Gabor Sari was born on 6 February 1917, in Budapest, then Austria-Hungary, of Hungarian-Jewish descent, and as Zsa Zsa Gabor was an actress who not only appeared in movies and television shows, but also acted on Broadway. She is probably best remembered for her role in the film “Moulin Rouge”(1952), but in addition she was also well known – some would say notorious – for her nine marriages. Unsurprisingly, Gabor was also known as a socialite, which means that she was considered to be part of so-called fashionable society. Although Zsa Zsa’s love life was somewhat shaky, her success as an actress gained her some acclaim, and quite a large sum of money. She passed away in December 2016.
So how rich was Zsa Zsa Gabor? Zsa Zsa’s net worth has been authoritatively estimated at $40 million, accumulated from her acting career but also from settlements as a consequence of several divorces.
Zsa Zsa Gabor Net Worth $40 Million
Zsa Zsa was the second of three daughters born to soldier Vilmos and mother Jolie – younger sister Eva also became an actress. She was first noticed when she won the Miss Hungary title in 1936. Singer Richard Tauber saw potential in Gabor, and suggested her as a singer in the operetta The Singing Dream. This was when Zsa Zsa first performed on stage, and from when her net worth started to grow.
Fortunately for her, Zsa Zsa migrated to the USA in 1941, but her debut in the movie industry was not until 1952, in “Lovely to Look At” directed by Mervyn LeRoy, in which Gabor had an opportunity to work with Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, and Howard Keel among others. One of the most successful roles in Gabor’s career as an actress was in the movie “Moulin Rouge”, with Jose Ferrer and Suzanne Flon. As the movie was very popular and gained acclaim, it was no surprise that it also affected Zsa Zsa’s net worth. Other movies in which Gabor appeared included “We’re Not Married”, “The Story of Three Lovers”, “Won Ton Ton”, “The Dog Who Saved Hollywood”, “Every Girl Should Have One”, “Drop Dead Darling” and many others, almost 50 in total during her movie career of 45 years..
As mentioned, Zsa Zsa Gabor was not only famous for her appearances in movies and television shows, she also performed on Broadway. Gabor was a part of such plays as “Forty Carats” and “Blithe Spirit”. While being a part of these plays, Zsa Zsa had an opportunity to work with Julie Harris, Glenda Farrell, Franklin Cover, Michael Nouri, Cecil Parker, Fay Compton and many other noted actors. Appearances on Broadway also added considerably to Zsa Zsa Gabor’s net worth.
Zsa Zsa’s appearances on television had an impact on her popularity and success as well; “The Munsters”, “Today”, “The Late Show with David Letterman”, “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show”, “As the World Turns”, and “The Life of Riley” are only a few shows in which Zsa Zsa appeared, more than 50 in total, but many more as a passing interest rather than part of the regular cast – she usually played herself, if not in name then in character.
The number of movies and her other appearances show that Gabor was of continuing interest. Besides Gabor’s performances as an actress, also adding to Zsa Zsa’s net worth were her autobiographies, usually co-authored. “Zsa Zsa Gabor – My Story”, “One Lifetime is Not Enough” and “How to Catch a Man, How to Keep a Man, and How to Get Rid of a Man” are autobiographies written by Gabor herself.
Finally, in Zsa Zsa’s less-than-private personal life, her social standing didn’t prevent a short time in jail in 1989 for slapping a policeman following driving violations. Her nine marriages are too many to detail, but included hotel billionaire Conrad Hilton(1942-47) – with whom she had her only child, a daughter – and noted English actor George Sanders(1949-54). Her ninth husband was German-American Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, 26 years her junior, to whom she was married since 1986, possibly as a result of declining health curtailing her activities somewhat. Zsa Zsa Gabor died from a heart attack on 18 December 2016 in Los Angeles, California, just two months short of her 100th birthday.
"We’re Not Married", "The Story of Three Lovers", "Won Ton Ton", "The Dog Who Saved Hollywood", "Every Girl Should Have One", "Drop Dead Darling", "Moulin Rouge"(1952, Touch of Evil (1958), Lili (1953), Queen of Outer Sopace (1958)
TV Shows
"The Munsters Today, Late Show with David Letterman, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, As the World Turns, The Life of Riley
[after a fight with boyfriend Porfirio Rubirosa, aka "Rubi", in which he gave her a black eye] 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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[on George Sanders, the favorite of her five husbands] I thought he hated women and that was a marvelous challenge. When I met him I said, "Mr. Sanders, I'm madly in love with you." And he said, "Mrs. Hilton, how well I understand that.".
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The best way to attract a man immediately is to have a magnificent bosom and a half-size brain and let both of them show.
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The only way to learn a language properly, in fact, is to marry a man of that nationality. You get what they call in Europe a "sleeping dictionary". Of course, I have only been married five times and I speak seven languages. I'm still trying to remember where I picked up the other two.
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When you are married to an actor, you feel you are nothing but an understudy to him. He only has eyes for himself. It is really the one situation I know of where, with just two people you have a triangle.
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[on solitude] When I'm alone, I can sleep cross ways in bed without an argument.
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You never really know a man until you have divorced him.
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The only place men want depth in a woman is in her décolletage.
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If they had as much adultery going on in New York as they said in the divorce courts, they wouldn't have had enough time left over to run the subways or mow the grass in Central Park and they would never have a chance to make the beds at the Plaza.
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Being jealous of a beautiful woman is not going to make you more beautiful.
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[on Cary Grant] They are trying to show he's a great lover, but they'll never prove it to me.
