| Eva Gabor | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 February 1919 Budapest, Hungary |
| Died | 4 July 1995 (age 76) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Éva Gábor |
| Occupation | Actress, businesswoman, socialite |
| Years active | 1941–94 |
Eva Gabor (11 February 1919 – 4 July 1995) was a Hungarian-born American socialite and actress. She was widely known for her role on the 1965 to 1971 television sitcom, Green Acres as Lisa Douglas, the wife of Eddie Albert's character, Oliver Wendell Douglas. She portrayed Duchess in the 1970 Disney film The Aristocats, and Miss Bianca in Disney's The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. Gabor had success as an actress in film, Broadway and television; she was also successful in business, marketing wigs, clothing, and beauty products. Her elder sisters, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Magda Gabor, were also American actresses and socialites.
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Born in Budapest of Jewish descent, Gabor was the third and last daughter of Vilmos Gábor (1884–1962), a soldier, and Jolie Gábor (died 1997), a jeweler.[1] She was the first Gabor sister to emigrate to the United States. She moved with her first husband, a Swedish osteopath, Eric V. Drimmer in 1939, shortly after they married in London. Her first movie role was in the United States, a bit part in Forced Landing at Paramount Pictures. She acted in movies and on the stage throughout the 1950s.
During the 1950s, she appeared in several "A"-movies including The Last Time I Saw Paris, starring Elizabeth Taylor, and Artists and Models, which featured Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. These roles were bit parts, however, she would manage to shine. In 1953 she was given her own television talk show, The Eva Gabor Show. It ran for one season (1953-54).
Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, she appeared on televison and in movies. She appeared in one episode of the TV series Justice, and was on the game show What's My Line?, as the "mystery challenger". Her film appearances during this era included a remake of My Man Godfrey, Gigi, and It Started with a Kiss.
A 2007 article in the American magazine Vanity Fair called Gabor "a game performer with a wholesome, even cheerful sensuality that can undercut the Continental sophistication that was supposedly her calling card—she can come across like Sally Field doing a party impression of Marlene Dietrich. You can see the effort. She was probably at her best on television in Green Acres, playing a cross between Gracie Allen and herself."[2]
In 1965 Gabor began the role for which she is best-remembered, Lisa Douglas, whose attorney husband (Oliver Wendell Douglas, played by Eddie Albert), decides to leave the city. They buy and run a farm in a rural community, forcing Lisa to leave her beloved New York City, in the Paul Henning situation comedy-sitcom Green Acres, which aired on CBS.
Gabor's role of Lisa was that of a rich, somewhat spoiled, and pampered socialite, who disapproves of farm life. However, she learns to live with it, trying to become a cook and a good housewife, while Oliver runs the farm. Lisa has a great deal of love for her chickens, naming one Henrietta and another Alice. She does not appear in casual clothing, always wearing glamorous, designer frocks around the farm. She does dress more circumspectly, however, when appearing in public with her husband. She constitutes the polite interface with the local "personalities", whose backward ways usually provoke Oliver to anger or petty frustration.
Green Acres became an automatic success, finishing in the 11th spot during its first season (1965-66). It achieved greater popularity during the second season (1966-67), ending in the 6th spot. By the third season (1967-68) its popularity slowed; the show ended in the 16th slot. During its last three seasons (1968-1971), the show never again ranked in the top 30 programs. The series was cancelled in 1971, after six seasons, due to the "Rural Purge" decision by CBS.
The "Rural Purge" was CBS trying to attract younger viewers. In doing this, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, The Beverly Hillbillies, Hee Haw, Mayberry R.F.D., Lassie, and The Jim Nabors Hour, were cancelled due to their rural images, and due to their low audience size in the young demographic; most viewers of such shows were at least 40 years old. CBS saw that younger viewers would become interested in shows that had been around for some time, therefore, countless "rural" series were dropped in the late 1960s and early 1970s, replaced by shows skewed toward younger viewers.
Gabor did 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.
From 1983-84 she reunited with Albert on Broadway as Olga in You Can't Take It with You.
In 1972 Gabor launched the Eva Gabor fashion collection; the clothes were the work of Luis Estevez, a Cuban-born, Coty-award-winning fashion designer.[3][4][2]
The three Gabor sisters were known for their numerous marriages. Eva Gabor was married 5 times:
Gabor also had affairs with Frank Sinatra, Glenn Ford, and Tyrone Power.[16]
Gabor died on 4 July 1995 due to respiratory failure and pneumonia in Los Angeles, following a fall in bathtub.[17]. The fall occurred in Mexico, where she had been on vacation.
Although the youngest of the three sisters, she was the first to die. Her mother Jolie died on 1 April 1997 and her sister Magda died on 6 June 1997. As of 2012 Zsa Zsa is still living.
Gabor is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. She is buried near Eddie Albert, who died on 26 May 2005 (age 99).
| Plays | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Date | Closing Date | Title | Role | Theatre | |
| 24 January 1950 | 14 July 1951 | The Happy Time | Mignonette | Plymouth | |
| 26 March 1956 | 31 March 1956 | Little Glass Clock | Gabrielle | John Golden | |
| 31 January 1958 | 8 February 1958 | Present Laughter | Joanna Lyppiatt | Belasco | |
| 18 March 1963 | 9 November 1963 | Tovarich | Tatiana | Broadway Majestic Winter Garden |
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| 4 April 1983 | 1 January 1984 | You Can't Take It with You | Olga | Plymouth Royale |
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