Debunking Vegas Legends: Roy from Siegfried and... Died in 1988, Secretly Substituted
EDITOR'S NOTE: Every Monday, we publish a new entry in our series "Vegas Myths Busted". Today's entry comes from September 2, 2022.
Is it possible that Siegfried & Roy fooled their fans? According to a widespread belief surrounding the German duo, Roy Horn was replaced by a doppelganger before the start of their long-running show at the Mirage Las Vegas in 1990.
According to this legend, Siegfried replaced Horn after he passed away from a terrible illness in an effort to protect their famous act, which generated an impressive $45 million annually. In this tale, Siegfried recruited Horn's younger cousin and put him through intensive animal training and illusion lessons. He also lavished him with a portion of the duo's earnings and arranged for cosmetic surgery to make him resemble Horn more closely.
Siegfried & Roy enchanted Las Vegas audiences for 36 years with their elaborate and dangerous magic tricks involving big cats. One of these tricks almost cost Horn his life when he was bitten by a white tiger named Mantacore during a performance in 2003. His injuries included a crushed windpipe and partial paralysis, ultimately bringing their incredible stage career to an end.
However, some conspiracy theorists maintain that this was the second calamity to befall the duo.
The Big Lie
"The myth was widespread," says Mike Weatherford, a writer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal from 1987 to 2017. "Conspiracy theories often have a grain of truth, and this one was fueled by their performing in Japan while the Mirage was under construction, creating the perfect opportunity for breaking in a cousin or whomever."
Not that Shirley MacLaine is a reliable source of accurate information, but Weatherford recalls conducting a 1990 interview where she vehemently endorsed the myth.
She even claimed to have attended his funeral, he said, adding that he can't remember whether he managed to keep a straight face or not.
At one point, the R-J even published a statement from the Clark County Coroner's Office stating that no death certificate had ever been issued for Horn.
Impersonators were not uncommon in show business at the time. If you attended Gallagher's performance, you could have seen either the genuine one, Leo Gallagher, or his lookalike younger brother, Ron Gallagher. (Leo would later sue his brother for trademark violations and false advertising, and win.)
The wholesale replacement of a major celebrity, both in public and private, took impersonations to a new level. It was utterly implausible.
To quell any lingering doubts, Weatherford recounts meeting and greeting Horn backstage following a Siegfried & Roy performance at Radio City Music Hall in September 1989.
A Belief to Behold
The myth regarding a replacement Roy gained traction due to the intrigue it generated. Fans were now in on a secret about an act that had tightly guarded their personal lives. They scoured their publicity photos and performances for signs of something amiss. Roy appeared odd to some. He acted strangely. He looked distinct. This was similar to the "Paul is dead" rumor that plagued Paul McCartney during the breakup of the Beatles in 1969.
I checked out some early pics of Roy from his younger years and compared them to his current pics. They are most definitely not the same man!" remarked Cheryl, a woman reading an article about the myth.
Of course, cosmetic surgery to look younger than his 46 years would have been a much more feasible explanation had any noticeable differences in Roy's appearance. And the duo would never have admitted to this either.
There were, indeed, other myths surrounding the magic legends. A 2020 podcast, "Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy", speculated that the 2003 tiger attack was a deliberate murder, possibly by animal rights activists, a terrorist, or homophobes in the audience who unintentionally provoked Mantacore.
"Siegfried & Roy were always larger than life and never considered real people," Weatherford said. "I guess there were some downsides to that."
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Source: www.casino.org
