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”’Alice”’ and ”’Ellen Kessler”’ (20 August 1936 – 17 November 2025), usually credited as the ”’Kessler Twins”’ ({{langx|de|die Kessler-Zwillinge}}; {{langx|it|le gemelle Kessler}}), were German [[twin]] sisters who as singers, dancers, and actresses were popular in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, during the 1950s and 1960s.

”’Alice”’ and ”’Ellen Kessler”’ (20 August 1936 – 17 November 2025), usually credited as the ”’Kessler Twins”’ ({{langx|de|die Kessler-Zwillinge}}; {{langx|it|le gemelle Kessler}}), were German [[twin]] sisters who as singers, dancers, and actresses were popular in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, during the 1950s and 1960s.

==Lives and Careers over Time==

==Lives and ==

Twin sisters Alice and Ellen Kessler were born on 20 August 1936 in [[Nerchau]], Gau Saxony,<ref name=”y506″>{{cite web | title=”Im Tode vereint” — Kessler-Zwillinge gemeinsam gestorben | website=[[Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger]] | date=17 November 2025 | url=https://www.ksta.de/panorama/promis/kessler-zwillinge-unter-ungeklaerten-umstaenden-gestorben-1152084 | language=de | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> to parents Paul and Elsa Kessler.<ref name=”Feddersen”>{{cite web | last=Feddersen | first=Jan | title=Kessler-Zwillinge feierten ihren 82. Geburtstag | website=eurovision.de | date=20 August 2018 | url=https://www.eurovision.de/feddersens_kommentar/Kessler-Zwillinge-feierten-ihren-82-Geburtstag,kesslerzwillinge106.html | language=de | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> The girls started [[ballet]] classes at the age of six,<ref name=”s931″>{{cite web | title=Kessler-Zwillinge Alice und Ellen sind gestorben | website=[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]] | date=17 November 2025 | url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/menschen/kessler-zwillinge-alice-und-ellen-sind-gestorben-110784674.html | language=de | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> and they joined the [[Leipzig Opera]]’s child ballet program at age 11.<ref name=”o934″>{{cite web | title=Kessler-Zwillinge feiern ihren 160. Geburtstag | website=[[Leipziger Volkszeitung]] | date=20 August 2016 | url=https://www.lvz.de/lokales/leipzig-lk/grimma/kessler-zwillinge-feiern-ihren-160-geburtstag-L7E5H4LTOIVNSUTEEZGBDNTMWY.html | language=de | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> In 1952, when the twins were 16, their parents used a visitor’s [[Travel visa|visa]] for the family to escape [[East Germany]].<ref name=”o934″ /><ref name=”i365″>{{cite web | title=Im Alter von 89 Jahren: Die Kessler-Zwillinge sind gestorben | website=[[Die Zeit]] | date=17 November 2025 | url=https://www.zeit.de/news/2025-11/17/die-kessler-zwillinge-sind-gestorben | language=de |agency=dpa | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref>

Twin sisters Alice and Ellen Kessler were born on 20 August 1936 in [[Nerchau]], Gau Saxony,<ref name=”y506″>{{cite web | title=”Im Tode vereint” — Kessler-Zwillinge gemeinsam gestorben | website=[[Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger]] | date=17 November 2025 | url=https://www.ksta.de/panorama/promis/kessler-zwillinge-unter-ungeklaerten-umstaenden-gestorben-1152084 | language=de | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> to parents Paul and Elsa Kessler.<ref name=”Feddersen”>{{cite web | last=Feddersen | first=Jan | title=Kessler-Zwillinge feierten ihren 82. Geburtstag | website=eurovision.de | date=20 August 2018 | url=https://www.eurovision.de/feddersens_kommentar/Kessler-Zwillinge-feierten-ihren-82-Geburtstag,kesslerzwillinge106.html | language=de | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> The girls started [[ballet]] classes at the age of six,<ref name=”s931″>{{cite web | title=Kessler-Zwillinge Alice und Ellen sind gestorben | website=[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]] | date=17 November 2025 | url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/menschen/kessler-zwillinge-alice-und-ellen-sind-gestorben-110784674.html | language=de | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> and they joined the [[Leipzig Opera]]’s child ballet program at age 11.<ref name=”o934″>{{cite web | title=Kessler-Zwillinge feiern ihren 160. Geburtstag | website=[[Leipziger Volkszeitung]] | date=20 August 2016 | url=https://www.lvz.de/lokales/leipzig-lk/grimma/kessler-zwillinge-feiern-ihren-160-geburtstag-L7E5H4LTOIVNSUTEEZGBDNTMWY.html | language=de | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> In 1952, when the twins were 16, their parents used a visitor’s [[Travel visa|visa]] for the family to escape [[East Germany]].<ref name=”o934″ /><ref name=”i365″>{{cite web | title=Im Alter von 89 Jahren: Die Kessler-Zwillinge sind gestorben | website=[[Die Zeit]] | date=17 November 2025 | url=https://www.zeit.de/news/2025-11/17/die-kessler-zwillinge-sind-gestorben | language=de |agency=dpa | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref>

Latest revision as of 20:17, 18 November 2025

German singers, dancers, and actresses

Kessler Twins

The Kessler Twins in 2005
Born

Alice Kessler
Ellen Kessler

(1936-08-20)20 August 1936
Died 17 November 2025(2025-11-17) (aged 89)
Other names die Kessler-Zwillinge (in Germany)
le gemelle Kessler (in Italy)
Occupations
  • Singers
  • dancers
  • actresses
Years active 1942–2016

Alice and Ellen Kessler (20 August 1936 – 17 November 2025), usually credited as the Kessler Twins (German: die Kessler-Zwillinge; Italian: le gemelle Kessler), were German twin sisters who as singers, dancers, and actresses were popular in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, during the 1950s and 1960s.

