Eva Gabor
Eva Gabor | |
|---|---|
| File:Eva gabor.jpg | |
| Spouse(s) | Erik Drimmer (1939-1942) Charles Isaacs (1943-1949) John Williams (1956-1956) Richard Brown (1959-1972) Frank Jameson (1973-1983) |
Eva Gabor (in Hungarian Gábor Éva) (February 11, 1919 – July 4, 1995) was a Hungarian actress.
Early life
She was born in Budapest, the daughter of Vilmos and Jolie Gabor (Janci Tilleman). Her elder sisters were Magda Gabor and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Gabor's maternal family was Jewish and her maternal grandparents died in the Holocaust. Biographers speculate that her paternal family were originally Jewish as well, but converted to Roman Catholicism in order to assimilate, although this has not been confirmed.
Career
Eva was the first in her family to immigrate to America. She moved with her first husband, Swedish physician Eric Drimmer. Her first movie role was a bit part in Forced Landing (1941) at Paramount Pictures. She acted in movies and on the stage throughout the 1950s. In 1965, she commenced her best known role in the TV sitcom Green Acres, a Paul Henning production in which she portrayed Lisa Douglas, the New York wife of Oliver Wendell Douglas played by Eddie Albert who left New York City to live on a farm. This was a hit show for several seasons, ending in 1971, and is still seen in syndication.
In later years, she did notable voice-over work for Disney movies, providing the European-accented voices of Duchess in The Aristocats, Miss Bianca in The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under, and the Queen of Time in the Sanrio film, Nutcracker Fantasy.
She was also a successful businesswoman marketing the "Eva Gabor Wigs" and "The Eva Gabor Look".
Marriages
Like her sisters, Éva was known for her string of marriages; she had five:
- 1939–1942 Eric Drimmer, a Swedish physician
- 1943–1950 Charles Isaacs
- 1956–1956 John Williams, an American physician
- 1959–1972 Richard Brown
- 1973–1983 Frank Gard Jameson
For several years, Eva lived platonically with businessman/entertainer Merv Griffin, attending events together for publicity purposes. They lived together until Eva's death in 1995.
Death
Eva Gabor died at the age of 76 in Los Angeles, California, from respiratory failure due to complications from food poisoning. She died on July 4th (American Independence Day) in 1995. Although the youngest of the three sisters, she was the first of them to die. In 1997, her 100 year old mother died. One year earlier her sister Magda died at the age of 82, 5 days before her 83rd birthday. Eva is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California. She is buried very close to her Green Acres co-star Eddie Albert.
Filmography
- Forced Landing (1941)
- New York Town (1941)
- Pacific Blackout (1941)
- Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
- A Royal Scandal (1945)
- The Wife of Monte Cristo (1946)
- Song of Surrender (1949)
- Love Island (1952)
- Paris Model (1953)
- Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl (1954)
- The Mad Magician (1954)
- The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)
- Artists and Models (1955)
- My Man Godfrey (1957)
- The Truth About Women (1957)
- Don't Go Near the Water (1957)
- Gigi (1958)
- It Started with a Kiss (1959)
- A New Kind of Love (1963)
- Youngblood Hawke (1964)
- The Aristocats (1970) (voice)
- The Rescuers (1977) (voice)
- Nutcracker Fantasy (1979) (voice)
- The Princess Academy (1987)
- The Rescuers Down Under (1990) (voice)
- The People vs. Zsa Zsa Gabor (1991) (documentary)
Television Work
- The Eva Gabor Show (1953-1954)
- Mickey and the Contessa (1963) (unsold pilot)
- Green Acres (1965-1971)
- Wake Me When The War Is Over (1969)
- Almost Heaven (1978)
- Tales of the Klondike (1981) (miniseries)
- The Edge of Night (cast member in 1983)
- Bridges to Cross (1986) (canceled after 3 months)
- Return to Green Acres (1990)
- The Legend of the Beverly Hillbillies (1993)
Bibliography
- Orchids & Salami, by Eva Gabor, Doubleday, 1954.
- Gaborabilia, by Anthony Turtu and Donald F Reuter, Three Rivers Press, 2001. ISBN 0-609-80759-5