The
Hungarian, who emigrated to the US during World War Two, suffered a
heart attack and died surrounded by her loved ones and friends at her
home in Bel-Air, Los Angeles on Sunday.
Gabor
appeared in more than 70 films but was arguably better-known for her
string of marriages to wealthy men, her irrepressible personality and
glamorous socialite lifestyle.
Her tearful husband, Frederic von Anhalt said last night: 'Everybody was there. She didn't die alone.'
The
first 'famous for being famous' American star, who kept her Hungarian
accent and would address people as 'dahlink', had dealt with a number of
health troubles after being involved in a car accident in 2002 which
resulted in her becoming partially paralysed.
US
chat show host Larry King and British actress Joan Collins were among a
host of stars who paid tribute to the actress last night.
Hungarian actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor has passed away at the age of 99. She is pictured above in 2010.
The icon suffered a heart attack and
was rushed to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead on Sunday.
She is pictured above in the 1950s.
The Long-time Beverly Hills socialite
had dealt with a number of health troubles after being involved in a car
accident in 2002 which resulted in her becoming partially paralysed .
Gabor became a sex symbol in the 1950s
and was known for her pithy comments on her colourful love life which
included nine marriages. She is pictured above in a promotional portrait
for her movie Queen from Outer Space in 1958.
Three generations of Gabors gather in
the Hotel Sacher to take a portrait in a rare moment of family
togetherness in Vienna, Austria, circa 1955. Above left to right: (top
row) Madga (1919 - 1997), 'Mama' Jolie (1894 - 1997) and Eva Gabor (1919
- 1995); (bottom row) Zsa Zsa and Papa (Vilmos) Gabor and Francesca
Hilton, age 8, Zsa Zsa's daughter by hotel magnate Conrad Hilton.
Gabor was a well-known Hollywood
socialite alongside her sister Eva and could often be found attending
lavish events and parties. She is pictured above in 1988 in Atlantic
City, New Jersey with Donald Trump and his then-wife Ivana Trump.
The Moulin Rouge actress once said: 'I
am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his
house'. She is pictured above in 1976.
In 2014, pictures emerged of Zsa Zsa Gabor receiving a visit at her Bel Air home from her daughter Francesca Hilton.
Collins
shared a photo of Gabor and tweeted: 'Sorry to hear that Zsa Zsa Gabor
has died. Here with Porfirio Rubirosa & Nick Hilton. She was such
fun.'
Fellow
actress and TV icon Barbara Eden took to Twitter and wrote: 'Rest in
peace Zsa Zsa Gabor. She and her sisters were lovely ladies who were
always fun and delightful to be around. -B'
Game
of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie paid tribute to 'the fabulous,
unmistakable, Zsa Zsa Gabor' while TV personality and DailyMail.com U.S.
Editor-at-Large Piers Morgan tweeted: 'RIP Zsa Zsa Gabor. 99 years old,
9 husbands, Miss Hungary & Hollywood star. What a life!'
The
Hungarian beauty, who hadn't been seen in public for years, was
previously hospitalised after developing a severe throat infection in
2012.
A
year earlier in 2011, her right leg was amputated above the knee after
doctors found an infection and antibiotics failed to cure it.
The
most famous of the Gabor sisters, born Sari Gabor in Budapest in 1917,
she pursued the spotlight as relentlessly as she did the men in her
life.
By
her teenage years she was turning heads in her native country and was
crowned Miss Hungary in 1936 in Vienna – only to be disqualified for
lying about her age so she could enter.
She decided to follow her sister Eva to California to pursue a career in Hollywood.
After
a string of television work and odd parts in movies, her big break came
with a starring role in Moulin Rouge in 1952 opposite Jose Ferrer.
Larry King and his wife, Shawn, were in attendance for the private birthday celebration she had in 2012.
The outspoken Gabor first married
Turkish diplomat Burhan Asaf Belge in 1937 and they divorced in 1941.
They are pictured together in 1940 in Ankara, Turkey.
She went on the next year to marry
hotel businessman Conrad Hilton in 1942, but they divorced five years
later in 1947. Gabor had only one child, Francesca, whose father was
Hilton. She passed away in 2015.
Two years later, Gabor married
Oscar-winning actor George Sanders in 1949 and they split in 1954. The
couple is pictured together in the 1950s.
She went on to marry Herbert Hutner in
1962 and they divorced in 1966. She is pictured above with Hutner and
her daughter Francesca Hilton, circa 1965.
Gabor married Joshua Cosden Jr. in
1966, but they divorced a year later in 1967. They are pictured above
together arriving in London while married.
The actress starred in films such as The Girl in the Kremlin and Queen of Outer Space.
