--- ---  # 'Roy’s Legacy Is All of Vegas.' Penn Jillette Remembers Magician Roy Horn by [Penn Jillette](https://time.com/author/penn-jillette/) ## Penn Jillette May 14, 2020 10:10 AM UTC  Siegfried & Roy photographed in 1997 Siegfried & Roy photographed in 1997Aaron Rapoport—Corbis/Getty Images by [Penn Jillette](https://time.com/author/penn-jillette/) ## Penn Jillette May 14, 2020 10:10 AM UTC It can’t be overstated how important Roy Horn, who died at 75 of COVID-19 complications on May 8, was to Las Vegas. Before _Siegfried & Roy_, magicians would have a spot on a variety show. You’d never have 90 minutes of magic, and they had to fight really hard to get there. Although our tastes seem polar opposite–_Siegfried & Roy_ did operatic shows full of glitter and wild animals, and _Penn & Teller_ is kind of a chamber-music show–the idea of partnership is a big connection. I once did an interview and said rather goofily that I was the Roy of _Penn & Teller_. Later, I was in New York City, and all of a sudden I heard this German accent yelling, “You are the Roy of Penn & Teller!” I turned around, and there’s Roy with his entourage and yakskin jacket: “I’m the Penn of _Siegfried & Roy!_“–and then this huge hug and this laughing and this little dance. Roy’s legacy is all of Vegas. When you’re talking about the taste of Vegas, you’re talking about Roy. Whether you’re being kind or unkind, your view of this city is informed by him. Penn Jillette Remembers Magician Roy Horn's Las Vegas Legacy ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5836629/roy-horn-obituary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5836629/roy-horn-obituary/"},"headline":"'Roy’s Legacy Is All of Vegas.' Penn Jillette Remembers Magician Roy Horn","datePublished":"2020-05-14T10:10:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:44:49.255Z","description":"Man of magic","url":"https://time.com/5836629/roy-horn-obituary/","keywords":["remembrance","Magazine","feature"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt306929db348276b1/698a0e0522fb851e5ee2afd7/roy-horn-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Penn Jillette","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/penn-jillette/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt306929db348276b1/698a0e0522fb851e5ee2afd7/roy-horn-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"roy-horn-obituary","caption":"Siegfried & Roy photographed in 1997","creditText":"Aaron Rapoport—Corbis/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5836629/roy-horn-obituary/","name":"'Roy’s Legacy Is All of Vegas.' Penn Jillette Remembers Magician Roy Horn"}}]}] ```