Kessler twins Ellen and Alice, singer-dancers who performed with Sinatra and Belafonte, dead at 89

"They performed together with Frank Sinatra. With Harry Belafonte. With Fred Astaire. And on Monday, Germany's Kessler twins - Alice and Ellen - ended their lives together at age 89. Police confirmed the death to the Associated Press, stating in an email that it was a "joint suicide." The women shared a house in the suburb of Grünwald, just south of Munich,"

"The sisters, who were born in the town of Nechau on Aug. 20, 1936, "no longer wanted to live" and "had chosen to end their lives together," the German outlet Bild reported Monday, according to an automated translation. Medically assisted dying is allowed in Germany under certain conditions, the outlet said, for people who are legally capable and acting of their own free will."

Alice and Ellen Kessler were German twin entertainers who died together at age 89 in Munich through medically assisted death. They built an international career after fleeing East Germany and being discovered in Düsseldorf in 1955, performing in Rome and touring worldwide. They shared stages with Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte and Fred Astaire, trained in Leipzig Opera children's ballet, and were known for their tall stature. The sisters never married, lived together in Grünwald, requested to be buried together in one urn alongside their mother and dog, and chose to end their lives together.

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