She became a Hollywood sex symbol – fueled largely by her candid comments on her colorful love life.
'Men have always liked me and I have always like men,' she told Life magazine in 1951.
'I am a marvelous housekeeper,' she once said. 'Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.'
And when asked 'How many husbands have you had?' she was quoted as saying, 'You mean other than my own?'
Her lavish lifestyle and persona outshone her film and television career.
Gabor was true gossip fodder and every aspect of her life was fair game, including her nine marriages.
The outspoken Gabor first married Turkish diplomat Burhan Asaf Belge in 1937 and they divorced in 1941.
In
1942, she went on to marry Conrad Hilton, the hotel businessman and the
great-grandfather of another 'famous for being famous' socialite Paris
Hilton.
Gabor married Jack Ryan in 1975 in Las Vegas at Caesar's Palace, but they divorced in 1976. They are pictured above together.
The socialite married Michael O'Hara
in 1976, but the couple split in 1983. They are pictured above together
in 1976 at a party in the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Gabor then married Felipe de Alba not
long after, but the marriage was annulled that same year in 1983. They
are pictured together above in 198.
The couple split in 1947 and in 1949, Gabor married Oscar-winning actor George Sanders, but that marriage ended in 1954.
Sanders went on later to marry Gabor's sister, Magda, but their marriage ended in divorce as well.
In 1962, the jet-setting socialite married Herbert Hutner, but they split four years later in 1966.
Gabor then married Joshua S. Cosden Jr. later that year in 1966, but they divorced a year later in 1967.
In 1975 she married Jack Ryan, but that marriage only lasted a year and they were divorced in 1976.
That
same year, she went on to marry Michael O'Hara, as the couple split in
1983. Gabor then married Felipe de Alba not long after, but the marriage
was annulled that same year in 1983.
The marriage to de Alba was annulled because her divorce from O'Hara was not final at the time of the wedding.
Three
years later, Gabor married von Anhalt in 1986, as this was her longest
marriage of the nine. This marriage garnered her the title Princess von
Anhalt, Duchess of Saxony.
While magazine covers came easily, the same couldn't be said for roles on screen for Gabor.
In
the years following her big break in the 1950s, she slipped back into
supporting work in films, such as Death of a Scoundrel and The Man Who
Wouldn't Talk.
She missed out on playing Caswell in All About Eve after the part went to Marilyn Monroe.
Three years later, Gabor married Von Anhalt (pictured together above) in 1986, as this was her longest marriage of the nine .
Gabor had only one child, Francesca,
whose father was Hilton. She passed away in 2015. The mother and
daughter are pictured together above in 1994 in Los Angeles.
Her husband Frederic Prinz von Anhalt presents a birthday cake with candles to her for her 95th birthday in 2012
despite the lack of starring roles, her golden locks and radiant beauty made Gabor the epitome of Old Hollywood glamour.
And despite gracing countless magazine covers, one of the most recognized images of Gabor was a well-publicized mug shot.
It
was taken on June 14, 1989, after Gabor was arrested for slapping
police officer Paul Kramer in Beverly Hills who had stopped her car.
After a brief but costly trial costing more than $25,000, she was found guilty.
She served three days behind bars and was ordered to do 120 hours of community service.
While
living in Hollywood for years, she became a well-known socialite
alongside her sister Eva. The two sisters could often be found attending
lavish events and parties.
Throughout
Gabor's career, many critics said the sisters were famous for nothing,
as some have compared the Kardashian family of sisters to them.
Gabor's extravagant lifestyle and desire to call everyone 'dahling' often made her a headline-grabber.
Her
thick Hungarian accent was much parodied -- especially her penchant for
calling everyone she met 'darling' - or 'dahlink' as she pronounced it.
It became her unique signature.
'I call everyone "dahlink" because I can't remember their names,' the socialite once said.
THE AMAZING LIFE OF ZSA ZSA GABOR: THE FIRST US STAR 'FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS'
Zsa
Zsa Gabor, the Hungarian-born Hollywood siren perhaps better known for
her prodigious love life than her movie credits, died Sunday after
suffering a heart attack, her husband said. She was 99.
The news was confirmed by an emotional Frederic von Anhalt, who she married in 1986, making it her longest marriage.
Gabor,
who in her heyday embodied the film industry's platinum blonde ideal,
was a voluptuous former beauty queen with a penchant for lame gowns that
accentuated her hourglass curves.
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor poses on May 12, 1958, in front of her Mercedes car.
Her resume includes a long list of film roles in such hit movies as 'Moulin Rouge,' 'Lili' and 'Arrivederci Baby!'
But the actress was at least as famous for her conquests between the sheets as her triumphs on the silver screen.
