Alice and Ellen Kessler, the legendary identical twin dancers and singers who captivated audiences across Europe and beyond for decades, have died together on November 17, 2025, at their home in Grünwald near Munich. The sisters were 89.
The German Society for Humane Dying (DGHS), of which both were long-time members, confirmed that the Kessler Twins chose a joint assisted suicide, a decision they had openly discussed for more than a year. A physician and a lawyer were present to verify their clear-minded and voluntary consent, and the sisters self-administered the lethal medication. Bavarian authorities investigated and ruled the deaths lawful, finding no third-party involvement.
Born on August 20, 1936, in Nerchau, Saxony, the twins began ballet training at age six and performed with the Leipzig Opera’s children’s ensemble before fleeing East Germany with their family in 1952. Settling in West Germany, they quickly rose to fame, first in Düsseldorf revues and then, from 1955, as stars of Paris’s prestigious Lido cabaret.
With their perfectly synchronized choreography, radiant smiles, and famously long legs, the Kessler Twins became symbols of post-war glamour. They conquered television in Germany, Italy (where they settled in Rome in 1962 and changed the spelling of their surname to “Kessler”), France, and the United States. American audiences saw them on The Red Skelton Hour and multiple times on The Ed Sullivan Show, including a celebrated 1970 performance of “Mas Que Nada.” They shared stages with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Harry Belafonte, and Fred Astaire, and famously declined a role opposite Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas to preserve their artistic independence.
In Germany they were affectionately known as “die Beine der Nation” (“the legs of the nation”). In Italy they were simply “le gemelle Kessler” – national treasures who brought elegance and precision to variety shows for decades.
Despite posing nude for Playboy in the 1960s, the twins insisted their act was always sophisticated rather than provocative. They retired from regular performing in the 1980s, returned to Germany in 1986, and lived quietly together in Grünwald for the rest of their lives.
In a 2024 interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera, the sisters explained their wish to die together: “We have done everything together our whole lives. The thought that one of us would have to go on alone is unbearable.”
Their deaths have reignited Germany’s long-running debate on assisted dying. While active euthanasia remains illegal, assisted suicide has been permissible since a 2020 Constitutional Court ruling affirmed a fundamental right to self-determined dying. Pro-life organizations criticized media coverage for allegedly “glamorizing” the twins’ choice, while advocates praised it as a dignified exercise of personal autonomy.
Fans around the world have flooded social media with clips of the twins’ classic performances and messages of grief. “They brought light wherever they went,” one Italian follower wrote. “Two lives, one soul – now reunited forever.”
Alice and Ellen Kessler requested that their ashes be placed in a single urn together with those of their mother Elsa and their beloved dog Yello.
Rest in peace, Alice and Ellen. The stage is a little darker today.