Siegfried & Roy

Siegfried Fischbacher (June 13, 1939 – January 13, 2021) and Roy Horn (born Uwe Ludwig Horn; October 3, 1944 – May 8, 2020) were German-American entertainers who performed an animal-based magic show together as Siegfried & Roy. The duo, who were also romantically involved, were best known for their flamboyant, Liberace-style costumes and use of white lions and white tigers in their acts; Siegfried was the magician, Roy was the animal trainer.

The pair met in 1959 while both were working on a cruise ship. They then began to perform together on ships and in European clubs and theaters. In 1967, they were invited to begin performing in Las Vegas. Starting in 1990, they headlined a show at The Mirage. By 1999, the show had grossed $500 million and they were the highest-paid entertainers in Las Vegas. After 5,750 performances, their performing career ended in 2003 when Horn was critically injured by a tiger during a performance. Horn died in 2020 from COVID-19 and Fischbacher died in 2021 from pancreatic cancer.

Although the duo promoted animal conservation and rehabilitation of endangered species, they were criticized for using animals "as props" and the unnatural environment in which they were kept.

Siegfried Fischbacher was born in Rosenheim in the Free State of Bavaria of Nazi Germany on June 13, 1939, to Martin and Maria Fischbacher. His mother was a housewife and his father was a professional painter who, during World War II, was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. Both Siegfried and Roy's fathers were described as "violent, rage-filled alcoholics, scarred by years of fighting as Nazi soldiers"; the duo says the war changed their fathers, who resorted to alcohol to cope with what they had seen and done. Fischbacher's absorption in magic helped him cope with his father's absence; he purchased a book about magic tricks and began to practice illusions, first with his family, at age 8. He completed an apprenticeship as a carpet weaver after elementary school. He moved to Italy in 1956, where he worked as a dishwasher, bartender, and waiter at a hotel on Lake Garda where he also entertained guests and colleagues with his magic tricks. In 1988, both Fischbacher and Horn underwent naturalization to become citizens of the United States.

Roy Horn was born on October 3, 1944, as Uwe Ludwig Horn, the youngest of four sons of Johanna Horn, in Nordenham in the Free State of Oldenburg of Nazi Germany in the midst of bomb attacks. Horn had three older brothers: Manfred, Alfred, and Werner. His father, a German soldier, became an alcoholic after the war and his mother left her husband and married a construction worker. His stepfather also became an alcoholic due to the effects of the war, and was unable to work. The family became dysfunctional as his mother took work in a factory. Horn became interested in animals at a very young age and cared for his childhood dog named Hexe (meaning witch). A family friend was the founder of Bremen Zoo, which gave Horn access to exotic animals from the age of 10. Horn dropped out of school at age 13. He Americanized his legal name to his nickname, Roy, when he was naturalized in the U.S. 1988.

In 1959, the duo met on board the cruise ship TS Bremen where Horn, then a teenager, was working as a waiter and bellboy after fleeing his family, and Fischbacher was performing in a small magic show under the stage name Delmare. Horn challenged Fischbacher to pull a cheetah out of a hat and was then asked to be in the show. The two were fired for smuggling a live cheetah onto the ship in a laundry bag, but got a job on a cruise line operating from New York.

In 1964, the owner of the Astoria Theatre in Bremen saw the duo perform aboard a Caribbean cruise ship and recruited them to perform at her nightclub. This launched a career for the pair on the European nightclub circuit, and they began to perform with tigers. In 1966, they were invited by Grace Kelly to perform at a Red Cross charity event in Monte Carlo.

They were discovered in Paris by promoter Tony Azzie, who asked them to perform in Las Vegas in 1967, where they debuted at the Folies Bergere at The Tropicana Hotel Las Vegas. The duo were originally placed 14th on a long bill. In 1975, they won the "Magician of the Year" award by the Academy of Magical Arts. By 1978, they had become the grand finale of the show and it was moved by Frank Rosenthal to the Stardust Resort and Casino, where the duo was featured on the marquee.