Alice and Ellen Kessler, the German twin sisters whose singing and dancing made them household names across Europe in the 1950s and ’60s, died together by assisted suicide on Monday, according to the German Society for Humane Dying.
They were 89.
“They had been considering this option for some time. They had been members of the organization for over a year. A lawyer and a doctor conducted preliminary discussions with them,” the organization said in an English-language statement.
In Germany, the group noted, anyone choosing assisted suicide must be “absolutely clear-headed, meaning free and responsible,” and their decision must be “thoughtful and consistent, meaning made over a long period of time and not impulsive.”
Germany’s highest court overturned a ban on medically assisted suicide in 2020, ruling that the prior law violated constitutional rights.
Born on Aug. 20, 1936, in Nazi Germany, the Kessler sisters trained as ballet dancers from a young age. In the early 1950s, their family fled from East Germany to West Germany, where the twins began their professional careers in entertainment.
Performing as the Kessler Twins, they captivated audiences with energetic, synchronized routines and became stars across postwar Germany and Italy, later attracting fans in the United States as well.
In February 1963, they made their American television debut on the CBS variety program The Red Skelton Hour, performing a song-and-dance rendition of “Les Girls.” That same month, they appeared on the cover of Life magazine under the headline: “SENSATIONS FROM GERMANY: KESSLER TWINS.”
They later performed on CBS’ The Ed Sullivan Show. In a post on Instagram from a verified account honoring Sullivan’s variety series, the sisters were remembered as “dazzling stars, true legends, and sisters whose grace, charm, and magic will shine forever.”
The twins moved to Italy in the 1960s, where they appeared on the cover of the Italian edition of Playboy and worked in various European film productions. They also had a brief role in the Hollywood biblical epic Sodom and Gomorrah.
Alice and Ellen returned to Germany in the 1980s and settled in a home near Munich. Neither married.
Over the years, they received honorary recognition from both the German and Italian governments for their impact on the performing arts, including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1987.
