FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Alice and Ellen Kessler, icons of the German and European scene, have passed away at the age of 89.
According to the German daily Bild, the two sisters have chosen assisted suicide, a practice legally permitted in Germany under certain circumstances.
Their bodies were found in the apartment where they had lived for years in Grunewald, near Munich, in two adjoining apartments, separated only by a movable wall. The police were notified after they had died; preliminary investigations have ruled out any third-party responsibility. According to Bild, the twins had left a will that after cremation their ashes should be placed in the same urn.
From Saxony to the world stage
Born in 1936 in Nerchau, Saxony, near Leipzig, Alice and Ellen Kessler began their careers as children in the Opera ballet. In 1952, at just 16 years old, they left the German Democratic Republic and settled in West Germany, in Düsseldorf, a step that would mark the beginning of an international career with artists of the caliber of Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire.
In Italy, they would become famous thanks to their long legs, so much so that they were called "the legs of the nation", and the performances that turned them into television legends. In the 60s, they triumphed on the stages of Studio Uno with Mina, in Don Lurio's shows, in Giardino d'inverno, then in Carosello, Milleluci and Canzonissima, materials that today continue to be among the most viewed videos on YouTube.
Their career spanned ballet to music, television to cinema, where they starred opposite Dino Risi in Il giovedì and with Alberto Sordi in I complessi. At the age of 40, they also appeared on the cover of Playboy, becoming icons of an era that changed European television.
In an interview given years later to the ANSA agency, they fondly recalled their collaborations with Mina, Raimondo Vianello and Johnny Dorelli, describing the latter as "the closest to our American style."
A life in unison, and an equally inseparable end
As they lived their entire lives, on stage, on screen and in collective memory, Alice and Ellen Kessler passed away together. Figures of European pop culture, the twins remain a symbol of the golden age of German and Italian television.
Lini një Përgjigje