Magician Siegfried Fischbacher has died

Siegfried and Roy were a big number in the circus world. First in Hollywood and later in Las Vegas, their show bringing together felines, performers and magic was a visitors' magnet. 

The "Siegfried & Roy at the Mirage Resort and Casino" show, featuring white tigers, lions, acrobatics and glamour brought in millions of dollars to the two German magicians. That was until Roy Horn's accident on October 3, 2003, when he was attacked by his tiger Montecore during a performance.

Just the evening before, the duo had celebrated Horn's 59th birthday and 43 years of a successful partnership.

Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn had met in 1960 on a cruise ship. Horn, who came from Nordenham in Bremerhaven in northwest Germany, worked as a pageboy on the ship, while the Bavarian Fischbacher worked there as an entertainer.

Together, they traveled the world. After many stints in Bremen, Paris, Monte Carlo and Puerto Rico, they settled down in Las Vegas in the 1970s.

A star attraction

The accident in Las Vegas was a death blow to Siegfried and Roy's magic show. Until then, the duo, who also lived as a couple in an estate called "Little Bavaria" in Las Vegas, were earning $50 million yearly. 

"I have named the animals according to qualities I aspire to in my life. My white tigers are called Stolz (pride), Freude (joy), Leidenschaft (passion), Vorsehung (providence) and Weitblick (foresight). Each of these animals has slept in my bed," Horn once said in an interview.

Accident left Horn paralyzed

What led the tiger to attack on Horn is still unclear. Siegfried Fischbacher initially held the side-effects of high blood pressure pills responsible for Horn's collapse in front of the tiger, and the animal was supposedly trying to bring him to safety. Others reported that Horn suffered a heart attack on the stage.

The US department of agriculture, which is also responsible for exotic animals, investigated the case, with no results.

Horn survived the tiger's attack, but remained paralyzed on one side. Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn died on May 8, 2020 after contracting COVID-19.

Marking the day of Horn's death, Fischbacher said, "When I met him the first time, I knew that Roy and I would change the world together. There would never have been a Siegfried without Roy and a Roy without Siegfried." They were a couple until 1998 and enjoyed a friendly relationship afterwards.

Meanwhile, Fischbacher was suffering from an incurable form of cancer. In July 2019, shortly before his 80th birthday, he had to undergo surgery after a suspected heart attack. "It was a narrow escape. My arteries were 95% blocked," he told Bild newspaper reported.  Siegfried Fischbacher died from cancer on January 14.

Adapted from German by Manasi Gopalakrishnan