Gabor, Jolie (1894–1997), Magda (1914–1997), Zsa Zsa (1917– ), and Eva (1919–1995)
GABOR, JOLIE (1894–1997), MAGDA (1914–1997), ZSA ZSA (1917– ), and EVA (1919–1995)
GABOR, JOLIE (1894–1997), MAGDA (1914–1997), ZSA ZSA (1917– ), and EVA (1919–1995). The three Gabor sisters (Magda, Zsa Zsa, and Eva) and their mother, Jolie, were among the first celebrities in post-World War ii America to be famous for being famous. Although renowned for their beauty, glamour, and quick wit, the Gabors were also notorious for their many marriages to wealthy men. In truth the Gabors were smart business women whose fortunes were all self-made and who, more often than not, suffered broken hearts. Matriarch Jolie was born Jansci Tilleman in Budapest, Hungary, and married Vilmos Gabor, father of her daughters Magda, Sári (Zsa Zsa), and Eva. Zsa Zsa, already a beauty in Budapest, married the Turkish consul at 16 (she is rumored to have had an affair with Kemal Attaturk). By 1939 Eva was already in Hollywood, launching her acting career. During the war Magda was active in resistance activities in Budapest. Her reported relationship with the Portuguese consul afforded her the protection to escape to the border and to also have her parents escape from Hungary. After the war, Zsa Zsa, by then Mrs. Conrad Hilton, was able to appeal to Secretary of State Cordell Hull to have her parents admitted to the United States. Zsa Zsa's career was launched in 1951 when she became a regular on the tv show Bachelor's Haven, displaying her razor-sharp wit. Movie roles followed in such films as Moulin Rouge (1952), Lilli (1953), and Touch of Evil (1958). She married eight times, and had one daughter, Constance Francesca Hilton. For many years Zsa Zsa made a considerable income from department store appearances and other endorsements. Zsa Zsa gained a new measure of infamy for a 1989 trial after she slapped a police officer in Beverly Hills. Eva, the most serious actress of the three sisters, appeared in such films as A Royal Scandal (1945), The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), and Don't Go Near the Water (1957). She is best known for her role as the socialite wife of Eddie Albert in the 1960s cbs sitcom Green Acres. She is also known to countless generations of children as the voice of "Duchess" in the animated film The Aristocats. She married five times, all of which ended in divorce. For many years, Eva maintained a very successful wig business.
[Adam Wills (2nd ed.)]