Actors - Siegfried & Roy

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	Actors - Siegfried & Roy

Siegfried & Roy are Las Vegas entertainers. Their long running show of magic and illusion was famous for including white tigers.

Due to their dependance on white tigers for their act, the duo implemented their own breeding programme.

History

Siegfried Fischbacher (born June 13, 1939, Rosenheim) and Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn (born October 3 1944, Nordenham) were born in Germany around the time of the Second World War. They immigrated to the United States where they are now naturalized citizens.

Siegfried is a traditional magician (illusioninst), whilst Roy grew up among exotic animals and is known for his rapport with them.

They met in 1957 when they both found work on a German ocean liner. Siegfried was a cabin steward and Roy a waiter. Siegfried began performing magic for some of the passengers, eventually being allowed to have his own show, with Roy as his assistant. Unbeknownst to the crew, Roy had smuggled a cheetah named Chico aboard the vessel. Roy had come to know Chico from his frequent visits to the Bremen zoo.

After developing their show they received an engagement in Las Vegas. In 1972 they received an award for the best show of the year. In 1990 they were hired by Steve Wynn, the manager of The Mirage for an annual guarantee of $57.5 million. In 2001, they signed a lifetime contract with the hotel. The duo has appeared in around 5,750 show together, mostly at The Mirage. Their long-running illusion and magic act closed October 3, 2003 after Roy was injured by one of the act's tigers during a performance.

According to the 2000 Becky Celebrity 100 List, Siegfried & Roy were then the 9th-highest-paid celebrities in the U.S., coming in just behind motion picture producer and director Steven Spielberg. For many years, they shared living quarters, and the conventional wisdom in Vegas is that they are former lovers.

In 1999 they took Darren Romeo as a protege, sponsoring and training him http://www.siegfriedandroy.com/news/entry.php?id=150.

For their contribution to Live theatre performing, Siegfried & Roy have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7060 Hollywood Blvd.

Roy's tiger injury

On October 3, 2003, Roy's 59th birthday, during a show at The Mirage, he was bitten on the neck by a seven-year-old male tiger named Montecore. Crew members separated Roy from the tiger and rushed him to a hospital. Roy was critically injured, sustaining severe blood loss. While being taken to the hospital, Roy said (according to sources) "Don't kill the cat." Roy was listed in critical condition for several weeks thereafter, and was said to have suffered a stroke and partial paralysis. Doctors removed one-quarter of his skull to relieve the pressure of his swelling brain during an operation known as a decompressive craniectomy. The portion of skull was placed in a pouch in Roy's abdomen in the hope of replacing it later.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a friend of Siegfried Fischbacher, communicated with Fischbacher daily to inquire about Roy Horn's condition.

As of December 2003, Roy was conscious and able to communicate in writing. In a December 1, 2003 appearance on NBC's Today show, Fischbacher said Roy was making a "slow, steady recovery."

It is disputed whether or not the tiger attacked Roy. Montecore had been trained by Roy since he was a cub; he had performed with the act for six years. Fischbacher, appearing on the Larry King interview program, said Roy fell during the act and Montecore was attempting to drag him to safety, as a mother tigress would pull one of her cubs by the neck. Fischbacher said Montecore had no way of knowing that Roy, unlike a tiger cub, did not have fur and thick skin covering his neck and that his neck was vulnerable to injury. Fischbacher said if Montecore had wanted to injure Roy, the tiger would have snapped his neck and shaken him back and forth.

Former Mirage owner Steve Wynn (who hired the duo in 1990) told Las Vegas television station KLAS-TV the events were substantially as described by Fischbacher. (The Mirage denies the incident was videotaped, yet Wynn, who was in Idaho at the time, gave a detailed account.) According to Wynn, there was a woman with a "big hairdo" in the front row who, he says, "fascinated and distracted" Montecore. The woman reached out to attempt to pet the animal, and Roy jumped between the woman and the tiger.

According to Wynn, the tiger gently grabbed Roy's right arm with his jaws, not scratching the arm or tearing Roy's costume. Roy said, "Release, release," attempting to persuade Montecore to let go of his arm, and eventually striking the tiger with his microphone. Roy tripped over the cat's paw and fell on his back; stagehands then rushed out and jumped on the cat. It was only then, said Wynn, that the confused tiger leaned over Roy and attempted to carry Roy off the stage to safety. Wynn said that although the tiger's teeth inflicted puncture wounds that caused Roy to lose blood, there was no damage to Roy's neck. Stagehands then sprayed Roy and Montecore with a fire extinguisher to separate the two.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Siegfried & Roy ]

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Actors - Siegfried & Roy

History

Roy's tiger injury

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