Roy Horn Announces He's 'Doing Better'

By Stephen M. Silverman

Wednesday March 10, 2004 01:00 PM EST

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Roy Horn is continuing to make progress and make headlines. The "Siegfried & Roy" star, who was felled on stage by a 300-lb. tiger in October, says he's on the mend and is working hard with a physical therapist to continue improving, the German magazine Bunte reports.

"You know, I almost had two feet in the grave, but now I'm doing better," the weekly publication quotes Horn, 59, as saying in a telephone interview from his Vegas home. (Horn is a native German.)

"I have hired the same trainer as Christopher Reeve and am working with him for nine hours a day," Horn added, referring to the "Superman" actor who was paralyzed from the neck down because of a 1995 horseback-riding accident.

Horn also asked Bunte -- which reports that the star's voice was weaker than usual but that he had a clear mind -- to "spread the good news that you have spoken to me and that I'm doing well."

Ever since the Oct. 3 incident, Roy's stage partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, has downplayed his partner's injuries. He said a stroke Horn suffered afterward resulted from blood pressure medication that sometimes made him feel faint.

Late last month, a German-based spokeswoman for the duo, Claudia Dressler, said Horn was able to walk some 558 steps with the help of a wheeled walking aid. She added that Horn has "strong willpower" and is training intensively to recover.

Officials at the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas say Horn has a long recovery ahead of him, and the duo's long-running show has been shuttered.