Siegfried Fischbacher, half of the illusionist performance of big kittens Siegfried and Roy, died Wednesday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 81 years old.
Fischbacher was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer and was recently operated to remove a tumor, his representatives said in a statement to The Post.
He was released from the hospital earlier this month and two hospice workers treated him at home.
The death of the legendary magician comes less than a year after the transfer of his former stage partner Roy Horn due to complications from COVID-19.
The German-American duo met aboard the cruiser TS Bremen in 1957, where they teamed up on Horn’s pet cheetah, Chico, who had smuggled in on board.
Working as an administrator and entertainer, Fischbacher hired Horn, the captain’s button, to help him during his magic nightly show. After the performance, Horn asked the question that changed their two lives: “Siegfried, the disappearance of rabbits is normal, but can a cheetah be made to disappear?”
His act, which mixed the tiger’s domestication with David Copperfield’s shattered magic and a brazen dose of Liberace brilliance, was launched in Sin City around 1967. But it was his $ 30 million 14-year-old at the Mirage Theater. , from 1989, which propelled them to world stardom in the heyday of excess.
“We did what we did for love, not for success or money,” Siegfried once said, according to his representatives. “We respected each other deeply. We grew up literally: I created Roy and Roy created Siegfried. ”
In 2003, Horn suffered a bloody injury at the end of his career when Mantacore, a 400-pound Siberian tiger, sank his teeth into his neck during a live performance (no more and no less than his 59th birthday) at the hotel-casino Mirage.
In a 2019 interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the artists said they had made peace with the infamous disorder incident that killed their careers.
“I really don’t miss it,” Fischbacher said at the time. “We’ve been on the Las Vegas stage alone for 40 years on stage, you know? And we had the most successful show in the history of Las Vegas anyway.
Born in Rosenheim, Germany, on June 13, 1939, Fischbacher credited the children’s purchase of a magic book with launching a lasting love for the art of magic. Even after finishing his acting days, Siegfried could be found daily at The Secret Garden of Siegfried & Roy at The Mirage, creating wonder to fans with a simple coin trick and always taking time to take a picture.
His lifelong mantra: “In magic, anything is possible.”