Kessler Twins

Kessler Twins
The Kessler Twins in 2005
Born	Alice & Ellen Kessler (1936-08-20) 20 August 1936 Nerchau, Saxony, Germany
Other names	Die Kessler-Zwillinge (in Germany) Le Gemelle Kessler (in Italy)
Occupations	Actress singers dancers
Years active	1942–present
Parent	Paul & Elsa Kessler

Alice and Ellen Kessler (born 20 August 1936 in Nerchau, Saxony, Germany) are twin entertainers known in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, from the 1950s and 1960s for their singing, dancing, and acting. They are usually credited as the Kessler Twins (Die Kessler-Zwillinge in Germany and Le Gemelle Kessler in Italy), where they remain popular.

The Kessler sisters enjoyed a significant degree of popularity in the US, appearing on national television programs such as The Ed Sullivan Show. The Kesslers made their American television debut on the CBS variety show, The Red Skelton Hour. They also appeared in the 1963 film Sodom and Gomorrah as dancers and were featured on the cover of Life Magazine that same year.

Their parents, Paul and Elsa, sent them to ballet classes at the age of six, and they joined the Leipzig Opera's child ballet program at age 11. When they were 18, their parents used a visitor's visa to escape to West Germany, where they performed at the Palladium in Düsseldorf. They performed at The Lido in Paris between 1955 and 1960, where they met Elvis Presley, on leave from the Army on June 17, 1959, and represented West Germany in the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in 8th place with Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n (Tonight we want to go dancing).

The Kessler Twins pictured on the Italian magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni in 1965

The Kessler Twins performing on The Danny Kaye Show in 1966

They moved to Italy in 1960 and gradually moved to more serious roles. They became very popular thanks to the RAI television variety show Studio Uno (1961–1966). At the age of 40, they agreed to pose on the cover of the Italian edition of Playboy. That issue became the fastest-selling Italian Playboy to that date.

They moved back to Germany in 1986 and live in Grünwald. They have received two awards from both the German and Italian governments for promoting German-Italian cooperation through their work in show business.

Selected filmography

• The Beggar Student (1956)
• The Count of Luxemburg (1957)
• The Twins from Zillertal (1957)
• Gräfin Mariza (1958)
• Les Magiciennes (1960)
• Love and the Frenchwoman (1960)
• Erik the Conqueror (1961)
• The Bird Seller (1962)
• Sodom and Gomorrah (1962)
• Wedding Night in Paradise (1962)
• The Thursday (1963)
• Dead Woman from Beverly Hills (1964)

External links

• Media related to Kessler Twins at Wikimedia Commons
• Alice Kessler at IMDb
• Ellen Kessler at IMDb
• Interviewed by the CBC, ca. 1960 (the interview, made while they were employed at The Lido, starts halfway through the clip)
• Kessler Sisters on Scopitone