, and with Ilse Neubauer in the series Die Hausmeisterin (The House Keeper).

Two years after his death, a bronze monument of Fischer, commissioned by Munich's municipal government, and done by sculptor Nicolai Tregor Jr. was revealed.