"All Roy wants," says his internist Stephen Miller, "is to be with his animals," including his three sheepdogs. Photo by: ART STREIBER
Roy Horn: Tiger 'Saved My Life'| Roy Horn, Roy Uwehudwigltorn, Siegfried Fischbacher
In fact, Roy has been a new inspiration for Siegfried, who first met him in 1959 when both were working on an ocean liner. Roy was always the stronger one, says Siegfried, "the safety net. I'm born during [World War II in Germany], and I grew up in fear. And Roy took always the fear away from me. Roy tried to teach me about life." And still teaches him. "In my life, the more successful I became, the more empty I got," he says. "Now, my heart is filling up again, and it's a wonderful feeling." Siegfried, says their manager, "has unconditional faith in Roy." He has also braved a few independent steps: "I'm doing things that I haven't done before," he says. "Even putting gas in my car."

In the days before the accident forced them into involuntary retirement, Siegfried and Roy had discussed when they would – or if they could – end the act. Roy was already taking anti-inflammatory drugs for his knees (the cartilage was damaged by years of strenuous activity during performances), and Siegfried sometimes felt tired of the whole operation: "Everything was the show, my life was the show, and the show was my life." He at one point floated the possibility of retiring in 2005, after the debut of their animated series. Yet both men also felt trapped by the sheer size of their enterprise – they employed 250 people, many of them now let go – and the expectations of the audience. As a result, Siegfried felt a weird detachment watching Roy fall that night: "It was not panic," he says. "It was in my mind: 'He needs help.' But my first thing was, and it sounds strange and I feel strange to say it, but I was relieved. In my mind, I'm saying, 'We have to stop.' It was a positive. 'We have to stop . . . ' "