Born
in Hungary, Jolie escaped a dull first marriage that had dashed her own
hopes of stardom. She got her revenge by pushing her daughters to fame
and fortune. Ab-Fab Jolie Gabor Jolie Gabor was the matriarch of the extremely fabulous Gabor family, whose members included those stellar talents, Eva, Magda and Zsa Zsa.
Born
in Hungary, Jolie escaped a dull first marriage that had dashed her own
hopes of stardom. She got her revenge by pushing her daughters to fame
and fortune.
“You will be rich, famous and married to kings,” she told them - and to that end insisted that they should master every possible accomplishment. “I wanted them not just to skate,” she said, “but to skate like Sonja Henie; and I wanted them to play the piano so magnificently that a Rubinstein would be green with envy.”
Jolie was named Miss Hungary in 1936 (age 35 and married) but her marriage to a jeweler was rocky. She finally made it to America, in 1939, divorced and with only $100 and a big diamond to her name.
But daughter Zsa Zsa had gotten to New York first and married hotel baron Conrad Hilton. That made a total of two marriages for Jolie and her three daughters by 1939. Currently the figure stands at 21, thought to be the modern record for a Hungarian family.
Of her daughters’ many husbands, she had special affection for the actor George Sanders, who over the years married and divorced both Magda and Zsa Zsa. “You know, Jolie,” Sanders wrote to her, “I think marriage is for very simple people, not for great artists like us.” Zsa Zsa, however, cast a colder eye on her third husband. “Ven I vas married to George Sanders, ve vere both in love with him. I fell out of love vith him, but he didn’t.”
With Zsa Zsa’s support Jolie set herself up with a jewelry shop on Madison. Business boomed thanks to her daughters’ rapidly-developing celebrity. Like her daughters she called everyone “dahlingk”, loved parties and was always ready to pawn a diamond to pay for champagne. “Life’s a gamble,” she held, “you must know how to play it.” She spoke of her daughters with pride, yet she knew what was due to herself: “I too am a success.”
She published an eponymous autobiography and a cookbook of her family’s favorite recipes, which are heavy on the paprika and sour cream. The book included a fascinating recipe for stuffed goose necks and showed a disturbing tendency to use hot dogs as ingredients in stews.
Jolie Gabor died April 2, age 96.
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