Zsa Zsa Gabor: Legendary Hollywood actress dies, aged 99
December 19th, 2016

Zsa Zsa Gabor, the actress and iconic Beverley Hills socialite has died from a heart attack aged 99 at her Los Angeles home, her husband said. "We tried everything, but her heart just stopped and that was it," he said. "Even the ambulance tried very hard to get her back, but there was no way".  

The Hungarian-born actress appeared in over 70 movies and rose to fame due to her outlandish personality, extravagant lifestyle and extraordinary series of nine marriages. 

Gabor emigrated to the US with her mother and two sisters Magda and  Eva - both celebrated beauties - at the time of the outbreak of World War Two. 

Her more serious acting credits include the 1952 film Moulin Rouge, Lovely to Look At and We’re Not Married.  

In 1958, she appeared in Orson Welles' classic Touch of Evil as well as the campy oddity Queen of Outer Space.

Thereafter, however, she appeared on the big screen only sporadically. Michael Winner's 1976  film Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood was one, and she did cameos for Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and A Very Brady Sequel.

Always clad in diamonds and furs, the former Miss Hungary took her first husband at the age of 20, and wed for the last time when she was 69-years old.

She became known for her witty quips about her marriages after writing the memoir-cum- rant rant, 'How to Catch a Man, How to Keep a Man, How to Get Rid of a Man' in 1970.

She once stated:  "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."

A darling of live television entertainment, when she was asked about her housekeeping, she retorted: “I am a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.”

She had a penchant for calling everyone “darling.” “I don’t remember anybody’s name”.

Former spouses included Conrad Hilton, the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain.  After divorcing Gabor, Mr Sanders, the Oscar winning actor, later married her sister Magda.

Her extravagance got her into trouble on occasion and in 1989, she was convicted of slapping a Beverly Hills policeman and sentenced to 72 hours in jail and perform community service. In 2002, she was involved in a serious car accident on Sunset Boulevard as the passenger in a car driven by her hairdresser.

During more recent years,  she often played herself in ironic roles. She appeared in one of David Letterman’s Late Night shows. Accompanying the host to suburban New Jersey, they appeared on doorsteps, with Gabor asking stunned housewives if she could come in and take a look at the shoes in their closets.

She even parlayed her jail term into maintaining a spot in the public eye, appearing in the main title sequence of The Naked Gun 2.

Gabor fell out of bed in 2010 and underwent hip-replacement surgery this summer at in Los Angeles. 

Her right leg was amputated above the knee in 2011 to prevent the spread of gangrene, part of a long run of health troubles glamour girl has had since breaking her left hip in a fall. 

Following the news which was broken by Ed Lozzi, her long-time publicist, tributes began to pour in.


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