Helmut Zenker (January 11, 1949 - January 7, 2003) was an Austrian writer, songwriter and screenwriter. Life Helmut was born on January 11, 1949, in the lower Austrian city of St. Valentin. Not much is known about his early life or his parents or siblings. He studied at a teaching academy in Vienna and worked at primary and special schools in Vienna and Tyrol. He also worked as a truck driver and projectionist. In 1969, he founded Wespennest, a literary magazine, with Peter Henisch. Starting in 1973, Zenker became a freelance writer and participated in author readings, including at the left-wing festival, Volksstimmfest, located in the Prater. Helmut is the father of Tibor Zenker (7 March 1976) who, as of February 2021, is the chairman of the Party of Labor of Austria. Writing Zenker began his writing career in 1974 with a series of books about the Viennese police major Adolf Kottan, but it was not published. He turned the book into a radio drama which was produced in 1975 by the SWF. Helmut saw great success in 1976. His first play, "Insanely Happy" was directed by Gustav Manker and premiered at the Vienna Volkstheater starring Karlheinz Hackl and included Rudolf Jusits. Major Kottan saw his screen debut in a 90-minutes television film at ORF. It was directed by Peter Patzak who also staged all other Kottan episodes. The series produced from 1976 to 1983 Kottan gained particular popularity with Lukas Resetarits in the lead role. In 1990, Zenker founded CABAL Buchmacher in which only books by Helmut Zenker were published. From 1990 to 1998, the successful TV series Tohuwabohu, written by Zenker, was produced starring Jazz Gitti, Franz Suhrada and Ossy Kolmann. In 2010, a new Kottan Investigates movie called "Rien ne va Plus" and was reminiscent of James Bond. The script was written by Helmut's son, Jan, and the film was directed by Peter Patzek. Lukas Resetarits reprises his role or the main character. In November 2016, "Kottan - Der Puppenmusical" was performed in Vienna's Rabenhof Theatre. It starred Christian Dolezal and Nikolaus Habjan worked the puppets. Zenker's son, Tibor, has commented that he thought his dad would have enjoyed the show. Tibor was co-author of the musical. Politics Zenker was a member of the Communist Party of Austria. Death He died on January 7, 2003, in Vienna, Austria, at the age of 53 years just 3 days