Kessler twins dead: 'Assisted suicide Two women free until the end
Alice and Ellen left together at the age of 89, in their home in Bavaria. From escaping the GDR to the Lido in Paris to TV success in Italy
Someone is born to break down walls. The story of the female twins Alice and Ellen Kessler - found dead at 89 in their home in Gruenwald, near Munich, where they lived next door to each other, in two adjoining flats, separated only by a sliding wall - is above all a story of walls being torn down.
Until the end: according to the German newspaper Bild, the two artists resorted to assisted suicide, a practice that is allowed in Germany under certain conditions. The police were informed on Tuesday, after the Kesslers had already passed away. When they arrived, the officers could only note the death and exclude the responsibility of third parties. They had also agreed on a date of 17 November, according to the testimony of Dghs, Germany's largest civil rights and patient protection organisation, as well as decided to leave their legacy to Médecins Sans Frontières.
An end perfectly consistent with the story of two women who had left the DDR for West Germany to follow their passion: that of dancing. Theirs had been the first uncovered legs on Italian television, with all the queue of controversy and censorial interventions that the great Antonello Falqui's astute move brought with it. On the verge of turning 40, they had then allowed themselves to pose for Playboy: it was the 1970s, and here in Italy it was much discussed, so much so that the Italian edition of Hugh Hefner's magazine reached a record number of copies sold. Alice and Ellen, for the press of the economic boom years, were the 'legs of the nation', but above all rounded artists. Because the Kessler twins happened to be singers, showgirls and actresses as well as dancers. Iconic, when here at home we didn't even know the meaning of the word.
They were born on 20 August 1936 in Nerchau, Saxony, not far from Leipzig. It was here that they had started attending the Opera Ballet as children. In 1952, at the age of sixteen, they left the German Democratic Republic and settled in West Germany, in Düsseldorf, where their career began, which led them to perform all over the world with artists such as Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire.
Having joined the ranks of the legendary Blubell Girls from the Paris Lido at the age of 19, they represented their country at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1959, finishing eighth with Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n'. Two years later they landed at the RAI television studios of Winter Garden, between Don Lurio and the Quartetto Cetra, and then of Studio Uno with Mina. It was 1961 and a great television director, Antonello Falqui, laid down the rules of the basic grammar of Saturday night variety. There were born nonsense catchphrases such as Da-da-un-pa and Testa spalla, songs that were pretexts for perfectly reproducible dances at home and therefore hits by definition. A cause for scandal to be covered with heavy nylons for an Italy that, at the beginning of the 1960s, was still well-thinking.
