HALF OF ILLUSIONIST DUO SIEGFRIED & ROY
Siegfried Fischbacher, namesake partner in the iconic entertainment duo Siegfried & Roy, has died in Las Vegas at age 81.
Fischbacher died Wednesday at his home from pancreatic cancer, said publicist Dave Kirvin. The news was first reported by German news agency dpa.
Fischbacher’s longtime partner on and off the Las Vegas Strip, Roy Horn, died last year at a Las Vegas hospital of complications from COVID-19. He was 75.
The duo astonished millions with their extraordinary magic tricks until Horn was critically injured in 2003 by one of the act’s famed white tigers.
In a statement announcing Horn’s death in May, Fischbacher said, “From the moment we met, I knew Roy and I, together, would change the world. There could be no Siegfried without Roy, and no Roy without Siegfried.”
For years, Siegfried & Roy was an institution in Las Vegas, where Fischbacher and Horn’s magic and artistry consistently attracted sellout crowds.
Horn and Fischbacher, both natives of Germany, first teamed up in 1957 and made their Las Vegas debut a decade later.
“Anyone who came to town, their request was always, ‘I must see Siegfried and Roy!’ ” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said in a statement. “They put Las Vegas on the map.”
The pair gained international recognition for helping to save rare white tigers and white lions from extinction. Their $10 million compound was home to dozens of rare animals over the years. The white lions and white tigers were the result of a preservation program that began in the 1980s.