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Zsa Zsa Gabor Dead: Hungarian Actress and Socialite Dies at 99

Zsa Zsa Gabor died of heart failure on Sunday, December 18, a family friend confirms to Us Weekly. She was 99.

The Hungarian actress and socialite’s longtime publicist, Ed Lozzi, told Variety she died in her Bel Air mansion in L.A. and had been on life support for five years.

Zsa Zsa Gabor has died at the age of 99
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor attends 14th Annual Friar’s Club Lifetime Achievement Awards Gala on March 28, 1993, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

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Born in Hungary in 1917, the former beauty queen emigrated to the United States with her glamorous sister Eva in the early 1940s. Shortly after, she met hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, Paris Hilton‘s grandfather. The couple married in April 1942 and had one child together, daughter Francesca, who died after suffering a massive stroke in January 2015 at age 67. Gabor and Hilton divorced in 1947.

Gabor made her big-screen debut with a supporting role in the 1952 film Lovely to Look At. She later starred in John Huston’s adaptation of Moulin Rouge (1952), The Story of Three Loves (1953), The Girl in the Kremlin (1957) and Orson Welles’ classic Touch of Evil (1958).

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor attends First Annual MGM Girls Reunion Party on Aug. 10, 1992, at Tse Yang Restaurant in Beverly Hills.

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Throughout her career, the Hungarian beauty was known for her flirtatious personality. She was married nine times, most recently to Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, with whom she tied the knot in 1986.

Gabor was also a tabloid fixture and was often called the original Kim Kardashian. In 1989, she infamously made headlines for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer, an incident she later spoofed in several on-screen cameos. She was arrested for assault and was sentenced to three days in jail.

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In 2002, the vivacious star started dealing with health issues following a serious car accident in Los Angeles that left her in a coma for several days. She survived strokes in 2005 and 2007 and underwent multiple surgeries in recent years. In 2011, Gabor’s right leg was amputated above the knee to save her from a gangrenous infection caused by an untreated blood clot. In February 2016, she was hospitalized for a feeding tube–related lung infection.

Gabor is survived by her husband and their 49-year-old son, businessman Marcus Prinz von Anhalt.

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