Zsa Zsa Gabor life and biography

Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian American actress on stage, film and television. She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria at the age of 15, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936 when she was 19.

Born Sari Gabor on February 6, 1917, in Budapest, Hungary. Despite a tepid film career, Zsa Zsa Gabor became a popular celebrity for decades, often appearing on television as an alluring, witty, and sometimes challenging guest who had a habit of calling nearly everyone "darling". Married numerous times, she is often remembered for her funny quips on love and marriage, such as “A man in love is incomplete until he has married—then he’s finished” or “husbands are like fires. They go out when unattended.”

Zsa Zsa Gabor made her film debut in 1952’s Lovely to Look at. That same year, she also had a part in We’re Not Married! with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire and a starring role in Moulin Rouge with José Ferrer. Garbor later appeared opposite one-time husband George Sanders in Death of a Scoundel (1956) and had a small role in Orson Welles' classic Touch of Evil (1958).

Also in the 1950s, Zsa Zsa Gabor worked on television, largely making guest appearances on such shows as The Life of Riley, Playhouse 90, Matinee Theatre, Burke’s Law, Gilligan’s Island, and Batman. Vivacious and humorous, Gabor was also a popular guest on talk shows and celebrity game shows.

What audiences seemed most interested in was Zsa Zsa Gabor herself. To many she appeared as an icon of European glamour, luxury, and self-indulgence. Often portrayed as a wily seductress, she became even more famous for her many marriages than her acting abilities. Through the years Gabor often guest starred as herself on numerous television shows and in films—sometimes poking fun at her own image and antics. In the later part of her career, she had cameo roles in such films as A Very Brady Sequel (1996) and The Beverly Hillbillies (1993).

In 1986, she married her current husband Prince Frederick von Anhalt, a man roughly 30 years her junior. As his wife, she was awarded the title Princess von Anhalt, Duchess of Saxony. Some royal genealogists question this title. There are reports that Frederick von Anhalt received his title only after being adopted by a princess as an adult therefore gaining the right to use her surname.

Making headlines in 1989, Zsa Zsa Gabor got into an altercation with a police officer. She slapped the officer after being stopped for a driving violation and was arrested for assault. During the trial, Gabor made remarks about the officer, who then filed a slander suit against the actress. She was later sentenced to serve three days in jail in the criminal case after failing to complete the terms of her probation. The civil suit was settled out of court in 1991.

Zsa Zsa Gabor once again talked her way in trouble during her long-standing feud with actress Elke Sommer. This battle reached the courts in the 1990s when Sommer sued Zsa Zsa Gabor and Prince Frederick von Anhalt for defamation of character and libel after the couple made disparaging remarks about Sommer to some German publications. The jury found in favor of Sommer.

In 2002, Zsa Zsa Gabor was badly injured in a car crash. She suffered several broken bones, cuts, and bruises, and spent several days in a coma. It took her a long time to recover from the accident. Only a passenger in the vehicle, Gabor later won a suit against the driver.

More legal issues surfaced in June 2005, Zsa Zsa Gabor and her husband filed suit against Gabor’s only child, Francesca Hilton, accusing her of larceny and fraud. Francesca Hilton’s father was Gabor’s second husband, hotel magnate Conrad Hilton. Only a month later Gabor had a stroke.

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, at which point she requested last rites.

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, reports denied and decried by her publicist Edward Lozzi who claimed that the reports were being disseminated by an "unreliable source". She was eventually scheduled to have a portion of her right leg amputated below the knee after cancerous lesions were discovered by her doctors. Gabor's leg was subsequently amputated above the knee on January 14, 2011. On Tuesday, February 1, 2011, Gabor was transported by ambulance to UCLA Medical Center due to internal bleeding. On March 2, 2011 Gabor returned to the hospital for a restricted blood flow in her left leg. On March 4, 2011, Gabor left Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after refusing to have her left leg amputated. Doctors gave her a 50/50 chance of surviving one year. Gabor said she'll "take [her] chances."

More personal drama ensued in 2007 when Gabor’s husband Prince Frederick von Anhalt admitted to a long affair with the late model Anna Nicole Smith. Despite these recent difficulties, Zsa Zsa Gabor has chosen to stay out of the spotlight.

Once part of a famous trio of sisters, Zsa Zsa Gabor is the only surviving sibling. Sisters Magda and Eva—known best for her role on the television series Green Acres—died in 1997 and in 1995 respectively.

Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband fears the star is close to death after she started coughing up blood at home on Tuesday (March 29).

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)

Television:
Queen of Outer Space (1959), with Eric Fleming
Ninotchka (1960)
Make Room for Daddy (1960), as Lisa Laslow
Mr. Ed (1962), as herself
The Dick Powell Show (1963), Girl
Burke's Law (1963–1964), as Anna, the Maid
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1965), Pilot
Gilligan's Island (1965), as Erika Tiffany Smith
Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1966), as The Queen of Hearts (voice)
The Rounders (1966), as Ilona Hobson in "The Scavenger Hunt"
F Troop (1966), as Marika
Bonanza (1967), as Madame Marova
My Three Sons (1968), as herself
Rowan and Martin's Laugh In (1968), as herself
The Name of the Game (1968), as Mira Retzyk
Batman (1968), as Minerva
Bracken's World (1969), Cameo
Mooch Goes to Hollywood (1971), as Narrator
Night Gallery (1971), as Mrs. Moore
Let's Make a Deal (1976) (playing for a home viewer)
3 Girls 3 (1977)
Supertrain 1 episode "A Very Formal Heist" (1979), as Audrey
The Love Boat (1980), as Annette
Hollywood, ich komme (1980), as Stargast
The Facts of Life (1981), as world-renowned beautician Countess Calvet
As the World Turns (cast member in 1981), as Lydia Marlowe
Matt Houston (1983)
California Girls (1985)
Charlie Barnett's Terms of Enrollment (1986)
Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)
It's Garry Shandling's Show as goddess of commitment (1989)
The Munsters Today (1989) as herself
City (1990), as Babette Croquette
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1991), as Sonya Lamor
The Late Show with David Letterman (1994), as herself in a sketch

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