The world is in mourning following the passing of illusionist Siegfried Fischbacher, of Siegfried & Roy.
Fischbacher passed away at the age of 81 in Las Vegas, following his battle with pancreatic cancer. The other half of his duo, Roy Horn, died from COVID-19 complications in a Las Vegas hospital last year. He was 75.
Roy Horn and Siegfried Fischbacher, both natives of Germany, first teamed up in 1957 after having met on a cruise ship, and made their Las Vegas debut a decade later. They began performing at the Mirage in 1990.
Known for their extraordinary magic tricks that dominated the Las Vegas entertainment scene in the late 20th century, Siegfried and Roy were an iconoclast of American culture. The pair performed six shows a week, 44 weeks per year, incorporating animal antics and magic tricks.
RIP, Siegfried. pic.twitter.com/a59QHZcomO
— David Copperfield (@D_Copperfield) January 14, 2021
Their shows feature 20 white tigers and lions, with the number varying depending on the night. That was until 2003 when Horn was critically injured by one of the act’s famed white tigers.
Both Siegfried & Roy are now gone. S&R invented the full length magic show headlining Vegas. A very different style but without S&R there is no P&T in Vegas. Pure showbiz and pure class. He was a team. We are a team. As Tolstoy wrote -Successful magic teams are all the same pic.twitter.com/sH2Tm9Vdt3
— Penn Jillette (@pennjillette) January 14, 2021
Many Las Vegas magicians responded on Twitter, celebrating Siegfried and Roy’s incredible impact on magic and the Las Vegas entertainment culture.
The passing of Siegfried Fischbacher marks the end of an era. Siegfried & Roy had a vision for the kind of entertainment spectacular the world at large had never before seen. We are grateful for all they meant to MGM Resorts, Las Vegas and to the world of entertainment. pic.twitter.com/9Yx6TDVfyl
— MGM Resorts (@MGMResortsIntl) January 14, 2021
