Las Vegas Weekly

March 6, 2009 · 10:12 AM

Siegfried & Roy ABC 20/20 special airs tonight; KMA gala raises $12 million

By Robin Leach

ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas and Roy listen to Siegfried inside their warehouse of magic tricks.

Photo: Denise Truscello

It was far more than magic -- this was a miracle! And definitely no illusion. It was one of the greatest nights in Las Vegas showbiz history and will never be repeated. It was the ultimate triumph over the toughest challenge of them all. Illusionist Roy Horn was told after he’d “died three times” on an operating table that he would never speak, walk or perform magic again.

Roy defied all the odds and proved every doctor wrong. Not only that, but he showed his total love for the tiger Montecore who had injured him in October 2003. Roy partnered up again with Siegfried for their final reunion show, but incredibly he made Montecore the front and center star!

The story of Roy’s five-year rehabilitation is the focus of today’s one-hour 20/20 special at 9 p.m. on ABC with anchor Elizabeth Vargas, who filmed the two “Masters of the Impossible.” In the candid interviews, Siegfried, 69, told the newswoman how the accident affected him: “I was overwhelmed by the injury to my friend. It was a struggle for me to hold on. I was so alone and so lost. I got in a depression because the show was over.” ABC has posted couple of clips, which include interview segments and archival footage, in advance of the special.

Hotel tycoon Steve Wynn also appears on tonight’s primetime special. Steve essentially built The Mirage around S&R and their animals. It took 250 cast and crewmembers to present the spectacle every night moving 75 tons of scenery. It ran for more than 5,000 performances.

The ABC cameras will show their Jungle Palace home where at one point Roy let 63 tigers, 16 lions and other exotic animals run freely. Siegfried told Elizabeth that he always marveled at Roy’s unique connection with them: “It was unbelievable for me, and I never understood it, and sometimes I got a little jealous because how come I can’t be that way?”

Vargas commented: “Roy’s remarkable connection with wild animals has always seemed magical. But he was quick to remind us that in this relationship, joy is coupled with danger: ‘You can’t take nothing for granted even if you think you know it all,’ he said.”

Then came that Friday night performance in October 2003 when something, still unknown, went wrong, and Montecore dragged Roy off-stage while holding him by the neck. With Roy in critical condition, he was rushed to University Medical Center where Dr. Jay Coates was the first surgeon to treat him.

“Roy came in and flat lined, died on the table,” he told 20/20. 20/20 will detail the devastating injuries of his stroke, his partial paralysis and visual problems in one eye.

But “with the will of a thousand men,”’ as longtime manager Bernie Yuman always describes it, Roy fought to live again and began his amazing and inspirational five-year-long recovery. Not only did Roy walk again, but he also managed to complete the Opportunity Village Santa Claus 5K before Christmas -- and for part of the route I walked with him, he threw away his cane. He even walked without leaning on Siegfried’s shoulder for support.

Then more than a year ago after I had lunch with Siegfried at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, S&R agreed to help us with their official one-final-night-only reunion return to magic for our 13th annual Lou Ruvo Brain Institute fundraiser known as Keep Memory Alive. My photos from when Siegfried made the promise a year ago to us will be on tonight’s special. They came downtown for a private tour of the institute (click HERE for our coverage), where Roy told me, “We never got to say goodbye properly, so this will be the night we do that.”

And so it came to pass: Last weekend with Siegfried & Roy at center stage and 1,100 supporters in the Bellagio ballroom, we raised nearly $12 million to help complete the state-of-the-art Lou Ruvo Brain Institute to treat such brain diseases as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. (Click HERE for our Monday report on the star-studded gala.)

Steve and Elaine Wynn donated $1 million, and IGT Chairman Chuck Mathewson pledged $5 million in memory of his new bride’s mother, who lost her life to Alzheimer’s. They marry this afternoon in Palm Springs! Now in conjunction with the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, the Frank Gehry-designed institute downtown will open later this year. It caps an extraordinary 13-year belief for businessman Larry Ruvo that Las Vegas residents could fund and build America’s best research center for debilitating mind diseases right here. Larry got me involved in his crusade eight years ago, and I was happy that, in addition to playing host and auctioneer over that time, I could this year have my studio cameras here available for ABC.

Said Siegfried: “I’m at a part of my life now where I think we can give something back. This country and Las Vegas was so good to us for 45 years. It was the perfect reason to do the one-time-only show.”

It was an emotional night, one of the most memorable in entertainment history. The standing ovation and applause continued for more than five minutes, and even 30 minutes after their show, some were still speechless. Backstage after their triumph, family, friends and members of their fan club were in tears greeting the two men of magic on their final bow.

Siegfried told the group, “This is what we wanted. We have always challenged ourselves. I am so proud of Roy because it proved that nothing is impossible. Love conquers everything, and this was the finest show of our lives. Roy left it up to me to create the last show, but we kept the surprise of Montecore from everybody until we showed him on stage, and that brings the proper closure to thousands of performances. We had no nerves about it, just the emotion and excitement. It was wonderful to have our love affair with the audience all over again. They loved us, and that’s what we wanted.

“I feel we have conquered a mountain. Tonight was the most magical moment in our lives. Tomorrow is another story, and the next chapter will begin. We appreciate life, and so to give back after everything we received all these years to the community is the perfect ending.”

Tonight, Siegfried & Roy will watch the broadcast privately with a small gathering of friends along with Larry Ruvo’s board of directors for Keep Memory Alive.

Elizabeth Vargas reports: “Roy is still suffering from catastrophic injuries. He walked through death’s door. He has made astonishing progress. All the magic tricks in the world can’t cover the fact that Roy did die technically. Our viewers will see Siegfried & Roy in triumph over tragedy.”

Roy has the last word on 20/20: “My doctors have told me that in another year, I will be back to the way I was. That’s the next challenge.”

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