Magda Gabor Explained

Magda Gabor
Birth Name:	Magdolna Gábor
Birth Date:	11 June 1915
Birth Place:	Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Death Place:	Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Resting Place:	Desert Memorial Park
Spouse:
Occupation:	Actress, socialite
Years Active:	1937–1991
Parents:	Vilmos Gábor Jolie Gabor
Relatives:	Zsa Zsa Gabor (sister) Eva Gabor (sister)

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),^[1] and a soldier, Vilmos Gábor (1881–1962), she was born in 1915 in Budapest. Her parents were both from Jewish families.^{[2] [3] [4]} She is listed in Hungary: Jewish Names from the Central Zionist Archives, under her first married name, as "Magda Bychowsky".^[5]

During World War II, Gabor was reported to have been the fiancée of the Portuguese ambassador to Hungary, Carlos Sampaio Garrido;^[6] another source claims she was his mistress and another claims she was his aide.^{[7] [8] [9]} 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.^[10] 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.^[5]

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.^[11]
• 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.^[12]
• 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".^{[13] [14] [15]} They wed in Franklin, New Jersey. He died of cancer in 1967.^[16]
• 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.^[17]
• 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.^[17]

Death

Gabor died on June 20 1997, five days before her 82nd birthday and two months after the death of her mother.^[18] The cause was kidney failure. She was interred next to her mother in Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.^{[19] [20]}

Filmography

Year	Title	Notes
1937	Modern Girls	Film
1953	Four Star Revue	Television
1953–1954	The Eva Gabor Show
1955	The Colgate Comedy Hour

See also

• Gabor sisters

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Book: Anthony . Turtu . Donald F. . Reuter . Gaborabilia: An Illustrated Celebration of the Fabulous, Legendary Gabor Sisters . Three Rivers Press . 2001 . 0-609-80759-5 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Hungarian-Jewish Family Tree of Zsa Zsa Gabor – Nick Gombash's Genealogy Blog. April 20, 2012 .
2. Web site: Reflecting on the life of Zsa Zsa Gabor. August 17, 2010. July 11, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161222121348/http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/social-diary/2010/reflecting-on-the-life-of-zsa-zsa-gabor. December 22, 2016. dead.
3. Web site: Jews in the News: Bonni Tischler, Steven Spielberg and Vilmos Gabor – Tampa Jewish Federation.
4. Web site: It's a Mad, Mad, Zsa Zsa World. Leslie. Bennetts. . September 6, 2007 .
5. The online database is based in Provo, Utah: The Generations Network, Inc. (2008); information accessed at http://www.ancestry.com on December 30, 2011.
6. Web site: Dr. Carlos Almeida Afonseca de Sampayo Garrido. conVistaAlMar.com.ar.
7. Relationship with Dr. Carlos Almeida Afonseca de Sampaio Garrido cited in "The Most Wives Club" article in Palm Springs Life (1996)
8. Relationship with Dr. Carlo de Sampaio Garrido referenced during an interview with Magda's sister, Zsa Zsa, as cited in Vanity Fair
9. Zsa Zsa Gábor: my story, written for me by Gerold Frank (World Publishing Co., 1960), p. 161.
10. Paul Preston, Doves of War: Four Women of Spain (UPNE, 2002), p. 106.
11. "The Billboard", August 23, 1947, p. 53.
12. "Mrs. Magda Gabor Married", The New York Times, July 15, 1949
13. "Arthur Gallucci, Contractor Here; Chief of Building Concern, Active in Charities, Dies", The New York Times, January 24, 1967.
14. "Magda Gabor Weds in Jersey", The New York Times, April 2, 1956.
15. Jolie Gabor, with Cindy Adams, Jolie Gabor (Mason/Charter, 1975)
16. "Arthur Gallucci, Contractor HereChief of Building Concern, Active in Charities, Dies", The New York Times, January 24, 1967
17. "Notes on People", The New York Times, February 19, 1975.
18. Web site: Glamour and Goulash. Vanity Fair. July 2001.
19. Book: Brooks. Patricia. Laid to Rest in California: a guide to the cemeteries and grave sites of the rich and famous. Chapter 8: East L.A. and the Desert. 238. 2006. Globe Pequot Press. Guilford, CT. 978-0762741014. Brooks. Jonathan. 70284362.
20. https://books.google.com/books?id=dtUqQKw2H9EC&dq=magda+gabor+desert+memorial&pg=PA141 Explorer's Guide