The Kessler Twins, a singing-dancing German entertainment duo who reached the height of their fame in post-war Europe, have died at the age of 89, dpa has learned.
Alice and Ellen Kessler, who were inseparable in their daily life as well as on the stage, shared a home in Grünwald outside Munich. Police confirmed that officers were called to the house on Monday but did not give details. There were no indications of foul play.
According to the German Society for Humane Dying in Berlin, the twins had decided in favour of assisted suicide.
The leggy blonde entertainers were not even 20 years old when they started their international career at the Lido variety theatre in Paris.
Trained in ballet, the Kessler sisters had their first gig in Dusseldorf, where the family settled after fleeing communist East Germany. The Lido’s director spotted them there in 1955 and whisked them to Paris.
A jet-setting career ensued. In the 1960s, the Kessler twins toured the world, relocated to Rome and performed with Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra and Harry Belafonte.
They consider their greatest success to be their musical “Viola violino viola d’amore,” which toured Italy. “Nobody thought we could do it back then. And then it became a huge success,” said Alice Kessler. At the time, the two were on stage more often in Italy than in Germany.
The sisters, who never married, kept working well into their 80s before retiring to Gründwald south of Munich.
They probably wouldn’t have managed to stay on stage for so long working on their own, Alice Kessler said shortly before her 80th birthday. “Being on the road as a duo only has advantages. You’re stronger together.”
In their will, the twins stipulated that their ashes should be be buried in one urn.
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