She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that "exuded charm and grace". Her first movie role was as supporting actress in Lovely to Look At. She later acted in We're Not Married! and played one of her few leading roles in Moulin Rouge (1952), directed by John Huston, who described her as a "creditable" actress. Besides her film and television appearances, she is best known for having nine husbands, including hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and actor George Sanders. She once stated, "Men have always liked me and I have always liked men. But I like a mannish man, a man who knows how to talk to and treat a woman—not just a man with muscles."
Early life and career
Born as Sári Gábor in Budapest (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), the middle of the three daughters of Vilmos Gábor (1884–1962), a soldier, and Jolie Gábor (died 1997). Her elder sister Magda was a socialite and her younger sister Eva was an actress and businesswoman.
Gabor's mother, Jolie, was a cousin of Annette Lantos, wife of Hungarian-born U.S. congressman and Holocaust survivor, Tom Lantos. Jolie was of Jewish descent and barely escaped from Hungary after the Nazis occupied Budapest in 1944. She credits Magda's husband for helping her: "For Magda's Portuguese Ambassador I thank God. It was this man who saved my life." Gabor's maternal grandparents chose to remain in Budapest feeling they "had a good place to hide". However, the U.S. later bombed Nazi positions in Budapest near where her grandparents were in hiding, and they both died during one of the bombing raids.
Following studies at Madame Subilia's, a Swiss boarding school, Zsa Zsa Gabor was discovered by the tenor Richard Tauber on a trip to Vienna in 1936 and was invited to sing the soubrette role in his new operetta, Der singende Traum ("The Singing Dream") at the Theater an der Wien, her first stage appearance. Author Gerold Frank, who helped Gabor write her autobiography in 1960, describes his impressions of her while the book was being written:
Zsa Zsa is unique. She's a woman from the court of Louis XV who has somehow managed to live in the 20th century, undamaged by the PTA ... She says she wants to be all the Pompadours and Du Barrys of history rolled into one, but she also says, "I always goof. I pay all my own bills ... I want to choose the man. I do not permit men to choose me."
Television host Merv Griffin, in his autobiography, described the Gabors, "in their heyday," as "glamour personified": "All these years later, it's hard to describe the phenomenon of the three glamorous Gabor girls and their ubiquitous mother. They burst onto the society pages and into the gossip columns so suddenly, and with such force, it was as if they'd been dropped out of the sky."
A biopic is to be made on her life by Italian director Gabriela Tagliavini who claimed that Gabor "is a perfect celebrity to be the focus of a movie". According to Insider, Gabor is "an original. Her free spirit, eccentricity and wicked wit made her one of the most memorable celebrities of our time." Gabor's husband will reportedly be involved in the film's production.
Personal life
Gabor has been married nine times. She was divorced seven times, and one marriage was annulled. Her husbands, in chronological order, are:
At a social affair, c. 1954 accompanied by international playboy and diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa (behind her, to the left)
Burhan Asaf Belge (1937–1941) (divorced)
Conrad Hilton (April 10, 1942–1947) (divorced)
George Sanders (April 2, 1949 – April 2, 1954) (divorced)
Herbert Hutner (November 5, 1962 – March 3, 1966) (divorced)
Joshua S. Cosden, Jr. (March 9, 1966 – October 18, 1967) (divorced)
Jack Ryan (January 21, 1975 – August 24, 1976)
Michael O'Hara (August 27, 1976–1983) (divorced)
Felipe de Alba (April 13, 1983 – April 14, 1983) (annulled)
Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt (August 14, 1986 – present)
Gabor's high number of divorces inspired her to make numerous quotable puns and innuendos about her marital (and extramarital) history:
"I am a marvelous housekeeper: Every time I leave a man I keep his house."
Asked "How many husbands have you had?", she replied "You mean other than [or 'apart from'] my own?".
While Gabor was still married to Conrad Hilton, she once admitted to having sexual relations with her stepson Nicky, future husband of Elizabeth Taylor.
In 1974, she purchased a home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California which once belonged to Elvis Presley.[citation needed] It was originally built by Howard Hughes and featured a unique looking French style roof.
Gabor's only child, a daughter named Constance Francesca Hilton, was born on March 10, 1947. According to Gabor's 1991 autobiography One Lifetime Is Not Enough, her pregnancy resulted from rape by then-husband Conrad Hilton. She was the only Gabor sister to ever become pregnant. In 2005, Gabor accused her daughter of larceny and fraud, alleging that she had forged her signature to get a $2 million loan on her mother's Bel Air house, and filed a lawsuit against Francesca in a California court. However, the Santa Monica Superior Court threw out the case due to Gabor's refusal to appear in court or to sign an affidavit that she indeed was a co-plaintiff on the original lawsuit filed by her husband, Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt.
