by Sam Staggs
My own lifelong scrutiny of every Gabor, from birth to death, has given me a keen instinct for fact vs. myth. Although Finding Zsa Zsa relies largely on the reports of those closely connected to the Gabors, my own research includes sources in Hungarian, a language I studied long before I imagined its usefulness vis-à-vis those over-the-top Hungarians who charmed my childhood and eventually became, from a distance, mine for life.
The Gabor family, circa 1922, in Budapest. From left: Jolie, Zsa Zsa, Eva, Vilmos, Magda.
(Collection of the late Francesca Hilton)
Jolie Gabor and her girls at Lake Balaton, circa 1926.
From left: Eva, Zsa Zsa, Magda, Jolie.
(Collection of the late Francesca Hilton)
Zsa Zsa’s birthplace, Múzeum körút 31, Budapest. The Gabors lived in many locations and rarely told the address or the dates of habitation. Everyone agreed, however, that this was the site of Zsa Zsa’s birth on February 6, 1917. The building, constructed circa 1900, was destroyed in World War II.
(Collection of the author)
The famous Gabor features begin to take shape in a family snapshot from circa 1929. Magda, nicknamed “The General,” was always the most independent daughter. Unlike her sisters and her mother, she did not bob her hair in the style of the Roaring Twenties. From left: Eva, Zsa Zsa, Magda, Jolie.
(Collection of the late Francesca Hilton)
Contrary to Gabor family mythology, Zsa Zsa was never elected Miss Hungary. She was, however, a runner-up in the 1933 pageant. Pictured here, left to right: Lily Radó, runner-up; Júlia Gál, winner; and fifteen-year-old Zsa Zsa.
(Filmhíradók/Magyar Nemzeti Filmarchivum)
Zsa Zsa and her first husband, Burhan Belge, Ankara, Turkey, 1939.
The marriage lasted from 1935 to 1941. Zsa Zsa disliked this photograph because it made her look middle-aged when, in reality, she was twenty-two. (Photofest)
A family photograph taken circa 1940. Front row: Jolie, in the most unflattering photograph ever taken of her, is convalescing from an illness, possibly pneunomia. Beside her is Zsa Zsa, on a visit to Budapest from Turkey shortly before her departure for the U.S. Magda is in back row, left. Beside her, the elderly woman is perhaps Francesca Tillemann, mother of Jolie and grandmother of the Gabor sisters. The woman beside her is unidentified.
(Courtesy of the Lantos and Tillemann-Dick families)
Zsa Zsa, at 22, begins her conquest of the world. Photographed in London in 1939 with two famous admirers: H.G. Wells (center) and George Bernard Shaw.
(Photography Collection, Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin)
Eva, with costar Richard Arlen, in her first film, Forced Landing, released by Paramount in 1941. (Photofest)
Eva in Pacific Blackout (1942), with costars Robert Preston and Martha Driscoll.
As the dedicated actress in the family, she worked hard to perfect her craft, yet the accent always stood between Eva and the roles she coveted. (Photofest)
Eva and Zsa Zsa in Hollwood in the early 1940s. Eva was a film starlet, but Zsa Zsa’s career lay ten years in the future. Neither sister had yet undergone cosmetic surgery to obtain a more svelte nose.
(Photofest)
Eva in Song of Surrender, 1949. Director Mitchell Leisen made sure her wardrobe outshone the costumes of other cast members.
(Photofest)
Zsa Zsa and costar Leslie Caron in Lili, 1953. In Caron’s words, “Dear Zsa Zsa Gabor was a generous colleague. She played the role in Lili with the discipline of a pro.”
(Photofest)
Zsa Zsa in Moulin Rouge, 1953. On the set, director John Huston yelled at her,
“You can’t act, you can’t sing, you can’t dance. At least show your face to the camera.”
In later years they became friends, and Zsa Zsa credited him with making her a star. (Photofest)
Zsa Zsa and Porfirio Rubirosa, the lover she never married. “I was addicted to him,” she said when their affair was over. “He was in my blood and he possessed my soul. He was renowned for his machismo and above all for his sexual prowess.” (Photofest)
Zsa Zsa and George Sanders in the 1956 television comedy-drama Autumn Fever.
They costarred that same year on the large screen in Death of a Scoundrel. George was Zsa Zsa’s third husband, and the one she always called her favorite and the great love of her life. They remained close until George’s suicide in 1972. (Photofest)
In The Girl in the Kremlin (1957), Zsa Zsa plays twin sisters caught up in a Stalinist plot.
Asked by a reporter about taking on a dual role, Zsa Zsa replied,
“I have to be careful not to steal scenes from myself.” (Photofest)
Francesca Hilton, 1947-2015. This photograph was taken circa 1968. Francesca bore very little resemblance to her mother or her aunts. (Photofest)
Francesca Hilton, in the late 1960s, in drama school. Her career did not progress, one reason being that she preferred photography to acting. (Photofest)
Eva and Mrs. Mary Smith, in Texas in the 1970s. Good-natured Eva had countless friends in all walks of life. (Courtesy of Mrs. Mary Smith)
Zsa Zsa, on trial in 1989 for slapping a Beverly Hills cop. The circus-like atmosphere of the trial made Zsa Zsa more notorious than ever before. Here she displays a sketch she made in court of the plaintiff, Officer Paul Kramer. At trial’s end, the judge sentenced Zsa Zsa to four days in jail.
(Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, HA.com)
The grave of Eva Gabor, Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles
(Courtesy of Rousselle)
Notes
1 In society at the time, a divorced woman with a child would often use her maiden name followed by the name of the child’s father.
2 Were the writers, Craig Heller and Guy Shulman, clairvoyant? Return to Green Acres aired on May 18, 1990. In that year’s March issue of Playboy, loudmouth Trump said, “I know politicians who love women who don’t even want to be known for that—because they might lose the gay vote. OK? If this is the kind of extreme we’re heading toward, we’re really in trouble.” He offered this as just one of the reasons why he would one day like to be known as Senator Trump or even President Trump.