Kessler Twins

Kessler Twins
The Kessler Twins in 2005
Born	Alice Kessler Ellen Kessler (1936-08-20) 20 August 1936 Nerchau, Saxony, Nazi Germany
Other names	die Kessler-Zwillinge (in Germany) le gemelle Kessler (in Italy)
Occupations	Singers dancers actresses
Years active	1942–present

Alice and Ellen Kessler (born 20 August 1936), usually credited as the Kessler Twins (German: die Kessler-Zwillinge; Italian: le gemelle Kessler), are German twin sisters who as singers, dancers and actresses were popular in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, during the 1950s and 1960s.

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

Lives and careers

Twin sisters Alice and Ellen Kessler were born in Nerchau, Saxony to parents Paul and Elsa Kessler. The girls started ballet classes at the age of six, and they joined the Leipzig Opera's child ballet program at age 11. When the twins were 18, their parents used a visitor's visa for the family to escape East Germany.

After they reached Düsseldorf, the sisters performed at the Palladium. Between 1955 and 1960, they performed at The Lido in Paris. There they met American singer Elvis Presley, who was on leave from the army on 17 June 1959. The twins represented West Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959, 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

In 1960, the twins moved to Italy, where they gradually worked into more serious roles. They became very popular through 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.

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

Selected filmography

• As Long as There Are Pretty Girls (1955)
• 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