Helmut Wiesinger

Helmut Wiesinger was born in Linz on 28 January 1952. After his Matura in 1971 he studied acting and singing at the Anton Bruckner University (then the Bruckner Conservatory) in Linz from 1972 to 1975. Alongside his studies he worked for ORF as a speaker, presenter and author, an early mix of stage craft and broadcast voice that stayed with him throughout his career.

First engagements followed in Heilbronn and Koblenz in 1975. From 1979 he was a member of Die Komodianten at the Kunstlerhaus Wien under Conny Hannes Meyer. Between 1986 and 1993 he worked as a freelance actor and author for many theatres and for ORF; German theatre engagements continued from 1993 to 1995. He joined the Landestheater Linz ensemble from 1996 to 1998, then moved to St. Polten. From 1998 to 2018 he spent twenty seasons at the Landestheater Niederosterreich, appearing in more than one hundred roles under directors including Peter Wolsdorff, Reinhard Hauser, Isabella Suppanz, Bettina Hering and Marie Rotzer. He collaborated with Ernst Stankovski, Erwin Steinhauer, Hans Hollmann and Jerome Savary, among others. Screen credits included Julia - Eine ungewohnliche Frau, Der Bulle von Tolz and Schlosshotel Orth. After retiring from the ensemble in summer 2018 he continued with guest appearances, readings and his own projects, and wrote and directed for music theatre with Cappella Splendor Solis.

Wiesinger married in 1977 and lived in Vienna. Public obituaries concentrate on his company life in St. Polten and Linz rather than private detail beyond that long marriage and Viennese residence.

Wiesinger died on 9 September 2026 at the age of 74. The Landestheater Niederosterreich announced the death the following day; noe.ORF.at and other Austrian outlets reported that he had remained active at the house after his 2018 retirement through guest work, readings and own projects. A public cause of death was not emphasised in the first theatre and ORF notices.

The Landestheater remembered him as a colleague who could delight, entertain, seduce and provoke thought, and who was valued inside the house for reliability, presence, precision and collegial warmth. His Commons portrait from March 2006, credited to Linzerbua1988, is the free likeness attached to English and German Wikipedia. For St. Polten audiences he remains the face of twenty ensemble seasons and more than a hundred roles that defined a generation of the Niederosterreich stage.