BEL AIR—Hungarian-born actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor died of an apparent heart attack at her Bel Air home on Sunday, December 18. The actress was less than two months shy from celebrating her 100th birthday.

Her publicist, Ed Lozzi confirmed the news of the actresses’ passing to CBS Los Angeles news.

Gabor who was born on February 6, 1917 was originally from Hungary, but emigrated to the United States in 1941. She was named Miss Hungary in 1936. Gabor had two sisters, Magda and Eva, who were both actresses. She made her stage debut in the 1930s, when Austrian tenor Richard Tauber invited her to sing at his operetta, “Der singende Traum” (The Singing Dream).

She had her first acting role in the 1952 musical “Lovely to Look At” alongside Kathryn Grayson and Red Skelton. She parlayed that success to a role in the 1952 musical “Moulin Rouge” alongside Jose Ferrer and Suzanne Flon.

She was married a total of 9 times, including to Conrad Hilton, the man who established Hilton Hotels in 1942. She was also married to actor George Sanders. She had one daughter, Francesca Hilton who died from a stroke in 2015.  She purchased her Bel Air estate in 1970, a home that was once owned by Elvis Presley and that was built by Hollywood star Howard Hughes.

Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Over the past decade, Gabor suffered from numerous health complications such as an automobile accident in 2002, two strokes, one in 2005 and one in 2007, a hip fracture in 2010, a leg amputation in 2011, and lung infection on February 8, 2016, two days after her 99th birthday. The actress had been on life support for the past five years.

According to reports, the actress died of a heart attack. Gabor also appeared in the films “Lili,” “A Touch of Evil” and had cameos in the films “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors,” “The Beverly Hillbillies” and the 1996 sequel “A Very Brady Sequel.” She wrote the autobiography, “One Lifetime is Not Enough” in 1991.

Actress Barbara Eden tweeted, “Rest in peace Zsa Zsa Gabor. She and her sisters were lovely ladies who were always fun and delightful to be around.”

The actress leaves behind her husband Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, whom she married in 1986. Her signature catchphrase was ‘dahling.’

According to reports, her husband Prinz von Anhalt was by her side at the time of her death. He told reporters that “her heart just stopped.”

“We tried everything, but her heart just stopped and that was it. Even the ambulance tried very hard to get her back, but there was no way,” he shared with The Associated Press.

Written By Casey Jacobs and Alexandra Evans