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.

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[1] 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 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 (1961)[2] 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.