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(Sari E. Gabor)
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| 6 February 18 / 19 / 22 |
is born in Budapest, Hungary, to Jolie Tilleman, debutante and heiress to a jewelry fortune, and Major Vilmos Gabor, a Hungarian officer. Her sisters are Magda and Eva Gabor.
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spends $300 a month while a schoolgirl in Switzerland
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| 36 / 37 / 38 |
enters the "Miss Hungary" pageant and allegedly places second
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| ? |
under the name of Georgia Gabor, she’s a curvy chorus girl at the Club Femina in Vienna, Austria
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| ca. 37 |
at age 17 she marries the Turkish diplomat / foreign affairs minister Burhan Belge in Budapest, Hungary. He’s twice her age.
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spends her honeymoon night on the Simplon Express heading for Turkey. Later she will claim that the marriage was never consummated.
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on their honeymoon journey the Belges visit King Zog of Albania
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in Turkey she attracts the attention of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. He’s 57. She will claim their ensuing liaison lasted for several months.
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on the occasion of her sister Eva’s wedding to Eric Drimmer, Anthony Eden, the secretary of state of Great Britain, officially invites the Belges to a London reception
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| ? |
with her diplomatic passport she arrives in the States via India after a 4-month journey
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| 41 |
divorces Belge in the States
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one evening at Ciro’s she meets hotel man Conrad Hilton
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| April 42 |
marries hotelier Conrad Hilton at the Hotel La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He’s a devout Roman Catholic.
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| ? |
soon they have a talk about her spending habits. Finally, Hilton allows her $250 a month.
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| ? |
is seven months pregnant by Conrad Hilton when she sees George Sanders in The Moon and Sixpence and announces that he will be her next husband
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| Early 47 |
divorces Hilton
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| April 47 |
meets George Sanders and his companion, author Erich Maria Remarque, at a cocktail party in Manhattan
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| 47 |
her daughter Francesca is born after the divorce from Hilton has become final. Francesca will become an actress.
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| March 49 |
under the name of Sari Gabor, she is a Hollywood twosome with George Sanders; they admit they are engaged but have set no wedding date
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| 2 April 49 |
marries George Sanders in Las Vegas
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| Summer 51 |
purchases an expensive summer wardrobe in the hope of traveling to England with her husband
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George Sander’s brother, actor Tom Conway, suggests her for the guest panel on “Bachelor’s Heaven”
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while dancing at the Mocambo nightclub, director Mervyn LeRoy asks her to his table and offers her a part in his upcoming Lovely to Look At
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enters a business liaison with famed publicist Russell Birdwell
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| October 51 |
in one month she’s on the covers of Life, Collier’s, Paris Match, and the London Picture Post
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| 51 |
while filming Moulin Rouge, director John Huston often humiliates her before the entire cast
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| April 52 |
attends an industry luncheon where MGM’s Dore Schary introduces Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands to Hollywood
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| May 52 |
her fight with Corinne Calvet is not a genuine feud, rather another publicity stunt
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in Los Angeles she announces that she’d like to have a romance with Porfirio Rubirosa, Dominican diplomat and renown playboy, to take revenge for the relationship that her husband, George Sanders, supposedly had with Doris Duke, the ex-wife of Rubi and, as heiress to a tobacco fortune, richest woman in the States
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| Winter 52 |
Rubirosa accompanies his friend, Ramfis Trujillo, son of the Dominican dictator, to New York, where they stay at the same hotel as Zsa Zsa, The Plaza. Rubirosa has her room filled with red roses. Shortly thereafter, Rubirosa rents a room next to hers and eventually talks her into opening the connecting door.
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| ? |
meets 42-year-old Rubirosa at the elevator of New York’s Plaza Hotel
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on the first night she spends with Rubi, her husband George sends a midnight cable: “I miss you terribly. I love you, I love you, I love you.”
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| 53 |
for $500,000 she and her sisters, Eva and Magda, perform at the Frontier Casino in Las Vegas
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| August 53 |
dates handsome playboy-diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa
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| ? |
during an argument over his plans to marry Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth fortune and second richest girl in the States, Rubirosa sends a right-hand punch into Zsa Zsa’s eye. At her press conference the following day she explains: "Rubi loves me. Rubirosa in Spanish means red rose, for me it means black eye. A man only hits a woman if he loves her deeply."
