Washington
Actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor has died at the age of 99, her publicist says.
The Hungarian-born actress, who won a special Golden Globe award for the most glamorous actress in 1958, died at her home on Sunday, publicist Ed Lozzi told website CBSLA.
Gabor, who would have turned 100 in February, was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936, before moving to the United States in the wake of World War II, where she spent decades as a socialite in California.
One of the last stars of Hollywood's golden age, she married nine times and her bubbly demeanour and looks helped land her a string of wealthy husbands.
Gabor was once branded "the most expensive courtesan since Madame de Pompadour", but she insisted only her marriage to her second husband, hotel mogul Conrad Hilton, was financially motivated.
She was famously quoted as saying:
"I am a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house."
Born Sari Gabor into a wealthy family, she left behind her first husband Burhan Belge, a Turkish diplomat, when she moved to the US with her two sisters Eva and Magda.
Soon after arriving in Hollywood, Gabor married Hilton, with whom she had a daughter, Francesca, who died in January 2015.
In 1949, after divorcing Hilton, Gabor married British actor George Sanders, whom she later was to call her one true love. Sanders later married her sister Magda.
Gabor also married New York businessman Herbert Hutner, oilman Joshua Cosden, Barbie doll designer Jack Ryan, her divorce lawyer Michael O'Hara, Count Felipe de Alba of Mexico and Frederic Prinz von Anhalt.
Her marriage to de Alba was annulled because her divorce from O'Hara was not final at the time of the wedding.
Her 1986 marriage to von Anhalt, which lasted until her death, was by far her longest.
Moulin Rouge, Lili roles career highlights
Gabor, who had a penchant for calling everyone "dah-ling" in her thick Hungarian accent, carved out a career in her early days in Hollywood, although her acting skills were rarely lauded.
Her finest film roles came with Moulin Rouge, where she earned good reviews, in 1952 and Lili in 1953.
She appeared in more than 30 movies and, by the 1970s, she began to reject smaller roles, saying:
"I may be a character but I do not want to be a character actress."
Gabor eventually ended up in low-budget films with such titles as Queen of Outer Space and Picture Mommy Dead.
Greater success came with nightclub and TV appearances, where she said she called everyone "dah-ling" because she could not remember names well, and relied on self-parodying jokes based on her marriages, haughty demeanour and taste for opulence.
She often played herself in film and television roles.
Health struggle in later years
Gabor was not seen in public in her final years, as she struggled with her health, including broken bones and cuts from a car accident.
She also suffered a stroke and a broken hip, enduring complications from hip replacement surgery.
She had much of her right leg amputated in 2011 because of an infection.
Gabor's most recent stint in hospital came just days after her 99th birthday in February 2016, for breathing difficulties.
Throughout her Hollywood heyday, Gabor listed her birthday only as February 6, steadfastly refusing to reveal the year. A former spokesman, John Blanchette, said she was born in 1917.
In 1989, Gabor's temper landed her in jail for three days, after she slapped a policeman who had stopped her Rolls-Royce because of an expired license tag. She emerged from jail complaining about the food.
She sued Francesca in 2005, saying her daughter had taken out a loan against her Bel-Air, California, home and used the transaction to steal $US2 million.
Reuters
Post a Comment