Alice and Ellen Kessler (20 August 1936 – 17 November 2025), usually credited as the Kessler Twins (German: die Kessler-Zwillinge; Italian: le gemelle Kessler), were 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 U.S. as well, making their American television debut on the CBS variety show The Red Skelton Hour and appeared 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. In 1952, when the twins were 16, 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").

In 1962, 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 lived in Grünwald, near Munich, Bavaria. They received awards from both the German and Italian governments for promoting German-Italian cooperation through their work in show business.

The twins died by assisted suicide in Grünwald on 17 November 2025, at the age of 89.

Awards

• Premio Capo Circe
• 1987 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 2006 Honorary citizens of Nerchau
• 2025 Bavarian Order of Merit

Selected filmography

Sources:

• 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)

Writings

• Kessler, Alice; Kessler, Ellen (1996). Eins und eins ist eins (in German). ISBN 978-3-7654-2880-7. OCLC 38132100.