Heller was born in Karlsbad, Bohemia (now Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic).^[2] He attended the University of Prague, followed by the universities of Munich, Vienna, and Berlin. He came to the United States in 1883 as a tutor and secured the post of instructor in Greek at La Salle College in Philadelphia in 1887. Heller received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1890.

Heller taught briefly at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before becoming a professor of German language and literature at Washington University in St. Louis in 1892. In 1914, Heller was promoted to professor of modern European literature in addition to his original professorship, and in 1924 he became the first dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, a post he held until he became dean emeritus in 1937.

Heller died on 28 July 1941 at his summer cottage in Bellaire, Michigan.^[3]

• Studies in modern German literature (1905)
• Henrik Ibsen: plays and problems (1912)
• Prophets of Dissent: Essays on Maeterlinck, Strindberg, Nietzsche and Tolstoy (1918)

• Heller, Otto, 1863-1941; Leon, Theodore H., 1907- (1941), The Language of Charles Sealsfield; a Study in a Typical Usage, St. Louis, OCLC 1870546{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Heller, Otto, 1863-1941; Leon, Theodore H. (Theodore Herzl), 1907- (1939), Charles Sealsfield : Bibliography of His Writings, Together With a Classified and Annotated Catalogue of Literature Relating to His Works and His Life, St. Louis: [publisher not identified], OCLC 1432414{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Faust and Faustus; a Study of Goethe's Relation to Marlowe, New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1972, OCLC 324081
• Frenssen, Gustav, 1863-1945; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941 (1906), Gravelotte; Chapter Xiv of Jörn Uhl, by Gustav Frenssen;, New York: Ginn & Company, OCLC 1457382{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Meyer, Conrad Ferdinand, 1825-1898; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941 (1911), Gustav Adolfs Page, Boston: D.C. Heath, OCLC 555507983{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Meyer, Conrad Ferdinand, 1825-1898; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941 (1893), Gustav Adolfs page von Conrad Ferdinand Meyer;, Boston: D.C. Heath, OCLC 2830537{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Henrik Ibsen; Plays and Problems, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1912, OCLC 788372
• Storm, Theodor, 1817-1888; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941 (1917), In St. Jürgen;, New York: H. Holt and Company, OCLC 5920266{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• La fin du judaïsme;, Paris: Les Éditions Rieder, 1933, OCLC 2055196
• Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, 1729-1781; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941; Wolf,Ernst Louis, 1863- (1909), Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm, oder, Das Soldatenglück, Chicago: Scott, Foresman & Co., OCLC 861551298{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, 1729-1781; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941 (1917), Minna Von Barnhelm; Or, Soldier's Fortune, New York: H. Holt and Company, OCLC 4545348{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Prophets of Dissent; Essays on Maeterlinck, Strindberg, Nietzsche, and Tolstoy, Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1968, OCLC 327984
• Studies in Modern German Literature: Sundermann; Hauptmann; Women Writers of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Ginn & Co., 1905, OCLC 378247

Plays edit

• Wildenbruch, Ernst von, 1845-1909; Clarke, Hugh Archibald, 1839-1927; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941; Folio, Frank (1970), Harold, OCLC 8342877{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Collection Editor edit

• Nagel, Charles, 1849-1940; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941 (1931), Charles Nagel, Speeches and Writings, 1900-1928 .., New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, OCLC 4389265{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Speech edit

• The Seriousness of Mark Twain : Address at the Annual Dinner of the State Historical Society at Hannibal, Missouri, Thursday, May 9, 1935, Hannibal, Mo.: Hannibal Chamber of Commerce, 1935, OCLC 4383217

German edit

• Stifter, Adalbert, 1805-1868; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941 (1891), Das Haidedorf, Boston: D.C. Heath & Co., OCLC 7800240{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Baumbach, Rudolf, 1840-1905; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941 (1908), Der schwiegersohn; eine schneidergeschichte, New York: H. Holt, OCLC 2552798{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• Schücking, Levin, 1814-1883; Heller, Otto, 1863-1941 (1903), Die drei Freier, Erzählung von Levin Schucking;, Boston: Ginn & Company, OCLC 1449460{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Heller was married to Jean S. Blair Heller.

• Faust
• Gerhart Hauptmann
• Henrik Ibsen
• Maurice Maeterlinck
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• August Strindberg
• Charles Sealsfield
• Hermann Sudermann
• Leo Tolstoy

• Heller, Prof. Otto : Washington University in St. Louis, 1932, OCLC 156877666
• Washington University in St. Louis. Department of Language (1922), Heller Memorial Volume, St. Louis, Mo., OCLC 79180351{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

• The Otto Heller Papers Washington University Libraries OCLC 244300985 This collection primarily contains materials related to Heller's scholarly work in modern European literature and literary criticism.[1]
• The Henry W Nordmeyer Papers
• The Charles Nagel Papers
• The Henry W. Nordmeyer Papers