Kreisler was born in Vienna on July 18, 1922. He started his studies in music began at the renowned A.M.d.K, “Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst,” where he concentrated in piano and violin. After the Nazis invaded Austria, at the age of 16 he escaped with his parents, in 1938, to the United States. The family settled in California and after high school, he continued his musical studies at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Kreisler started his artistic carrier as a pianist in various exile cabaret productions, including Elow’s cabaret section of Walter Wicclair’s Freie Buehne in Los Angeles. His musical talent enabled him to move on to conducting in Hollywood as well as songwriting and composing for radio and TV.
He was drafted into the army in 1942, shortly after the start of World War II and served until 1945. While in the service he was a writer and composer for the U.S.O. (United Service Organization) and wrote a musical review that included many of his own songs. He was also assigned in Europe as an interpreter and translator of German. After World War II he became musical consultant, conductor and arranger in Hollywood. Kreisler also made tours with his own chansons. In the early 1950s he moved to New York where, with limited success, he worked as a singer in nightclubs. He endeavored to obtain work in the movie industry but was unsuccessful.
He decided to return to Vienna in 1955 where, he felt, he might have more opportunities if he could work in his native language. From 1956-58 he was pianist in the ‘Marietta Bar and’ later co-director of cabaret ‘Intimes Theater,’ in Vienna. Kreisler also was musical director of intellectual-satirical cabaret productions created by the team of Gerhard Bronner, Helmut Qualtinger, Carl Merz and himself. In1958 he began performing as chanson singer accompanying himself on the piano. He also included his wife Topsy Kueppers. Kreisler wrote numerous chansons displaying a macabre sense of humor, some musical comedies such as ‘Zwei Alte Tanzen Tango’ (1964), and dramas. Kreisler was also active in radio and TV. He was the creator of the satirical TV series ‘Die heisse Viertelstunde.’ During the 1960s he lived in Munich, then again in Vienna. In the late 1970s he moved to W. Berlin and died there in 1980.