She would've turned 100: the inimitable Zsa Zsa Gabor
Courtney Tenz
February 6, 2017
Zsa Zsa Gabor is a movie star for the ages. A refugee from the Nazis, the former Miss Hungary embodied the ultimate diva in both big and small roles. She died just a few weeks before her 100th birthday on February 6.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/Keystone
Advertisement
She would've turned 100: the inimitable Zsa Zsa Gabor
A movie star for the ages, the former "Miss Hungary" Zsa Zsa Gabor took on Hollywood after fleeing the Nazis, and lived like an heiress in exile. She died just a few weeks before she would've turned 100, on February 6.
Image: imago/Granata Images
A countess in exile
Zsa Zsa Gabor won the title of "Miss Hungary" in 1936 and met her first husband, Burhan Belge, a Turkish diplomat, shortly thereafter. She and her family, including sister Eva (pictured here), sister Magda and mother Jolie, had to flee the Nazis ahead of World War II. She met up with Belge in London in June 1939, where she stayed until immigrating to the US in 1941.
Image: picture-alliance/Globe-ZUMA
Dancing to fame in the 50s
Zsa Zsa, the nickname for Sari Gabor, got her film debut in the 1950s. In one of her best-known roles, she played singer and dancer Jane Avril in the filming of painter Toulouse Latrec's biography, "Moulin Rouge." It was, according to critics, her best film - of the more than 60 she took part in.
Image: imago/EntertainmentPictures
'Queen of Outer Space'
With a strong Eastern European accent, Gabor was often cast in roles more focused on her appearance than on her talents as an actress. In 1958, she portrayed a sexy alien on a planet inhabited by scantily clad women in the campy "Queen of Outer Space."
Image: imago/Granata Images
An outsized personality known for her personal life
The B-list movie star had an A-list social life. Even as she made films, Gabor was perhaps better known for the company she kept, including a close friendship with Elizabeth Taylor as well as numerous affairs and at least eight marriages (nine if you count the one day she wed aboard a ship in a ceremony that was later deemed non-binding).
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/Keystone
The men in her life
Known for her extravagant lifestyle, Zsa Zsa Gabor counted numerous wealthy men among her affairs. Among them was hotel heir Conrad Hilton, the great-grandfather of Paris and father to Gabor's only child, Francesca Hilton.
Image: picture-alliance/Globe-ZUMA
'One lifetime is not enough'
A superstar in her own mind, Gabor contributed to the culture in numerous ways that matched the trends of her time. She wrote the book "Zsa Zsa’s Complete Guide to Men" in 1969, followed in 1970 by "How to Catch a Man, How to Keep a Man, How to Get Rid of a Man." In the 1980s she produced an aerobics video and in 1991 released her autobiography, "One Lifetime Is Not Enough."
In 1986, Gabor married the man she would spend the rest of her life with - Frederic von Anhalt, a man who took on the adoptive title of German Prince. The pair moved into a former mansion of Elvis Presley's in Bel Air, where Gabor was confined in recent years after medical issues left her bed-ridden. She died on December 18, 2016 - just a few weeks before she would've turned 100, on February 6.
Image: imago/United Archives
7 images1 | 7
Born on February 6, 1917, the inimitable Zsa Zsa Gabor didn't get to become a centenarian, as she died on December 18, 2016 - just a few weeks before her 100th birthday.
A movie star for the ages, the former Miss Hungary fled her country just before World War II, joining her first husband, Turkish diplomat Burhan Belge, in London in June 1939.
Later moving to Los Angeles, the child of a prosperous family embodied a fur-and-diamonds lifestyle that became something of a trademark, along with her thick Eastern European accent. The original diva, she began starring in movies in 1950s Hollywood, taking on roles in "Lovely to Look At," "Moulin Rouge," "Lili," Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" and even the camp classic "Queen of Outer Space."
Everybody's darling
Known for her trademark Eastern European accent and habit of calling everyone "Darling," Gabor continued her career making television appearances until well into her 70s. She appeared in character on shows like "Batman" and "Bonanza" before making cameo appearances on the television series "The Facts of Life" and "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" as her fame grew.
Gabor was well-known in the US for her personal life. She had numerous affairs in the public spotlight and married at least eight times.
"A girl must marry for love, and keep on marrying until she finds it," Gabor once said. Hotel heir Conrad Hilton, great-grandfather to Paris Hilton, was her second husband and the father of her only child, Francesca.
She also had a short-lived marriage to businessman John W. Ryan, who was credited with the creation of Barbie dolls. At the time of her death from a heart attack, Gabor had been with her husband Frederic von Anhalt for 26 years.
"Everybody was there. She didn't die alone," an emotional von Anhalt told AFP by phone.
Click through the gallery above for a look back at the career.
