Siegfried & Roy

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**Siegfried Tyron Fischbacher** (June 13, 1939 – January 13, 2021) and **Roy Horn** (born **Uwe Ludwig Horn**; October 3, 1944 – May 8, 2020) were German-American magicians and entertainers, best known for their acts with white lions and white tigers in Las Vegas, Nevada. They were born and raised in Germany, then moved to the United States and became U.S. citizens. From August 2004 to May 2005, Fischbacher and Horn were executive producers of *Father of the Pride*.

## Early life
Fischbacher and Horn were born and raised in Germany. They emigrated to the United States and became naturalized citizens. 

### Siegfried
Siegfried was born Siegfried Tyron Fischbacher in Rosenheim on June 13, 1939, to Martin and Maria Fischbacher.

Eventually, Fischbacher found work performing magic on the ship TS *Bremen* under the stage name Delmare. While performing aboard the ship he met Horn and asked him to help during a show.

### Roy
Roy was born Uwe Ludwig Horn on October 3, 1944, in Nordenham, in the midst of bomb attacks, to Johanna Horn. His father died in World War II, and his mother married a construction worker after the war ended. She later began work in a factory. Horn had three brothers: Manfred, Alfred, and Werner. Horn became interested in animals at a very young age A  version of the show was taken on a world tour in the third quarter of 1988.

## 2003 tiger attack
During a show at the Mirage on Horn's birthday on October 3, 2003, a 7-year-old white tiger named Montecore attacked Horn. As part of the act, but veering off script, Horn held his microphone to Montecore's mouth and told him to say "hello" to the audience. Montecore responded by biting Horn's sleeve. Horn swatted the tiger and barked "release!". Suffering from dizziness, Horn tripped and fell onto his back, and Montecore moved to stand over him.  As standby trainers rushed in from offstage to assist, Montecore bit into Horn's neck and dragged him offstage. Trainers got the tiger to release Horn by spraying him with CO2 fire extinguisher canisters, the last resort available.

The attack severed Horn's spine, drained his blood, and severely injured other parts of his body, permanently impairing his motor and verbal abilities. He also had a stroke either before or after Montecore dragged him offstage. While being taken to the hospital, Horn stated, "Montecore is a great cat. Make sure no harm comes to Montecore." He told *People Magazine* in September 2004 that Montecore saved his life by trying to drag him to safety after he had a stroke. The incident prompted the Mirage to close the show, which had 267 cast and crew members.

Trainer Chris Lawrence later refuted Fischbacher and Horn's explanations for why the tiger attacked Horn, alleging it was due to Horn's mishandling of Montecore. The duo dismissed Lawrence's claims, stating he "had problems with his life anyway." 

In February 2009, the duo staged a final appearance with Montecore as a benefit for the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute (though Chris Lawrence had stated this performance involved a different tiger). Their performance was recorded for broadcast on ABC television's *20/20* program.

On April 23, 2010, Fischbacher and Horn retired from show business. "The last time we closed, we didn't have a lot of warning", said longtime manager Bernie Yuman. "This is farewell. This is the dot at the end of the sentence."

On March 19, 2014, Montecore died after a brief illness. He was 17 years old.

In June 2016, director Philipp Stölzl announced that Fischbacher and Horn would produce a biopic film documenting their lives. Following Horn's death in 2020, this did not happen.

## Horn's illness and death
On April 28, 2020, Horn's publicist stated he "tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 and was responding well to treatment".  However, his condition deteriorated and he died at the age of 75 on May 8, 2020 at Mountain View Hospital in Las Vegas. The duo's spokesman, Dave Kirvin, announced Horn's death and said it was due to complications from the disease. Fischbacher stated that "the world has lost one of the greats of magic, but I have lost my best friend".

Horn was cremated and Fischbacher stated he would keep his ashes in an urn.

## Fischbacher's death
On January 12, 2021, Fischbacher announced he had terminal pancreatic cancer. He died the next day in Las Vegas from the disease at the age of 81.

## Filmography
* *Siegfried & Roy: Masters of the Impossible* (1996)
* *Vegas Vacation* (1997)
* ''Ocean's Eleven* (2001) as Boxing Spectator
* *Showboy* (2002)

### Television
* *Father of the Pride* (2004–2005, TV series)
* *Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Returns'' (March 6, 2009)

## References