Like
her famous great-granddaughter by marriage Paris Hilton, Gabor was
among the first celebrities to be famous for her celebrity.
Her
thick Hungarian accent was much parodied - especially her penchant for
calling everyone she met 'darling' - or 'dahlink' as she pronounced it.
It became her unique signature.
'I call everyone 'dahlink' because I can't remember their names,' the socialite once said.
Born
in Hungary on February 6, 1917, as Sari Gabor, Zsa Zsa was one of a
trio of ravishing sisters known for their shapely curves and passion for
well-heeled men.
Her
sisters were Magda, and Hollywood star Eva Gabor, who achieved greater
acting success in the United States than her sister for her role in the
1960s hit television series 'Green Acres.'
Zsa Zsa also came to be known for her love of diamonds and frequently was photographed dripping in the sparkling gems.
During
nine marriages and a prodigious number of affairs that made her a
fixture in America's gossip magazines, she had just one child - a
daughter Francesca, fathered by hotel magnate Conrad Hilton.
She
wrote in her 1993 autobiography 'One Lifetime is Not Enough' that she
lost her virginity at the age of 15 to Kemal Ataturk, the founder of
modern Turkey.
Us actress Zsa Zsa Gabor smiles in a car during her travel in Paris, on April 10, 1954.
'For the rest of my life, I would search for another god to eclipse him,' Gabor wrote.
Her
romantic scorecard was a 'Who's Who' of Hollywood heartthrobs of her
day, and her kiss-and-tell book detailed romances with screen legends
Sean Connery and Frank Sinatra.
Gabor
was known to be picky, however, spurning the advances of John F.
Kennedy, Elvis Presley, John Huston and Henry Fonda, she wrote in her
autobiography.
Her romantic dalliances even included a flirtation with screen legend Greta Garbo.
'She
kissed me straight on the mouth. And I couldn't help kissing her back
because she was so overwhelmingly strong and so beautiful,' Gabor wrote.
In
June 1989, Gabor made headlines when she slapped the face of a Beverly
Hills police officer for giving her a traffic ticket. She was sentenced
to three days in jail and ordered to pay $13,000 in court costs.
Gabor was briefly married to British-born actor George Sanders, who later wooed and briefly wed her sister Magda.
The
loquacious actress was known for an endless stream of bon mots, mostly
uttered on the talkshow circuit, about her favorite topics: love, sex,
romance and divorce.
Actress
Zsa Zsa Gabor holding a beaded purse removed from a 30-year-old trunk
containing possessions of actress Marilyn Monroe at Planet Hollywood in
Beverly Hills, California.
They included:
- A man in love is incomplete until he has married. Then he's finished.
- Getting divorced just because you don't love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do.
- Husbands are like fires - they go out when unattended.
- I never hated a man enough to give him diamonds back.
- I'm a great housekeeper. I get divorced. I keep the house.
- You never really know a man until you have divorced him.
Gabor,
who had been in and out of hospital since a hip replacement in 2010,
had several close brushes with death in recent years.
A
2002 car accident left the actress partially paralyzed and
wheelchair-bound. She also had a stroke in 2005. One of her legs was
partially amputated.
In
2011, von Anhalt said he had kept the extent of Gabor's medical
problems from her, so that she could enjoy the festivities in typical
style.
'We
had some champagne and caviar... we really celebrated good,' he told
AFP at the time. 'I knew she had to go to the hospital, but I didn't
want to tell her anything.'
Her
love life also is what seemingly kept her in the public eye, as she
made a career joking about her several marriages and affairs.
She
wrote in her 1993 autobiography 'One Lifetime is Not Enough' that she
lost her virginity at the age of 15 to Kemal Ataturk, the founder of
modern Turkey.
'For the rest of my life, I would search for another god to eclipse him,' Gabor wrote.
Her
romantic scorecard was a 'Who's Who' of Hollywood heartthrobs of her
day, and her kiss-and-tell book detailed romances with screen legends
Sean Connery and Frank Sinatra.
British Actress Joan Collins took to Twitter and shared a photograph of Gabor (above) in paying her respects.
Fellow actress and TV icon Barbara Eden wrote the above message about Gabor on Twitter.
Gabor
was known to be picky, however, spurning the advances of John F.
Kennedy, Elvis Presley, John Huston and Henry Fonda, she wrote in her
autobiography.
Her romantic dalliances even included a flirtation with screen legend Greta Garbo.
'She
kissed me straight on the mouth. And I couldn't help kissing her back
because she was so overwhelmingly strong and so beautiful,' Gabor wrote.
The
icon was the author of the books 'How to Catch a Man, How to Keep a
Man, How to Get Rid of a Man,' and 'Zsa Zsa Gabor's Complete Guide to
Men'.
