Legendary magician Roy Horn has died from coronavirus.
He was 75.
Horn, one half of the longtime Las Vegas illusionist duo Siegfried & Roy, had tested positive for COVID-19.
Horn was severely injured by a tiger during a Siegfried & Roy performance at The Mirage hotel-casino in Las Vegas in 2003.
It left Horn partially paralyzed and ended the duo’s successful show.
‘Today, the world has lost one of the greats of magic, but I have lost my best friend,’ Siegfried Fischbacher said in a statement.
‘From the moment we met, I knew Roy and I, together, would change the world. There could be no Siegfried without Roy, and no Roy without Siegfried.
‘Roy was a fighter his whole life including during these final days. I give my heartfelt appreciation to the team of doctors, nurses and staff at Mountain View Hospital who worked heroically against this insidious virus that ultimately took Roy’s life.’
Horn died today at Mountain View Hospital because of complications related to COVID-19.
The two – born in Germany as Siegfried Fischbacher and Uwe Ludwig Horn – made their first appearance in Las Vegas in 1967 and played at several different casinos, ultimately becoming the headlining act at the Mirage Resort and Casino in 1990.
Horn was severely injured in 2003 when a white Bengal tiger named Mantecore bit into his neck and dragged him off stage during a show at the Mirage.
The duo consistently claimed the cat had latched onto Horn as a way to protect the entertainer, after he had suffered a stroke and toppled over.
Horn insisted the cat ‘saved his life’ by attempting to drag him to safety and begged for the cat not to be put down.
Throughout his recovery, Horn continued to make personal appearances and remained fond of fans.
German-born Siegfried and Roy with their white tigers and magical illusions were one of Vegas’s most celebrated attractions, becoming headliners at the Mirage from 1990 to 2003
In 2009, the duo returned to the stage one final time for a show benefiting the Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas.
The pair were said to be working on a biopic to be released in the form of a multi-part docuseries in 2021.Since Roy was mauled, Siegfried had dedicated his time and energy to making sure his showbusiness partner and best friend recovered.
After being grabbed round the throat by his beloved tiger while on stage, Roy was told he would never walk, talk or perform magic again.
But he defied all odds to make a remarkable recovery, despite having to have part of his brain cut away, suffering a crushed windpipe and being partially paralyzed, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
After a run of 30,000 shows that were watched by up to 400,000 people each year, the showmen decided to retire from their Las Vegas production after the attack in 2003.
The showmen met one another while working on a cruise ship in 1957.
The entertainment was ahead of its time for Las Vegas and came before large-scale shows became a staple on the strip.
‘It’s family entertainment. That’s what we started,’ Fischbacher said in a 2013 interview with Las Vegas Weekly.
‘These are big production shows now, but yeah, we came from nowhere. And when The Mirage became such a success, Steve Wynn knew how important entertainment was, and he knew how important Siegfried & Roy were. The show was sold out every night from the first night to the last.’
The show’s producer, Kenneth Feld of Feld Entertainment, told ABC’s 20/20 in September, ‘It was probably the most expensive show in the history of the world at the time it was built.’
Siegfried details his journey from Rosenheim, Germany to Las Vegas on his website.
He built his career from a $2 magic book, which caught his eye in 1947, before starting out performing tricks on the TS Bremen liner.
After meeting Roy, they formed their animal and magic act and started on boats before moving to the European nightclub circuit.
Once they incorporated tigers, promoter Tony Azzie asked them to come to Las Vegas in 1967.
Then in 1981 the Beyond Belief show with Siegfried & Roy at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino started and for more than 20 years, they were kings of the Strip earning tens of millions of dollars.
In February 2009, the duo staged a final appearance with Mantacore, the tiger that mauled Horn, as a benefit for the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute.
A year later Siegfried & Roy formally retired from showbusiness.
In 2019, the two appeared together as surprise guests at the Vegas’s Keep Memory Alive’s 23rd annual Power of Love gala.