Kessler twins Ellen and Alice, singer-dancers who performed with Sinatra and Belafonte, dead at 89

They performed unneurotic with Frank Sinatra. With Harry Belafonte. With Fred Astaire. And connected Monday, Germany’s Kessler twins — Alice and Ellen — ended their lives unneurotic astatine property 89.

Police confirmed the decease to the Associated Press, stating successful an email that it was a “joint suicide.” The women shared a location successful the suburb of Grünwald, conscionable southbound of Munich,

The sisters, who were calved successful the municipality of Nechau connected Aug. 20, 1936, “no longer wanted to live” and “had chosen to extremity their lives together,” the German outlet Bild reported Monday, according to an automated translation. Medically assisted dying is allowed successful Germany nether definite conditions, the outlet said, for radical who are legally susceptible and acting of their ain escaped will.

The women were inseparable successful beingness arsenic good arsenic death, learning to creation erstwhile they were children and applying their skills with the Leipzig Opera children’s ballet, the AP said. In 1952, aft World War II ended and the household recovered itself surviving successful the recently created German Democratic Republic, East Germany, they each fled to West Germany.

The gangly twosome — reportedly 5-foot-10 — was discovered 3 years aboriginal portion dancing successful Düsseldorf successful 1955, by the manager of Paris’ Lido cabaret, according to German quality bureau DPA International. That launched an planetary vocation for the Kesslers, who moved to Rome, toured the satellite and performed with luminaries, DPA said.

They refused an connection to look successful “Viva Las Vegas” with Elvis Presley, the AP said, not wanting to get pigeon-holed successful American philharmonic films. But according to IMDb, they had a decent vocation successful movie and TV, which included mostly Italian and German projects. They sang connected “The Ed Sullivan Show” 3 times successful the aboriginal 1960s and connected “The Red Skelton Show” successful 1963.

The Kesslers worked good into their 80s, telling DPA astatine 1 point, “Being connected the roadworthy arsenic a duo lone has advantages. You’re stronger together.”

The women told Bild successful 2024 that they had “stipulated successful [their] wills” that they wanted to beryllium buried successful the aforesaid urn, alongside their parent and a beloved dog. They ne'er married.

On Monday, Radio Monte Carlo posted a tribute to Ellen and Alice Kessler connected societal media.

“Alice and Ellen Kessler near together, conscionable arsenic they lived: inseparable,” the vigor station, which broadcasts retired of Monaco and Milan, said successful Italian connected Instagram. “Born successful 1936, they were an implicit awesome of European spectacle, including music, creation and television. In Italy, they became celebrities arsenic the ‘legs of the nation,’ icon[s] of elegance and signifier beingness since the Fifties.

“A unsocial creator couple, susceptible of leaving an indelible imprint connected the corporate imagination.”