Ottfried Fischer turns 70. A look at his fight against Parkinson’s and his indestructible sense of humor.
Heavyweight. That’s what they always called him, his entire working life. Ottfried Fischer was and is the heavyweight. As an actor, as a cabaret artist, as a seriously ill person. He has to live with that, whether he wants to or not. The star of successful series such as “The Bull of Tölz” and “Pfarrer Braun” is in a wheelchair due to his Parkinson’s disease.
He himself says about his health that he is “on the whole quite good”. He has come to terms with the illness and sometimes finds it difficult to speak. The reason he takes singing lessons is because he finds speech therapy boring. He retained his sense of humor and remained his old self. He will be 70 years old on November 7th.
The evening before was his special birthday at the awarding of the Bavarian Cabaret Prize Celebrated with friends and colleagues in the Munich Lustspielhaus in 2023. The Bavarian cult director Franz Xaver Bogner (74) recalled the most important stages in the heavyweight’s life. Bogner gave “Otti” his first television role in “Time Enough” in 1982 and filmed the legendary successful series “Somehow and Anyway” and “Zur Freiheit” with him.
Wheelchair not just because of Parkinson’s
Physically, Fischer lost a lot of weight years ago. After rehab in 2018, he lost a good 50 kilos, going from “more than 210 kilos”, as he himself revealed, to 160. You can see the loss, his face looks younger and more open.
He needs the wheelchair not only because of his Parkinson’s disease, but also because of his damaged knee joints. At the beginning of 2022 he had osteoarthritis surgery on his knee. Afterwards he even fell, so that he was still “confined to a wheelchair” last year. At the Munich Film Festival he was at least mobile again, albeit in a wheelchair.
Home in the Bavarian Forest
The TV author Manuela Roppert made a film called “Ottfried Fischer and Mr. Parkinson” (2022) for Bavarian Television’s “Lebenslinien” format. She also took photos in the farmhouse in the Bavarian Forest where Fischer grew up with his brother Werner. The team really wanted to film in the farmhouse where they had spent a lot of time as children. The problem: There were a few steps to overcome. Suddenly “Otti” got up from the wheelchair “and walked slowly and with obvious effort, but inexorably, up the steps to the room.” Roppert reported.
He even moved again in 2022. From Passau back to Upper Bavaria to his house in Gauting near Lake Starnberg. It wasn’t until 2017 that he went from Munich to Passau. In a historic town house from the 14th century that his grandparents had left to him. He spent almost five years of his childhood there. The apartment on the 3rd floor was remodeled to suit his needs.
He is no longer active on stage or in front of the camera, although he still feels his old passion. His resignation left a gap that has not yet been filled.
Brazen provocation or razor-sharp humor?
It was always astonishing to his audience how lightning-fast and accurate his mental cross-shots were, how worldly and cheeky this heavy man, who physically belongs to the deepest Lower Bavarian province – Fischer comes from Einödhof Ornatsöd (Passau district) as the son of a Westphalian and a Bavarian. in the Bavarian Forest – embodied, letting his punchlines gallop, without reins, without fences. At times, his audience remained in a silent moment of shock before the burst of laughter: Was that brazen provocation or razor-sharp humor?
His father’s wish was that he should have become a lawyer. After a few semesters of law at Munich University, the young Fischer dropped out and founded the Munich Backyard Theater with friends. He struck a chord quite quickly with his satirical light-footedness and – of course – with his weight. “Hard is easy” was the name of the solo program as a cabaret artist in 1989.
A heavyweight. He quickly became one of the most important one-man actors. And in over 170 episodes as host of the cabaret regulars’ table “Ottis Schlachthof” on Bavarian television, he had finally achieved cult status.
From cop to priest
He had the same serious career as an actor. In cult series such as “Somehow and Anyway”, “To Freedom”, “The Mushroom King” or “A Bavarian on Rügen”. Ottfried Fischer became a big star in 1995 as “The Bull of Tölz”. And from 2003 he was the popular “Pastor Braun”.
“Otti” was also a heavyweight in the colorful media, including with his love life. Ottfried has two daughters Lara and Nina from his first marriage to Renate. In 2008 he publicly announced that he had Parkinson’s disease, and just a few days later he had a cabaret solo performance, which he opened with the words: “Don’t worry, I don’t do shaking rhymes.”
He married again in 2020 to his long-time partner Simone, of whom he says: “She has so many good sides that I wouldn’t know what I would do without her.”
His humor helps him live with Parkinson’s
The time for performances is over. He lives in harmony with Simone and himself, despite Parkinson’s disease. His humor helps him deal with the illness, he says in the “Lifelines” program. “If I could, I would decide against Parkinson’s, but that’s just not possible.” You just have to “take away people’s self-consciousness so that they dare to deal with me normally. Because everyone thinks that when I bring up the topic I’ll burst into tears. That’s simply not the case.”
He celebrated his 60th birthday with a one and a half hour stage program at the Vienna Volksoper. He described his condition with a medieval quatrain from 1498: “I live and don’t know how long. I die and don’t know when. I’m going and don’t know where. I’m surprised that I’m happy.” Nothing changed about that.