Zsa Zsa Gabor, the iconic Hungarian-American actress and socialite who rose to fame during Hollywood’s golden age, has died of heart failure, her publicist says, less than two months before her 100th birthday.
Gabor, who had been suffering from ill health for years, suffered heart failure at her home in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. She was rushed to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead a short time later.
Gabor, who was born as Sári Gábor and began her stage career in Vienna, was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936 before she emigrated to the United States in 1941. She nabbed her first film role in the 1952 musical film “Lovely to Look At” in 1952.
Gabor appeared in the romantic comedy film “We’re Not Married!” just a month later and, by the end of 1952, she starred in the 1952 drama “Moulin Rouge”, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, of which it won two.
But even though her acting career spanned decades, she also rose to fame for her personal life and more recently she was sometimes referred to as “the original Kim Kardashian”.
Beyond her acting career, Gabor was also well known for her many marriages: 9 in total, though one of them was annulled. One of her first marriages was to Conrad Hilton, the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain, from 1942 through 1946. Two years later, she married actor George Sanders.
Gabor is survived by Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, whom she married in 1986. Anhalt, who was born as Hans Lichtenberg before changing his name, began calling himself “Prince Frédéric” after he paid German Princess Marie-Auguste to adopt him, but Frédéric never became a member of the royal family and has no royal titles.
Beyond her marriages, she was also known for her dating life and friendship with high-profile celebrities and politicians, including President Richard Nixon, President John F. Kennedy, President Gerald Ford, and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
“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,” she once famously said.
(Copyright 2015 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
