Zsa Zsa Gabor biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Born Sari Gabor on February 6, 1917, (some sources say 1918) in Budapest, Hungary, the middle daughter of Vilmos Gabor, a soldier, and Jolie Gabor, the heiress to a European jewelry business. Gabor and her two sisters, Eva and Magda, lived a life of luxury, which included a staff of servants, extensive vacations, and stints at expensive boarding schools.

At the age of 13, Gabor was sent to Lausarine, Switzerland, to attend boarding school. While finishing her studies, Gabor was discovered by the famous operatic tenor Richard Tauber, who invited the teenager to sing the soubrette in his new operetta, Der singende Traum, or The Singing Dream. After spending three months at the Vienna Acting Academy, Gabor made her stage debut. That same year, Gabor married her first husband, 35-year-old Turkish government official Burhan Asaf Belge, to whom she proposed. She was only 15 years old at the time. In celebration of the engagement, Gabor's parents gave their daughter a 10-karat diamond, among other lavish gifts.

Four years later, at the age of 19, Gabor was crowned Miss Hungary. But her marriage had begun deteriorating, and by 1941 Gabor and her husband agreed to go their separate ways. That same year, Gabor's parents also began the process of divorce. Gabor and her mother decided to head to the U.S. to join Eva, who was already living in the country with her new husband. Zsa Zsa applied for an official divorce shortly after she was on American soil.

Not long after her arrival in the U.S., Gabor met hotel magnate and recent bachelor Conrad Hilton. The couple began flirting at an upscale club and, according to Gabor, the millionaire offered Zsa Zsa $20,000 to accompany him to Florida that night. She refused. Four months later, on April 10, 1942, the couple married. They had one child together, daughter Francesca, before their divorce in 1947.

Hollywood Career and Scandals

Zsa Zsa's good looks and charm landed her a film career in Hollywood, and in 1952 she made her big-screen debut in 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 actor George Sanders in Death of a Scoundrel (1956) and had a small role in Orson Welles' classic Touch of Evil (1958).

Also in the 1950s, Gabor worked on television, 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, however, was Zsa Zsa's personal life. To many, she appeared as an icon of European glamor, luxury and self-indulgence. Often portrayed as a wily seductress, she frequently appeared on television as an alluring, witty, and sometimes challenging guest who had a habit of calling nearly everyone "darling."