Zsa Zsa Gabor in LA Hospital After Car Crash
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hungarian-born actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, beloved by generations of Americans for her flamboyant lifestyle and ability to marry rich and often, was hospitalized with head injuries on Thursday after a car crash, officials said.
A spokeswoman for Cedars-Sinai Hospital said Gabor, believed to be in her mid-80s, was in serious condition. She was rushed to Cedars after the car in which she was riding struck a utility pole on Sunset Boulevard on Wednesday.
The Cedars spokeswoman declined to comment on a report from a spokesman for Gabor’s eighth and current husband, German Prince Frederic von Anhalt, that she was in a coma. The couple married in 1986.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Gabor was injured when a car driven by her hairdresser hit a utility pole. Gabor was not wearing a seat belt, a department spokesman said.
Her husband’s spokesman, Gerd Birkman, told Reuters in Berlin: “Prince Frederic von Anhalt was crying ‘Oh my dear wife, why does she have to suffer so? At home I was able to take such good care of her and now as soon as she went out this terrible accident happened.”‘
Birkman said von Anhalt was devastated and had canceled all his engagements for the rest of the year.
Gabor, who came to the United States with her mother and sisters as World War II was about to begin, became famous in her adopted country for her glamour, wit, hot temper and ability to snare a succession of well-to-do husbands.
Acting played second-fiddle to her career as a celebrity fueled by a preposterous Hungarian accent in which all and sundry were called “Darling” — a term she said she used because “I don’t remember anyone’s name.”
Her movie career started well with such films as “Lili” and “Moulin Rouge,” both in 1953, but degenerated into camp favorites as “Queen of Outer Space” in 1958 and “Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Save Hollywood” in 1983.
But she launched a second career as television talk show favorite dispensing advice on love: “A girl must marry for love and keep on marrying until she finds it.”
SLAPPED AN OFFICER
In 1989 Gabor’s temper led to a weeks-long trial for slapping a police officer who had stopped her Rolls Royce for having an expired license plate. Her belligerent attitude prompted the judge to sentence her to 72 hours in jail, fines and 120 hours of community service.
Once branded “the most expensive courtesan since Madame de Pompadour,” Gabor insisted she married only husband No. 2, hotel baron Conrad Hilton, for his money. “I’ve always said, don’t marry a man for his money. You can borrow it cheaper,” she once said.
Gabor lists her birthday as Feb. 7 but has steadfastly refused to reveal the year of her birth. Born Sari Gabor, she was named Miss Hungary in the 1930s, but with the approach of World War II she and her two sisters, Eva and Magda, were forced to give up their lives of chauffeurs and private schools.
Together with their mother, Jolie, they made their way to the United States. Gabor left behind her first husband, Burhan Belge, a press spokesman for the Turkish government.
Soon after arriving in Hollywood, Gabor met and married Hilton, with whom she had a daughter, Francesca.
In 1949, after divorcing Hilton, she married actor George Sanders, whom she later was to call her one true love. They divorced after five years.
Exploiting her romantic reputation, Gabor wrote “Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Complete Guide to Men,” and “How to Catch a Man, How to Keep a Man, How to Get Rid of a Man.”
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