Eva Gabor: The Other Gabor Sister And Her Unique Journey

She’s a Gabor. She owns a Rolls-Royce. She’s a lousy driver. And a police officer stopped her car for a traffic infraction recently.

Sound familiar?

“My friend yelled to me, ‘Don’t open your mouth!’ because that was all we needed,” recounts the Gabor sister. “So I ducked down and put a coat over my head.”

But the cop saw her anyway.

“Hi, Eva,” the officer greeted.

With that, she breathed a sigh of relief. “All I could think was, ‘Thank God,’ ” Eva Gabor murmurs.

Biography of Eva Gabor

Eva Gabor was born on February 11, 1919, in Budapest, Hungary. She was the youngest of the famous Gabor sisters, known for their glamour and high-profile marriages. Despite her more reserved public persona compared to her sister Zsa Zsa, Eva carved her own path in the entertainment world, becoming a beloved actress and entrepreneur.

Throughout her career, Eva became especially well-known for her role in the television series "Green Acres," where she showcased her comedic talents. She was also a successful businesswoman, serving as the chairman of a major wig company. Eva's life was filled with ups and downs, both personally and professionally, but she always managed to maintain her dignity and charm.

Life in the Shadows of Fame

These days more than ever, it’s not easy being Zsa Zsa’s younger sister. Especially when the 69-year-old Eva--known around town variously as The Other Gabor and even The “Good” Gabor--is always getting mixed up with her more notorious (to put it mildly) sibling. “Why should we be linked together, dah link? That annoys the hell out of me,” confesses Eva, for the first time breaking her silence about Double-Z’s recent trials and tribulations. “Because we have very different lives and what is white for her is black for me.”

Of course, she’s my sister and I love her. But I don’t necessarily approve of certain things she does, nor does she of what I do. I just think it’s so unfair, and I suffer a lot for it.” Well, suffer in the Hollywood sense, at least.

When last summer’s Beverly Hills brouhaha broke over The Slap Heard Round the World, Eva literally went into “serious hiding,” which meant hunkering down in her beatific Bel-Air mansion and cutting back on her many public appearances. And while she and Zsa Zsa talked by telephone every day during that affair, “we never discussed that other stuff,” she claims.

Public Scrutiny and Misunderstandings

Now, almost a year later, she’s still not free from any guilt-by-association because of her sister’s continuing courtroom antics. Just a few days before Zsa Zsa was reprimanded in Beverly Hills Municipal Court for not fulfilling her community service work as ordered, TV news stations in Los Angeles and elsewhere reported that “actress Eva Gabor” was suing Ralphs Grocery Co. because she had slipped and fallen while shopping in one of the chain’s supermarkets.

The next morning, “all my friends are calling and asking, ‘Are you all right?’ ” Eva complains, “and I don’t know what the hell is the matter with me!” After a little investigating, the actress found out that the Eva Gabor who had filed the lawsuit was a Los Angeles retiree with the same name, approximate birth date, and Hungarian ancestry.

But since the words Gabor and lawsuit go together in many minds, people assumed that Zsa Zsa’s love for legal wrangling was as contagious as a computer virus. “I wouldn’t sue anybody. And I’ve never sued anybody. It doesn’t run in my makeup,” explains Eva. “For me to have to go to court, I would faint. I would be so nervous I couldn’t stand it.”

The Unique Bond of Sisterhood

Still, the incident put a smile on Eva’s face, even if momentarily. “Because there’s no one in the world who doesn’t know Zsa Zsa. She’s the most famous woman today, I think. More famous than me, certainly,” the sister admits. “But I think that if I fall down and all the news has it, then I’m doing pretty well.”

Welcome to sibling rivalry--Gabor-style. It’s not as bad as many think. Rumors that they won’t appear at the same party together, or even step foot in one another’s manses (only a one-carat stone’s throw away from each other), are “nonsense,” Eva insists. “Two things I do every day: I talk to my sisters and my Mama.”

“That’s not totally true. They battle,” disputes Merv Griffin. “They may go a week where they don’t speak.” Yes, they talk the same (about everything except their ages), dress the same (flouncy frills), live the same (ultra-lavishly), marry the same (over and over), and deny the same (face lifts and what-else-have-you).