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I believe in large families: every woman should have at least three husbands.
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It's never as easy to keep your own spouse happy as it is to make someone else's spouse happy.
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[as quoted in the book "The Humor of Sex"] Personally, I know nothing about sex because I've always been married.
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[after an incident in which she got into a physical altercation with a traffic policeman in Beverly Hills, CA] You just cannot drive a Rolls-Royce in Beverly Hills anymore because they have it in for you.
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A girl must marry for love, and keep on marrying until she finds it.
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Conrad Hilton was very generous to me in the divorce settlement. He gave me 5,000 Gideon Bibles.
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I don't remember anybody's name. How do you think the "dahling" thing got started?
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Getting divorced just because you don't love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do.
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I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.
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Husbands are like fires. They go out when unattended.
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Macho does not prove mucho.
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To a smart girl men are no problem--they're the answer.
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[when asked how many husbands she would had] You mean other than my own?
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I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.
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As a woman, you have to choose between your fanny or your face. I chose my face.
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A man in love is incomplete until he is married. Then he is finished.
Zsa Zsa was born Sári Gábor in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, the daughter of Vilmos Gabor (born Farkas Miklós Grün) and Jolie Gabor, Countess de Szigethy (born Janszieka Tilleman). Her parents were both from Jewish families.
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She was a first cousin, once removed, of Annette Lantos (born Tilleman), the wife of U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos, of California. Her mother and Annette were first cousins.
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Along with her native Hungarian, she speaks English, French, German and Italian.
Her daughter, Francesca Hilton, died at age 67 of a massive stroke on January 5, 2015. She was cremated and her ashes were interred beside Gabor's sister, Eva Gabor, at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
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Reported to be living at a luxury suite in the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. [September 2004]
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Living with, and cared for by, her husband at their home in Bel Air, California (a property once owned by Elvis Presley). [June 2005]
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Zsa Zsa's real birth name is Sari after Sari Fedak, who was at the time Hungary's most celebrated actress.
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Zsa Zsa arrived in Hollywood in 1941 with a letter of introduction to Basil and Ouida Rathbone, who granted her admittance into the upper echelons of Hollywood society.
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She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.
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Gave birth to her only child at age 30, a daughter Francesca Hilton on March 10, 1947. Child's father is her second husband, Conrad Hilton.
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Both she and her third husband, George Sanders played "Special Guest Villains" in Batman (1966).
Recovering from hip replacement surgery after falling from her bed and breaking her hip at her home in Bel Air, California on July 17, 2010.
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Had a very-public romance with Porfirio Rubirosa while married to George Sanders. Rubirosa returned to Gabor after divorcing Barbara Hutton, just 53 days after their wedding. In 1954, Gabor sported an eye patch, telling the press that Rubirosa had hit her in a fit of jealous rage.
Together with her husband Frédéric von Anhalt she adopted a few men. Among them are Marcus Eberhard Edward Prinz von Anhalt, Herzog zu Sachsen und Westfalen, Graf von Askanien (formerly known as Marcus Eberhardt, born about 1969, brothel owner, was adopted in April 2006); Prinz Oliver Leopold von Sachsen-Anhalt, Graf von Westfalen und Askanien (formerly known as Oliver Bendig, born about 1967, owner of two strip clubs in Los Angeles); Prinz Michael Maximilian von Anhalt, Herzog zu Sachsen und Westfalen, Graf von Askanien (formerly known as Michael Killer, born about 1967, owns health clubs); and a surgeon who doesn't want to be mentioned. All of them paid millions for their adoption.
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Strong doubts have been raised about her claim to the title of a German princess through her marriage to Prince Frédéric von Anhalt. Frederic's father, a policeman and commoner, paid elderly aristocrat Princess Marie-Auguste von Anhalt, daughter-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II, a considerable amount of money to adopt his son. Old European royalty does not recognize his title. Zsa Zsa's husband's real name is Hans Robert Lichtenberg. Prince or not, he does have the distinction of being married to her for longer than any of her previous spouses.
Once held up an episode of The New Hollywood Squares (1986) for about 45 minutes after breaking a fingernail.
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She and her famous sisters have racked up a total of 18 divorces (so far).
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Campaigned in 1968 and 1972 for Richard Nixon, who she described as "the most intelligent President of our time".
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On July 7, 2005, she suffered a stroke at her Bel-Air home and underwent emergency surgery to clear a blocked artery.
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Inducted into the B-Movie Hall of Fame on October 26, 2004.
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On November 27, 2002, an automobile accident in Los Angeles left her in a coma for a short time, and, subsequently paralyzed. She was a passenger riding in a vehicle that struck a light pole on Sunset Boulevard.
Once replaced five-time Tony Award winner, Julie Harris, on Broadway.
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Miss Hungary of 1936.
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In 1993, she and her husband were commanded, by a judge, to pay $2,000,000 to actress, Elke Sommer, because of false accusations that they had spoken of Elke.
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Her marriage to Frédéric von Anhalt awarded her the title Princess Von Anhalt, Duchess of Saxony. The legitimacy of this title is strongly questioned by many royal genealogists.
On June 14, 1989, she was arrested for slapping a police officer, Paul Kramer, in Beverly Hills, California. Kramer stopped her after noticing that her license tag on her automobile was no longer valid and expired. After a short but costly trial of $13,000 and a $12,350 fine, totaling $25,350. Eva Gabor spoke for her sister, at the trial. In September 1989, Zsa-Zsa was found guilty. She served three days in jail and was ordered to do 120 hours of community service, after her three days behind bars had expired.