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| 30 October 53 |
Sanders sends her a letter of nonsupport
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| Late 53 |
Rubirosa and Barbara Hutton announce their engagement
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| December 53 |
celebrates the Christmas holidays with a lump on her forehead the size of the Hope Diamond; she says she fell, but insiders claim Rubirosa socked her after she turned him down. He claims: "I’m fed up with Zsa Zsa. I’m going to marry Barbara Hutton!“
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| ? |
Russell Birdwell drops her from his client list
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| ? |
is off to Phoenix, Arizona, for Three Ring Circus
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| 30 December 53 |
Rubirosa marries Barbara Hutton but spends part of their honeymoon with Zsa Zsa. To be with her in Phoenix, Arizona, he flies in his private airplane, which he bought for $200,000. Part of the money is from the $250,000 which Hutton deposited in his personal account.
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at the Jokake Inn in Scottsdale, Arizona, Rubirosa registers under the name of William Perkins to trick reporters who are after him and Zsa Zsa
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| January 54 |
she’s constantly on the verge of divorcing George Sanders
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she "wishes them well“ when told of the Hutton-Rubirosa marriage
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| ? |
while staying with Barbara Hutton at Manhattan’s Pierre Hotel, Rubi meets Zsa Zsa again
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| 20 February 54 |
Rubirosa’s marriage to Hutton dissolves, after his going to hotels, beach houses, and mountain cabins with Zsa Zsa.
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| March 54 |
sends condolences when Rubirosa and Hutton split
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| ? |
Rubi’s fling with Barbara Hutton lasts 73 days
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| 2 April 54 |
receives an interlocutory divorce decree from Sanders in Los Angeles. Jerry Giesler is handling her case. Sanders is on location in Spain. He will marry her sister Magda in 1970.
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| June 54 |
is supposed to have received a black eye from Rubirosa
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| April 55 |
intends to make a Western movie with boyfriend Rubirosa, even if they have to go to Mexico to film it. The film will be called The Western Affair and will be partly produced by Republic Pictures. Rubirosa will be Don Castillo, elegant gambler and owner of a bar who falls in love with a French countess portrayed by Zsa Zsa. The project is killed when the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services refuses to issue a worker‘s permit for Rubirosa.
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| 55 |
her affair with Rubirosa dissolves. He will marry 19-year-old French actress Odile Rodin in 1956 and die in 1965, when his Ferrari crashes into a tree on the Avenue de la Reine Marguerite in Paris.
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| June 55 |
attends the celebrity benefit sessions at the Mocambo with Franchot Tone
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| ? |
pours champagne down the front of Franchot Tone’s dinner clothes when her escort refuses to defend her honor in public at a nightclub in New York
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| August 55 |
for old-times' sake, her ex-husband Conrad Hilton allows her a special rate in all of his hotels
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| 56 |
announces she will marry Hal Hayes
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| April 58 |
Rubirosa sends her a Mercedes Benz as a thank-you for showing his nephew around Hollywood
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| June 58 |
she is introduced by Rubi to Lieutenant General Rafael “Ramfis” Trujillo, the 22-year-old son of the dictator of the Dominican Republic, who presents her with an $11,500 Mercedes and a $17,500 sable coat.
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| 21 June 58 |
she and her friend Kim Novak are guests at an introductory reception given by Ramfis on his yacht Angelita. Dominican soldiers are posted around it. The next night, the yacht moves to Santa Monica Harbor to be closer to the homes of Zsa Zsa and Kim.
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while she’s rehearsing for "The George Gobel Show" at NBC-Burbank, Ramfis presents her with an $11,500 red Mercedes convertible.The car is flown on a chartered plane from Kansas, where Trujillo is attending the War College. Fellow actress Kim Novak gets an $8,400 sports car.
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soon thereafter she’s Ramfis’ guest in New Orleans
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| ? |
when it’s revealed that the U.S. is giving the Dominican Republic $1,300,000 in economic aid, there is talk of a Congressional investigation, and the army school refuses to give Ramfis his diploma. Finally, he will return in disgrace, and his wife, with six kids, will sue him for divorce.
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| c. 58 |
like Kim Novak and Joan Collins, she is a frequent guest on Trujillo’s yacht, anchored at Long Beach
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| October 58 |
explains that the convertible car from Lt.-General Trujillo came first. She was cold, driving with the top down - so, naturally, he bought her a chinchilla.
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| November 58 |
explains her breaking up with Ramfis Trujillo due to the fact that she can’t afford to be silly anymore due to her career
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decides her daughter, Francesca, will go to an American college
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| 18 December 58 |
wears her famous chinchilla at the premiere of Some Came Running
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| Late 50s |
is frequently seen with millionaire contractor Hal Hays
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| 59 |
becomes senior vice president and voting member of Hays’ company
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| Early 60 |
Hays gives her a massive platinum, 25 carat diamond engagement ring, which costs $250,000. Gossip calls the item the "Zsa Zsa Diamond." The ring will later show up in a court battle over a construction dispute of Hays'.
