Daisy and Violet Hilton

Daisy and Violet Hilton
Hilton twins c. 1927
Born(1908-02-05)5 February 1908
Brighton, Sussex, England
DiedJanuary 1969(1969-01-00) (aged 60)
Occupations
  • film actresses
  • vaudevillians
  • sideshow performers
Known forFreaks, Chained for Life
Spouse(s)Daisy's: Harold Estep (1941-1941, 10 days)
Violet's: James Moore (1936-1946)
MotherKate Skinner

Daisy and Violet Hilton (5 February 1908 – early January 1969) were English-born entertainers who were conjoined twins. They were exhibited in Europe as children, and toured the United States sideshow, vaudeville and American burlesque circuits in the 1920s and 1930s. They were best known for their film appearances in Freaks and the biographic Chained for Life (1951).

The twins were born at 18 Riley Road, Brighton, England, on 5 February 1908.[1] Their mother was Kate Skinner, an unmarried barmaid. The sisters were born joined by their hips and buttocks; they shared blood circulation and were fused at the pelvis but shared no major organs.

They were variously in media called or referred to as The Siamese Twins, The Hilton Sisters and The Brighton Twins or The Brighton Conjoined Twins and in the United States as the San Antonio Twins. The sisters performed alongside Bob Hope and Charlie Chaplin. After years of being managed professionally by their legal guardians, in the early 1930s, on the advice of Harry Houdini, they were legally emancipated.[2]

  1. ^ Background of the sisters, mybrightonandhove.org.uk. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  2. ^ "The Tragic Life Story of the Conjoined Hilton Sisters". 27 December 2022.