(JTA) — Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, a Hollywood socialite who had nine marriages, has died at the age of 99.
Gabor, whose given name was Sari and who was known for calling everybody “dah-link” in her Hungarian-accented English, died on Sunday, less than two months shy of her 100th birthday.
Though Gabor was a practicing Catholic, her parents were Jewish, and her family reportedly was once members of the Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest. Her mother, Jolie (Janka Tilleman) Gabor, escaped Hungary after the Nazis occupied Budapest in 1944.
Gabor appeared in more than 30 movies but is best known for her performances in films such as “Moulin Rouge” and “Lovely to Look At,” both in 1952, and “Lili” in 1953.
Gabor was married nine times; seven marriages ended in divorce and one was annulled. At the time of her death she was married for 30 years to Frédéric von Anhalt. Other husbands included hotel mogul Conrad Hilton, and British actor George Sanders, who later married Gabor’s sister Magda. Her sister Eva Gabor started on the TV comedy series “Green Acres.”
In 1989 she was jailed for three days after slapping a Beverly Hills police officer during a traffic stop for an expired license tag.
Gabor reportedly had plans to move to Hungary to live out the rest of her days, with reports saying her husband planned to celebrate her 100th birthday in California and then move to Hungary. Variety reported in its obituary of Gabor that she had been on life support for the last five years, before dying of a heart attack.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