Twin sisters Alice and Ellen Kessler were born on 20 August 1936 in Nerchau, Gau Saxony,[1] to parents Paul and Elsa Kessler.[2] The girls started ballet classes at the age of six,[3] and they joined the Leipzig Opera‘s child ballet program at age 11.[4] In 1952, when the twins were 16, their parents used a visitor’s visa for the family to escape East Germany.[4][5]

After they reached Düsseldorf, the sisters performed at the Palladium theatre.[6] Between 1955 and 1960, they performed at The Lido in Paris.[6] There they met American singer Elvis Presley, who was on leave from the army on 17 June 1959.[6] The twins represented West Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959, finishing in 8th place with “Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh’n” (“Tonight we want to go dancing”).[7][6] While performed at The Lido, they also met Don Lurio, a US-born Italian choreographer who would bring them to Italy in 1961.[8]

The Kessler Twins pictured on the Italian magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni in 1965

In 1962, the twins moved to Italy,[9] where they gradually worked into more serious roles. They became very popular through the RAI television variety show Studio Uno (1961–1966).[6] At the age of 40, they agreed to pose on the cover of the Italian edition of Playboy. That issue became the fastest-selling Italian Playboy to that date.[7][9]

The Kessler sisters enjoyed a significant degree of popularity in the United States as well, making their American television debut on the CBS variety show The Red Skelton Hour[10] and appearing on national television programs such as The Ed Sullivan Show.[11] They also appeared in the 1962 film Sodom and Gomorrah as dancers and were featured on the cover of Life that same year.[12]

The Kessler Twins moved back to Germany in 1986 and lived in Grünwald, near Munich, Bavaria.[9] They received awards from both the German and Italian governments for promoting German-Italian cooperation through their work in show business.[13]

Despite both sisters having a history of romances — with Ellen even being with the Italian actor Umberto Orsini for 20 years, and Alice having relationships with the French singer Marcel Amont and Italian actor Enrico Maria Salerno — neither of the two sisters ever married.[8][14]

The Kessler Twins performing on The Danny Kaye Show in 1966

The twins died, both together and on the same day, by assisted suicide in Grünwald on 17 November 2025, at the age of 89.[15][16][14]

Selected filmography

[edit]

Sources:[19][20]

  1. ^ ““Im Tode vereint” — Kessler-Zwillinge gemeinsam gestorben”. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (in German). 17 November 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  2. ^ Feddersen, Jan (20 August 2018). “Kessler-Zwillinge feierten ihren 82. Geburtstag”. eurovision.de (in German). Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  3. ^ a b c “Kessler-Zwillinge Alice und Ellen sind gestorben”. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 17 November 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  4. ^ a b “Kessler-Zwillinge feiern ihren 160. Geburtstag”. Leipziger Volkszeitung (in German). 20 August 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  5. ^ “Im Alter von 89 Jahren: Die Kessler-Zwillinge sind gestorben”. Die Zeit (in German). dpa. 17 November 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g “singend und tanzend ins internationale Showbusiness”. SWR (in German). 19 August 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  7. ^ a b “Perché le gambe delle gemelle Kessler erano il sogno di tutte? La vera storia delle dive della tv italiana”. www.elle.com (in Italian). 24 September 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  8. ^ a b Giuffrida, Angela (18 November 2025). “The Kessler Twins sisters Alice and Ellen die together aged 89”. The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  9. ^ a b c “Kessler-Zwillinge werden 75”. SWI swissinfo.ch (in German). 20 August 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  10. ^ ““The Red Skelton Hour” (CBS) Season 12 (1962–63)”. CTVA US Music Variety. 25 September 1962. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  11. ^ “Showgirls Alice und Ellen Kessler”. Der Spiegel (in German). 19 August 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  12. ^ “February 22 1963 Life Magazine Sensations From Germany Kessler Twins on Cover”. Etsy Canada. 22 February 1963. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  13. ^ a b Wulff, Hans-Jürgen; mediarep.org (2015). “Der Tanz der Puppen. Die Kessler-Zwillinge und ihre Performances”. Montage AV. Zeitschrift für Theorie und Geschichte audiovisueller Kommunikation (in German). doi:10.25969/MEDIAREP/3506. ISSN 0942-4954.
  14. ^ a b Arkin, Daniel (18 November 2025). “The Kessler Twins, German entertainment duo, die together by assisted suicide”. NBC News. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  15. ^ Etienne, Vanessa (17 November 2025). “Twin Sisters Who Were Once Famous Entertainers Choose to End Their Lives on the Same Day”. People. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  16. ^ Klugmayer, Lisa (17 November 2025). “Die Kessler-Zwillinge sind tot”. FOCUS online (in German). Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  17. ^ “Ehrenbürger der Stadt Grimma”. Stadt Grimma (in German). Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  18. ^ Reppenhagen, Charlotte (17 November 2025). “Sie starben gemeinsam! Die berühmten Kessler-Zwillinge sind tot”. gala.de (in German). Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  19. ^ “Alice Kessler”. filmportal.de (in German). 20 August 1936. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  20. ^ “Ellen Kessler”. filmportal.de (in German). 20 August 1936. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  21. ^ Guttmann, Katja (17 November 2025). “Kessler-Zwillinge mit 89 Jahren in München gestorben”. Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  22. ^ CINEMA online (18 December 1956). “Kino bei CINEMA: Kinoprogramm, Filme, DVDs, Stars, Trailer und mehr”. cinema.de (in German). Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  23. ^ “Die Zwillinge vom Zillertal”. filmportal.de (in German). Retrieved 17 November 2025.

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