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| 31 October 6? |
causes a scandal when appearing with flamboyant builder and multimillionaire Hal Hays at a Beverly Hills party given by his former fiancée, the notoriously serious and stuffy Merle Oberon, in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford II
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| 61 |
publishes her autobiography, My Story, co-written by Gerold Frank
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| ? |
has a few casual dinners with President John F. Kennedy
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| 5 / 9 November 62 |
marries Herbert L. Hutner, chairman of the board at Struthers Wells Corporation, in New York City
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| ? |
causes a scandal at Princess Grace’s extravaganza for the International Red Cross in Monaco when British aristocrat Mrs. Hannah Marcow allegedly pushes her and her daughter, Francesca, while disembarking from the plane that carried them to Monaco
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| 65 |
withdraws the slander suit following her Riviera rhubarb with Hannah Marcow
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| 3 March 66 |
divorces Hutner in Juarez, Mexico. He will marry starlet-model Juli Reding in November 1969.
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| 9 March 66 |
marries Texas oilman Joshua Cosden, Jr., in Los Angeles
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| 18 October 67 |
divorces Cosden in Juarez, Mexico
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| September 68 |
slaps a young bellboy at the Ritz Hotel in London during an argument over hotel towels
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| ? |
has a hysterical spat with employees at the Palacio Hotel in Lisbon; they refuse to take her $500 check in payment. Afterwards, in Mallorca, she’s taken off the plane to London when trying to leave without having paid her hotel bill and $3,500 spent on clothes.
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| Autumn 68 |
at a press conference given in a London hotel suite overlooking Hyde Park, she claims someone is out to kill her
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| Late 60s |
begins dating her ex, George Sanders, again
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| Autumn 69 |
causes a blowup when scheduled to appear in “Here Come Stars,” hosted by George Jessel, when she refuses to show up before getting a manicurist, a dresser, and a cream cheese sandwich on dark pumpernickel. Later she will claim breach of contract.
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| ? |
buys a mansion on Bel Air Road, originally built for billionaire Howard Hughes
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| 70 |
performing at The Flamingo, she returns to Las Vegas after a pause. Actresses Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Jeanne Crain, Margaret O’Brien, and Arlene Dahl attend ringside.
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| 72 |
visits George Sanders in Spain two weeks before his suicide by an overdose
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| 21 January 75 / 6 October 76 |
marries millionaire inventor Jack Ryan in the bridal suite at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas. She’s 55; he’s 48. Ryan invented the Barbie Doll and the Sparrow III missile, among others.
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the Ryans honeymoon in London
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she moves into her husband’s 40-room Tudor mansion in Beverly Hills
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| 77 |
divorces Ryan and marries her divorce lawyer, Michael O`Hara, the same year
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| 82 |
divorces O`Hara
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| December 82 |
at a polygraph session she has to tell if she married her men for money only. That television special is never aired.
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| 13 April 83 |
marries Mexican realtor and playboy Felipe DeAlba for one day. She introduces him as the Duke of Alba, but the marriage proves to be illegal since she wasn’t divorced.
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| February 84 |
Merv Griffin signs her and her sister Eva for a television series called “Two Hungarian Maids,” but all the networks turn it down
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| June 84 |
rides in a celebrity polo match in Los Angeles
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| August 86 |
marries German prince Frederick von Anhalt. This marriage awards her the title of Princess of Anhalt, Duchess of Saxony.
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| 89 |
hits the news with her court battle after being charged with slapping a police officer, driving without a valid license, and having an open bottle of Jack Daniels in her Rolls-Royce. Finally, she has to pay $13,000 in fines and spends 72 hours in jail.
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| 93 |
she and her husband are sentenced to pay $2 million to actress Elke Sommer because of false accusations
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Sources:
Such Devoted Sisters: Those Fabulous Gabors by Peter H. Brown, Made in Heaven by Victoria Houseman, www.IMDb.com, "Life on a Cloud" at www.TravelGuideS.com Web site by Joyce Harvey, Rubirosa Web site, The Stars of the ‘40s by David Ragan, Motion Picture, Movie Spotlight, The Hollywood Reporter, Modern Screen, Hollywood Album, Photoplay, Screen Stories, Movie Mirror, Uncensored, Celebrity Sleuth |
Recommended Books:
Gaborabilia : An Illustrated Celebration of the Fabulous, Legendary Gabor Sisters by Anthony Turtu and Donald F. Reuter
Such Devoted Sisters by Peter H. Brown
How to Catch a Man, How to Keep a Man, How to Get Rid of a Man by Zsa Zsa Gabor |
Links:
Filmography
Batman
JSR Pages: Zsa Zsa Gabor |
