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In the post-war years, the Kessler twins were considered the epitome of grace and harmony. No revue of the 50s, 60s and even 70s could do without Alice and Ellen Kaessler. They danced in the Paris Lido, they danced in Rome, in Buenos Aires, on Italian television and in German cinema. They sang with Peter Kraus and took part in the Chanson Contest in 1959. The addition “the cheeky twins” was rarely missing.
Early career and international success
The children of Elsa and Paul Kaessler were born on August 20, 1936 in Nerchau and lived near Leipzig. When they were just six years old, they were enrolled in ballet and then in opera dance school, where they passed their final exams in 1950. In 1952 they fled to Düsseldorf, where their father already lived. They danced at the Palladium, where the then director of the famous Lido variety show discovered them in 1955. They changed their name to Kessler.
In 1960 they went to Italy, where they lived for a long time, and sang French and German texts in addition to the Kraus songs. In the USA they appeared alongside Frank Sinatra and Burt Lancaster (and in the “Perry Como Show” in 1963). In 1975 they appeared naked in photos in the Italian “Playboy”. According to reports, the magazine was sold out after one day.
Late years, media presence and shared life story
The Kessler twins were part of the inventory of German talk shows; In 2009 they appeared dancing on a television show. Since 1986, the unmarried sisters lived in a semi-detached house in Grünwald with a shared entrance. Alice, the senior by half an hour, said of this connection: “Ellen is the engine, and I put on the brakes.”
Now the legendary twins have died together in their home in Grünwald at the age of 89.