Gabor
once summed up her attitude toward marriage by saying: 'Getting
divorced just because you don't love a man is almost as silly as getting
married just because you do.'
In
February, the glamorous actress who was known for her love life as much
as she was for her films, had to be rushed to an emergency room
suffering from breathing difficulties.
'I NEVER HATED A MAN ENOUGH TO GIVE HIM HIS DIAMONDS BACK': ZSA ZSA GABOR IN QUOTES
Never
losing her thick Hungarian accent, Gabor's cutting tongue helped draw
an army of fans who adored the fact she could be herself. Here are a
selection of some of her best quotes:
- 'I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.'
-
'As a teenager, I preferred the company of boys to girls, focusing
always on the most indifferent male and flirting with him until he
became my slave.'
-
On calling everyone 'darling', or 'dahlink' in her Hungarian accent,
she said: 'I call everyone "dahlink" because I can't remember their
names.'
- 'I am a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.'
-
On a brief flirtation with screen siren Greta Garbo: 'She kissed me
straight on the mouth. And I couldn't help kissing her back because she
was so overwhelmingly strong and so beautiful.'
- 'I want a man who's kind and understanding. Is that too much to ask of a millionaire?'
- 'How many husbands have I had? You mean apart from my own?'
- 'A man in love is incomplete until he has married. Then he is finished.'
Gabor once summed up her attitude
toward marriage by saying: 'Getting divorced just because you don't love
a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do.' She
is pictured above in 2011 with her husband von Anhalt celebrating their
25th wedding anniversary.
- 'Getting divorced because you don’t love a man is almost as silly as getting married because you do.'
- 'Husbands are like fires – they go out when unattended.'
-
On life in Budapest: 'The family led a life filled with grace and
charm. There were vacations at our house on the shores of Lake Balaton,
excursions in our Mercedes, parties glittering with beautiful women and
dashing men, waltzing together under the flickering light of our crystal
chandeliers.'
-
On living in America: 'It seemed to me that although I was still so
young, I had already lived many lifetimes. Now I was in America,
becoming American; dyeing my blond hair a rich American red; learning to
drive a compact American car; and discovering that American men with
money seemed to think that every girl in the world belonged to them.'
-
On marrying Conrad Hilton: 'Conrad's decision to change my name from
Zsa Zsa to Georgia symbolised everything my marriage to him would
eventually become. My Hungarian roots were to be ripped out and my
background ignored. ... I soon discovered that my marriage to Conrad
meant the end of my freedom. My own needs were completely ignored: I
belonged to Conrad.'
-
On her first television appearance: 'I couldn't even go out on the
streets of Los Angeles without being mobbed by crowds of fans. It had
all happened so quickly - as everything in my life seems to happen.'
-
On her three-year marriage to businessman Herbert Hutner: 'Herbert took
away my will to work. With his kindness and generosity, he almost
annihilated my drive. I have always been the kind of woman who could
never be satisfied by money - only excitement and achievement.'
-
'All in all - I love being married. I love the companionship, I love
cooking for a man (simple things like chicken soup and my special
Dracula's goulash from Hungary), and spending all my time with a man. Of
course I love being in love - but it is marriage that really fulfills
me. But not in every case.'
-
'I never really mind what people say about me - I am far too
unconventional and far too dedicated to being true to myself to let
other people's disdain or nastiness upset me for long.'
-
On surviving: 'All my life, I have been a positive thinker ... I have
always been able to survive by telling myself that no matter how bad
things are, they will one day be better. And that out of every event -
no matter how tragic - one can always find a way to survive and even,
perhaps, to be a little bit happy.'
The
Hollywood star had celebrated her 99th birthday in February, with her
ninth husband, telling TMZ that the actress was admitted into a Los
Angeles hospital.
At
the time, Von Anhalt, who married Gabor in 1986, told the site that a
doctor came to the couple's home and removed mucus from her throat but
it was then decided she should be taken to hospital.
Doctors diagnosed her with having a feeding tube-related lung infection. She underwent surgery to have it removed.
'She
is fighting right now and she wants to move on. She wants to live,' her
72-year-old husband said of his wife at the time of her February
hospitalisation.
'She squeezes my hand, she kisses. She is drinking water, she has ice cream. She wants to move on.
'People don't want to move on - they give up, they totally give up,' he added. '[But] she wants to move on.
'She
never told me, 'Let me go' or 'I don't want to live anymore', things
like that... like people do when they get to an age like that. She never
did it.
'Her
mother did it but she never did it. So we keep going and see what
happens. The main thing that we are watching is that we don't have any
pain, you know? She has no pain at all.'
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