Gabor said in a November 27, 1991, interview with David Letterman that she is a Democrat.
Health
On November 27, 2002, Gabor was a passenger in an automobile crash, partially paralyzed, and was hospitalized for several weeks. In 2005, she suffered a stroke, underwent surgery to remove an arterial blockage, and returned home a few weeks later. In 2007, she had surgery related to her previous stroke, and then underwent surgery to treat an infection.
In July 2010, Gabor was taken to the hospital after she fell at home, requiring hip replacement. She was discharged from the hospital but soon returned, and was in critical condition after the removal of two blood clots.
On August 16, 2010, she left the hospital, but was in and out of the hospital for several months thereafter. She was hospitalized again on January 2, 2011, and was erroneously reported to be close to death. Gabor's leg was amputated above the knee on January 14, 2011.
On May 18, 2011, it was announced that Gabor had been rushed to the hospital again due to bleeding around her feeding tube. It was later announced that she had gone into a coma and was unresponsive On May 24, 2011, Gabor emerged from her coma.
On October 8, 2011, the Associated Press reported that Gabor had been rushed to UCLA Ronald Reagan again after losing consciousness at her home. Gabor's husband reportedly confirmed that she had a heavy fever and was bleeding from a tube in her stomach. The next day, it was reported that Gabor had opened her eyes but was unresponsive, and was due to undergo further surgery as well as being treated for an infection.
Legal difficulties
Publicity photo, c. 1955
On June 14, 1989, in Beverly Hills, California Gabor was accused of slapping the face of a police officer named Paul Kramer when he stopped her for a traffic violation.[38] She poked fun at her role in the incident in various cameo appearances, most notably in the 1991 comedy The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, where she swats the police siren at the end of the opening credits shouting, "This happens every fucking time I go shopping!!"
Gabor also had a long-running feud with German-born actress Elke Sommer that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars and escalated into a multi-million dollar libel suit by 1993.
Financial problems (2009)
On January 25, 2009, the Associated Press reported that her attorney stated that forensic accountants determined that Gabor may have lost as much as $10 million invested in Bernard Madoff's company, possibly through a third-party money manager. Marcus Prinz von Anhalt, a German nightclub owner and adopted son of Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, reportedly provided significant financial assistance to the couple. However, official New York Bankruptcy Court records reportedly do not show Gabor as a victim.
Filmography
Lovely to Look At (LeRoy, 1952)
We're Not Married (Goulding, 1952)
Moulin Rouge (Huston, 1952)
The Million Dollar Nickel (1952) (short subject)
The Story of Three Loves (Minnelli, 1953)
Lili (Walters, 1953)
L'ennemi public no.1 ("The Most Wanted Man") (Verneuil, 1953)
Sangre y luces ("Love in a Hot Climate") (Rouquier/Suey, 1954)
Ball der Nationen ("Ball of the Nations") (Ritter, 1954)
3 Ring Circus (Pevney, 1954)
Death of a Scoundrel (Martin, 1956)
The Girl in the Kremlin (Birdwell, 1957)
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (Wilcox, 1958)
Country Music Holiday (Ganzer, 1958)
Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958) (as a "guest star")
Queen of Outer Space (Bernds, 1958)
For the First Time (Maté, 1959)
La contessa azzurra ("The Blue Countess") (Gora, 1960)
Pepe (Sidney, 1960) (Cameo)
Lykke og krone (Helander/Sælen, 1962) (documentary)
The Road to Hong Kong (Panama, 1962) (unbilled cameo)
Boys' Night Out (Gordon, 1962)
Picture Mommy Dead (Gordon, 1966)
Drop Dead Darling (1966)
Arrivederci, Baby! (Hughes, 1966)
Jack of Diamonds (Taylor, 1967) (cameo)
Up the Front (Kellett, 1972)
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (Winner, 1976)
Every Girl Should Have One (Hyatt, 1978)
Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie (Gold, 1984)
Charlie Barnett's Terms of Enrollment (1986)
Smart Alec (Wilson, 1986)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (Russell, 1987) (cameo)
Johann Strauß: Der König ohne Krone ("Johann Strauss: The King Without a Crown") (Antel, 1987)
"The People vs. Zsa Zsa Gabor" (1991) (documentary)
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (Zucker, 1991) (cameo)
The Naked Truth (Mastorakis, 1992)
Est & Ouest: Les paradis perdus ("East & West: Paradises Lost") (Rival, 1993)
Happily Ever After (Blossom, 1993) (voice only)
The Beverly Hillbillies (Spheeris, 1993) (cameo)
A Very Brady Sequel (Sanford, 1996) (cameo)
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