Horn was 75 years old. The trainer and his partner Siegfried Fischbacher were world famous for their performances with white tigers and lions.
His doctors called it “a miracle” that Roy Horn survived the serious injuries after his white tiger Mantecore attacked. With a last magic trick the duo “Siegfried & Roy” finally said goodbye to show business in March 2009. Horn now died of the consequences of a Covid 19 disease.
The tamer and magician, born in Nordenham near Bremen, celebrated his 59th birthday on October 3, 2003 at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. A few hours later, the dark-haired magician was critically injured on the stage at the evening “Siegfried & Roy” show. After severe blood loss, strokes and brain surgery, he never fully recovered. His long-time partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, who was born in Rosenheim, became a supervisor.
“I lost my best friend”
Horn has now died of the lung disease Covid-19. Horn died in Las Vegas on Friday (local time). He was 75 years old. “Today the world has lost one of the giants of magic, but I have lost my best friend,” said Fischbacher (80) in a message.
The tragic tiger accident had forced the award-winning “masters of the impossible” into early retirement; Tricks had excited millions of fans for decades. Roy Horn was paralyzed on one side after the accident.
The entertainer slowly learned to walk again, albeit slowly and leaning on a stick. In rare public appearances, he was also seen in a wheelchair. In May last year, the duo visited Siegfried’s home in Munich and Lake Tegernsee. Horn did stem cell therapy with autologous blood there. Outside of his domicile in the adopted home of Las Vegas, Horn has been seen less and less in recent years. On Facebook, he occasionally posted photos of the “Little Bavaria” retirement home on the outskirts of Las Vegas, a huge property with numerous cats and other animals.
Uwe Ludwig Horn, born on October 3, 1944, discovered his love for exotic animals early on. In the post-war years, he fled to an animal dream world. A cheetah named “Chico” at Bremen Zoo became his best friend. After dropping out of school, he hired as a steward on a cruise ship, where he met Fischbacher. Together, they played magic and animal tricks through smaller theaters until they achieved their international breakthrough in Monaco in the 1960s. They first came to Las Vegas in 1967, and in 1988 they negotiated the biggest deal in the history of the casino city with the Mirage Hotel.
Roy’s love for the wildcats continued, even after Mantecore’s attack. He didn’t blame the white tiger – on the contrary. After the cat’s death in 2014, the trainer wrote on Facebook that his “beloved 17-year-old white tiger, friend and brother” had died. “He was the one who pulled me to safety after I got dizzy on stage because of low blood pressure. He got me out of there so the emergency doctors could help me.” Mantecore only wanted to come to his aid and carry him away, he said in interviews.
With a final magic trick, the duo finally said goodbye to show business in March 2009. The magical show at a charity event in the Hotel-Casino Bellagio lasted only ten minutes.
(APA)
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