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Germany's Kessler twins, who became dance
stars in the 50s and 60s, die at 89
[November 19, 2025] BERLIN
(AP) — Alice and Ellen Kessler, twin dancers and singers who launched
their career in the 1950s and performed with Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra
and Harry Belafonte among others, have died, police in Germany said
Tuesday. They were 89.
The death of the twins in Grünwald, a prosperous suburb of Munich where
they shared a house, was reported by German newspaper Bild and news
agency dpa on Monday, without named sources. Munich police on Tuesday
confirmed the deaths, saying in an emailed statement that it was a
“joint suicide.”
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Alice Kessler and Ellen Kessler present excerpts from their show program
"Eins und eins ist eins" (one and one is one) at a press conference in
Berlin, Germany, Jan. 17, 1997. (Karl Mittenzwei/dpa via AP, File) |
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The
Kessler twins learned to dance at a young age and joined the
Leipzig Opera children's ballet. In 1952, when they were 16,
their family fled to West Germany, where they danced in a revue
theater in Düsseldorf. In 1955, the sisters were discovered by
the director of the Lido cabaret theater in Paris, where their
international career took off.
In the 1960s, the Kessler twins toured worldwide, moved to Rome
and performed with Astaire, Sinatra and Belafonte. They turned
down an offer to appear with Elvis Presley in “Viva Las Vegas”
in 1964 for fear of becoming defined by musical films in
America, dpa reported.
Even at 80, the sisters appeared on stage in a musical. Alice
said shortly before their 80th birthday that they probably
wouldn't have managed to perform for so long alone.
Being a twosome “only has advantages,” she said. “Together
you're stronger.”
Asked about the secret of their success, she remarked:
“Discipline, every day. Gratitude, time and again. Humility, not
cockiness. And togetherness. Until death.”
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