Siegfried Fischbacher, half of the illusionist duo Siegfried & Roy — who at their peak had been the preferred act on the Las Vegas Strip — died on Wednesday at age 81.
Fischbacher introduced he had terminal pancreatic most cancers in early January, and he died of the illness at his Las Vegas house.
German publication Bild confirmed the information Thursday.
The opposite half of the pair, Roy Horn, died at 75 in 2020 from issues of COVID-19.
Fischbacher had a malignant tumour eliminated in a 12-hour operation final 12 months, however the most cancers was discovered to have unfold all through his physique. He selected to die at house below the supervision of personal well being care practitioners, based on the Las Vegas Overview-Journal.
His most current public look in Las Vegas was in late August, on the dedication of Siegfried & Roy Drive at The Mirage on line casino, the place Siegfried & Roy carried out completely.
The act, which most notably featured lions and tigers performing stunts, bought out to keen crowds for 12 years, till Horn was dragged offstage by a giant white tiger, Montecore, in 2003. The incident — the pair by no means referred to as it an “assault,” insisting that the cat was truly attempting to avoid wasting Horn — came about in entrance of a dwell viewers and basically killed the act.
The darker-haired of the flashy duo, Horn was credited with the thought of introducing an unique animal — his pet cheetah — to the magic act.
“Roy was a fighter his entire life together with throughout these ultimate days,” Fischbacher stated on the time of Horn’s loss of life. “I give my heartfelt appreciation to the staff of medical doctors, nurses and workers at Mountain View Hospital who labored heroically in opposition to this insidious virus that finally took Roy’s life.”
The 2 turned an establishment in Las Vegas, and carried out six reveals every week, 44 weeks per 12 months.
They returned to the stage in February 2009 for what was billed as their one and solely comeback efficiency, to lift funds for the brand new Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Middle for Mind Well being in Las Vegas. The transient efficiency, which included Montecore, turned the premise of an episode of the ABC tv present 20/20.
Horn and Fischbacher, each natives of Germany, had first teamed up in 1957 and made their Las Vegas debut a decade later. Siegfried & Roy started performing on the Mirage in 1990.
After they signed a lifetime contract with the Mirage in 2001, it was estimated that they had carried out 5,000 reveals on the on line casino for 10 million followers since 1990 and had grossed greater than $1 billion. That got here on prime of hundreds of reveals at different venues in earlier years.
“All through the historical past of Las Vegas, no artists have meant extra to the event of Las Vegas’ world fame because the leisure capital of the world than Siegfried and Roy,” Terry Lanni, chairman of MGM Mirage, the on line casino’s mother or father firm, stated after the assault.
The pair gained worldwide recognition for serving to to avoid wasting uncommon white tigers and white lions from extinction. Their $10-million compound was house to dozens of uncommon animals over time. The white lions and white tigers had been the results of a preservation program that started within the Eighties.
Siegfried & Roy’s present, incorporating animal antics and magic tips, included about 20 white tigers and lions, the quantity various relying on the night time. The present additionally had different unique animals, together with an elephant.
Fischbacher is survived by his sister Dolore, a nun residing in Munich, Germany.
— with recordsdata from The Related Press
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