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Zsa Zsa Gabor, legendary socialite, actress, and proto-Kardashian, has died at 99. According to TMZ, she passed away Sunday after suffering a heart attack. The Hungarian-born Gabor, who would have turned 100 in February, has been plagued by health problems in recent years.
Many consider Gabor to be one of the first celebrities to be famous, well, just for being famous.
She was famously married nine times—including a five-year marriage to none other than Paris Hilton's grandfather, hotel magnate Conrad Hilton. Their union spanned from 1942 to 1947. In modern times, Gabor and her two sisters (Magda Gabor, two years older, and Eva Gabor, two years younger) have often been compared to the Hiltons as well as the Kardashians. “All these years later, it’s hard to describe the phenomenon of the three glamorous Gabor girls and their ubiquitous mother," Merv Griffin explained in his autobiography, as quoted in People Magazine. "They burst onto the society pages and into the gossip columns so suddenly, and with such force, it was as if they’d been dropped out of the sky.”
In 1986, Gabor married Prince Frédéric von Anhal (a sort of Prussian prince, via adoption), who was 23 years her junior. They were together until her death.
“I don’t consider any of my marriages mistakes," Gabor wrote in her 1970 book How to Catch a Man, How to Keep a Man, How to Get Rid of a Man, going on to say:
They were all good experiences and I learned something important from each. From my first marriage to the Turkish ambassador, I learned how to be a diplomat. From Conrad Hilton I learned how to be a good housekeeper and frugal. From George Sanders I started to learn how to become an actress and a neurotic. From my fourth husband, Herbert Huttner, I learned how to become rich on investments. And from my fifth husband, I learned you should always look at your horoscope before you marry a Texan who is in the New York Social Register.
Gabor was known for her glamour, and her signature catchphrase, "Oh, dahling." She once explained, "I call everyone 'Darling' because I can't remember their name."Here's Gabor in 1989 giving a tour of her Bel Air home to Oprah:
