Magda Gabor

{{Short description|Hungarian-American socialite and actress (1915–1997)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Magda Gabor

| image = Magdagabor.jpg

| birth_name = Magdolna Gábor

| birth_date = {{birth date|1915|6|11}}

| birth_place = Budapest, Austria-Hungary

| death_date = {{death date and age|1997|6|6|1915|6|11}}

| death_place = Palm Springs, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Desert Memorial Park

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Jan Bychowski|1937|1944|reason=died}}
{{marriage|William Rankin |1946|1947|reason=divorce}}
{{marriage|Sidney Robert Warren |1949|1950|reason=divorce}}
{{marriage|Tony Gallucci |1957|1967|reason=died}}
{{marriage|George Sanders|1970|1971|reason=annulled}}
{{marriage|Tibor Heltai |1972|1975|reason=divorce}}

}}

| occupation = Actress, socialite

| years_active = 1937–1991

| parents = Vilmos Gábor
Jolie Gabor

| relatives = Zsa Zsa Gabor (sister)
Eva Gabor (sister)
{{nowrap|Francesca Hilton (niece)
Tom Lantos (cousin-in law)}}

}}

Magdolna "Magda" Gabor (June 11, 1915 – June 6, 1997) was a Hungarian-American socialite and actress, and the elder sister of Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor.

Early life

The eldest daughter of a jeweler, Jolie (1896–1997),{{cite web|url=http://nickmgombash.blogspot.ro/2012/04/hungarian-jewish-family-tree-of-zsa-zsa.html|title=The Hungarian-Jewish Family Tree of Zsa Zsa Gabor – Nick Gombash's Genealogy Blog|date=April 20, 2012 }} and a soldier, Vilmos Gábor (1881–1962), she was born in 1915 in Budapest. Her parents were both from Jewish families.{{cite web|url=http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/social-diary/2010/reflecting-on-the-life-of-zsa-zsa-gabor|title=Reflecting on the life of Zsa Zsa Gabor|date=August 17, 2010|access-date=July 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222121348/http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/social-diary/2010/reflecting-on-the-life-of-zsa-zsa-gabor|archive-date=December 22, 2016|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishtampa.com/jews-in-the-news/jews-in-the-news-bonni-tischler-steven-spielberg-vilmos-gabor|title=Jews in the News: Bonni Tischler, Steven Spielberg and Vilmos Gabor – Tampa Jewish Federation}}{{cite web|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2007/10/zsazsa200710|title=It's a Mad, Mad, Zsa Zsa World|first=Leslie|last=Bennetts|website=Vanity Fair |date=September 6, 2007 }} She is listed in Hungary: Jewish Names from the Central Zionist Archives, under her first married name, as "Magda Bychowsky".The online database is based in Provo, Utah: The Generations Network, Inc. (2008); information accessed at http://www.ancestry.com on December 30, 2011.

During World War II, Gabor was reported to have been the fiancée of the Portuguese ambassador to Hungary, Carlos Sampaio Garrido;{{cite web|url=http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/saviors/diplomats/list/dr-carlos-almeida-afonseca-de|title=Dr. Carlos Almeida Afonseca de Sampayo Garrido|last=conVistaAlMar.com.ar}} another source claims she was his mistress and another claims she was his aide.Relationship with Dr. Carlos Almeida Afonseca de Sampaio Garrido cited in [http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/December-1996/The-Most-Wives-Club "The Most Wives Club" article in Palm Springs Life (1996)]Relationship with Dr. Carlo de Sampaio Garrido referenced during an interview with Magda's sister, Zsa Zsa, as cited in [http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2001/07/zsa-zsa-200107 Vanity Fair]Zsa Zsa Gábor: my story, written for me by Gerold Frank (World Publishing Co., 1960), p. 161. After she fled to Portugal in 1944, following the Nazi occupation of Hungary with Sampaio's assistance, she was reportedly the mistress of a Spanish nobleman, José Luis de Vilallonga.Paul Preston, Doves of War: Four Women of Spain (UPNE, 2002), p. 106. Gabor arrived in the United States in February 1946, from Natal, Brazil. Within a year of her arrival she married an American citizen, William Rankin, and remained in the country.

Marriages

Gabor was married six times. She was widowed twice, divorced three times, and one marriage was annulled. All the unions were childless. Her husbands, in chronological order, were:

Jan Bychowsky (m. November 19, 1937 – May 22, 1944; his death), a reputed Polish count and RAF pilot. Gabor gave her name as "Magda de Bychowsky" and her marital status as divorced on a February 11, 1946, airline passenger manifest, accessed on ancestry.com, December 30, 2011; according to this form, she had left her city of residence (Lisbon, Portugal), where she lived at 17 Buenos Aires, and arrived in New York City to visit her family.
William M. Rankin (m. December 3, 1946 – August 11, 1947; divorced) an American playwright and screenwriter (The Harvey Girls, among other films); they divorced in Los Angeles in 1947. He was born on March 31, 1900, and died in March 1966."The Billboard", August 23, 1947, p. 53.
Sidney Robert Warren (m. July 14, 1949 – 1950; divorced) an attorney. They married in Riverhead, Long Island, New York, in 1949, and divorced the following year."Mrs. Magda Gabor Married", The New York Times, July 15, 1949
Arthur "Tony" Gallucci (m. April 1, 1956 – January 22, 1967; his death), president of Samuel Gallucci & Son, "one of the oldest building contracting concerns in the United States"."Arthur Gallucci, Contractor Here; Chief of Building Concern, Active in Charities, Dies", The New York Times, January 24, 1967."Magda Gabor Weds in Jersey", The New York Times, April 2, 1956.Jolie Gabor, with Cindy Adams, Jolie Gabor (Mason/Charter, 1975) They wed in Franklin, New Jersey. He died of cancer in 1967."Arthur Gallucci, Contractor Here{{snd}}Chief of Building Concern, Active in Charities, Dies", The New York Times, January 24, 1967
George Sanders (m. December 5, 1970 – January 6, 1971; annulled) a British actor, who had previously been married to her sister Zsa Zsa. They married in Riverside, California."Notes on People", The New York Times, February 19, 1975.
Tibor R. Heltai (m. August 5, 1972 – 1975; divorced) an economic consultant who became a real-estate broker. They married in Southampton, New York, in 1972, separated in June 1973 and divorced two years later in 1975.

Death

Gabor died on June 20, 1997, five days before her 82nd birthday and two months after the death of her mother.{{cite web|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2001/07/zsa-zsa-200107|title=Glamour and Goulash|publisher=Vanity Fair|date=July 2001}} The cause was kidney failure. She was interred next to her mother in Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.{{cite book|last1=Brooks|first1=Patricia|title=Laid to Rest in California: a guide to the cemeteries and grave sites of the rich and famous|chapter=Chapter 8: East L.A. and the Desert|page=238|year=2006|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|location=Guilford, CT|isbn=978-0762741014|last2=Brooks|first2=Jonathan|oclc= 70284362}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=dtUqQKw2H9EC&dq=magda+gabor+desert+memorial&pg=PA141 Explorer's Guide]

Filmography

Year ! Title ! Notes
class="wikitable sortable"
1937	Modern Girls	Film
1953	Four Star Revue	rowspan="3"\| Television
1953–1954	The Eva Gabor Show
1955	The Colgate Comedy Hour

References

Notes

Bibliography

{{cite book |first1= Anthony |last1= Turtu |first2= Donald F. |last2= Reuter |title= Gaborabilia: An Illustrated Celebration of the Fabulous, Legendary Gabor Sisters |publisher= Three Rivers Press |date= 2001 |isbn= 0-609-80759-5 }}