The Gabor sisters – the first celebrities of the US

The Gabor sisters, Magda (1915-1997), Zsa Zsa (1917-2016) and Eva (1919-1995) were Hungarian-born American actresses and socialites, known more for their notorious marriages, than their work in the film industry. Their mother Jolie (1896-1997) encouraged and raised them to be divas.

The most well-known of the sisters is undoubtedly Zsa Zsa, mostly for her short-lived marriages to high-profile men. But her sisters – or even her mother for that matter – did not lack in the husband department either, while Zsa Zsa tied the knot with nine men during her lifetime, her older sister, Magda got married six times (once to Zsa Zsa’s ex-husband), their younger sister, Eva was married five times and their mother, Jolie, three times.

Jolie and her husband – and the father of the Gabor sisters –, Vilmos were both of Jewish ancestry, Vilmos changed his name from Grün to fit in better into the anti-semitic society of the country at the time. The whole family ended up emigrating to the USA, but all at different times.

Vilmos was a soldier and Jolie a jeweller. They sent their daughters to private and boarding school and thought it was vital for them to learn languages. The original diva in the family was Jolie. She often lied about her age, always making herself out to be younger, and even admitted to having lied about it so much that she could not even remember her actual birthday. This seemed to have passed onto Zsa Zsa, who won Miss Hungary in 1936 but was later disqualified for lying about her actual age. She also lied to one of her husbands, saying she was in her mid-50s when in reality, she was nearing 70.

The first one to leave Hungary was Eva, the youngest daughter, not long after marrying for the first time in 1937. She became an actress and a businesswoman stateside. She got her first role in a movie called Forced Landing in 1941. In the 50s and 60s, she got small roles here and there and even had her own talk show, but it was cancelled after the first season. She is most remembered for her role as Lisa Douglas in the sit-com called Green Acres. She also did voice-acting in a few Disney movies, but she never really did make it in Hollywood.

As for being a businesswoman, in 1972 she launched a fashion line with Cuban, award-winning designer, Luis Estevez, which was named after her.

Zsa Zsa left for the US the same year Eva got her first role in a movie. However, her career in the spotlight started way before moving to Hollywood. In 1934, operatic tenor, Richard Tauber discovered and asked her to sing in the operetta Der singende Traum (The Singing Dream) at the Theater an der Wien. Two years later, she became Miss Hungary.

10 years after emigrating to the USA, she appeared in her first supporting role in Lovely to Look At, and got major roles in Moulin Rouge and We’re Not Married! From then on, she appeared in several productions; she was a sought after actress, she did voice-overs for animated movies, cameos and guest-starred regularly in television shows.

The oldest sister, Magda, first fled to Portugal in 1944, after the Nazis occupied Hungary, and then moved to the United States two years later. While her sisters bathed in the spotlight, Magda remained more private and low-key, only ever appearing in one movie, Modern Girls, a Hungarian comedy, in 1937, and in three TV shows, one of which was her sister, Eva’s talk show.

Their parents left Hungary in the wake of World War II and later arrived in New York City, but got divorced when Jolie decided to move to Hollywood with her girls to make it in the film industry, which Vilmos did not agree with.

The only sister to bear a child was Zsa Zsa, and the father was the founder of Hilton Hotels, nonetheless, Conrad Hilton. Their only daughter was Francesca, who became an actress, comedian and photographer.

When Sam Staggs, author of Finding Zsa Zsa, The Gabors Behind the Legend, was writing his book, he had several interviews with Francesca, who claimed her aunt, Eva, was a lesbian and believed that her mother had bipolar disorder.