German-American entertainer and magician Siegfried Fischbacher ruled the Las Vegas entertainment circuit as one half of the popular magician duo Siegfried & Roy, with his partner Roy Horn. The two met while working on a German cruise liner as teenagers and then started performing as a duo in Europe. They later made Las Vegas their base and rose to become the city’s highest-paid magicians. Their shows had unique acts, featuring a large group of exotic animals, such as white tigers and white lions. They rubbed shoulders with the “who’s who” of the American celebrity world and began headlining a show at The Mirage casino resort in 1990. Their show saw an abrupt end when Horn was mauled by a white tiger on stage in October 2003 and left partially paralyzed. Fischbacher and Horn were also often rumored to be a romantic couple. They died within months of each other.
