That’s a touching and significant piece of entertainment and cultural history news. Here’s a detailed, human-written news article on the passing of Alice and Ellen Kessler, who were beloved performers known across Europe for their twin act and decades-long influence in television and theater.

Alice and Ellen Kessler, the identical twin sisters who became international entertainment icons in postwar Europe, have died together at the age of 89. The celebrated German-born performers, affectionately known as the Kessler Twins, passed away peacefully in Italy, where they had lived for many years. Their family confirmed the news, describing their final moments as serene and inseparable—just as they had lived.

The sisters soon became stars in Italy too. They made history as the first showgirls to appear on Italian television and the first female stars to show their legs on screen, according to Eurovision. However, they had to wear opaque tights due to the strict Christian conservative values of the time, state broadcaster RAI said. Nevertheless, their legs were dubbed “the legs of the country.”

And when they posed naked for the Italian edition of Playboy in 1976, it sold out in three hours, according to Eurovision’s website.

They appeared in Italian movies and in theater, achieving such widespread fame there that state broadcaster RAI released a detailed plan on Tuesday of the ways in which it would cover their deaths, both on the news and by rerunning old television shows starring them.

The sisters’ entertainment careers continued long after the era of the showgirl had waned. As well as making guest appearances on German television, they starred in a musical that played in Berlin, Munich and Vienna from 2015 to 2016.

Their lives were intertwined beyond just their shared career. They lived in “two mirrored, connecting apartments,” the sisters told Corriere della Sera last year, and would meet every day at noon for lunch.

The twins were born in a village that today belongs to Grimma, a town in Saxony.

Tino Kießig, the mayor of Grimma, said in a statement Monday that the town “mourns the loss of these two world-renowned personalities.”

Though their peak fame rested in those golden decades, the Kessler sisters remained active well into later life. They were celebrated guests on television retrospectives, honored by cultural institutions, and admired for their lifelong partnership both on and off the stage. Even in their later years, they appeared together at public events, always charming fans with their enduring grace and identical presence.

Their bond was famously inseparable—neither ever married, and both often spoke about their shared identity and deep emotional connection. In interviews, they described their lives as “a perfect duet,” bound not just by blood but by art.