1. Headline
  1. Headline
Image: Zsa Zsa Gabor
AP file
Zsa Zsa Gabor is partially paralyzed from a 2002 car accident, which required her to use a wheelchair. She also reportedly had a stroke in 2005.
TODAY staff and wire
updated 7/19/2010 5:10:53 PM ET 2010-07-19T21:10:53

Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband thinks she'll be watching "Jeopardy" again in no time.

Prince Frederic von Anhalt, the 93-year-old actress' eccentric husband, told a throng of reporters gathered outside their Bel-Air home Monday that Gabor underwent successful surgery to replace her right hip, which she broke over the weekend while watching her favorite game show. He said she tumbled to the floor when she tried to answer the phone.

"It's just bad luck," von Anhalt said. "It could happen to anyone."

Gabor, who has to use a wheelchair after being partially paralyzed in a 2002 car accident, was in surgery for 3½ hours at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to von Anhalt. He said she remained heavily sedated but in good spirits Monday and would likely be recuperating in the hospital for four or five days before returning home.

  1. More Entertainment stories
    1. Autistic ballerina dances her way into hearts

      In a popular YouTube video, the beaming little ballerina dances an entire four-minute routine seemingly perfectly, matchin...

    2. Every on-screen drink in 'Mad Men' in 5 minutes
    3. See the 'Dancing' stars' most memorable moves
    4. Emmy's biggest snubs? Cranston, Hamm, more
    5. 'Toy Story' toys burn up in prank on mom

The 65-year-old socialite entered California governor's race as an independent in the primary but has not yet filed to run in the general election. His platform includes legalizing marijuana and prostitution and lifting the ban on Cuban cigars, then taxing them all. He said he would hold off on his campaign if Gabor's condition does not improve.

"If my wife doesn't recover the way I would like to see it, he said, "then I will skip it."

His 1986 marriage to Gabor was his seventh and her ninth. Before von Anhalt met her, he worked as a bank clerk, screenwriter and sauna manager, acquiring his royal title along the way. After his parents died, he said he was adopted by a German princess who gave him the title of Prince Frederic von Anhalt of Munich, the Duke of Saxony.

According to her biography at The Internet Movie Database (IMDB), Gabor was born in Budapest as Sari Gabor and followed her sister, Eva ("Green Acres"), to Hollywood.

Gabor broke into movies in 1952 in MGM's "Lovely to Look At," IMDB said. Her big break, it said, was starring opposite Jose Ferrer in "Moulin Rouge." Other '50s films included "Death of a Scoundrel" and "The Man Who Wouldn't Talk."

Her 1991 role in "The Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell of Fear" poked fun at a 1990 incident when she was convicted of slapping a police officer in the face during a traffic dispute and spent several days in jail, IMDB said.

She is also famous for a reported nine marriages.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Discuss:

Discussion comments

,

More on TODAY.com

None
  1. Farm battered by tornadoes: ‘There is nothing there’

    An Oklahoma local farm home to hundreds of animals is still reeling from the storm, and staffers are trying to figure out how many animals were lost.

    5/21/2013 9:07:47 PM +00:00 2013-05-21T21:07:47
  2. Oklahoma staggered by ‘storm of storms’
  3. Tales from the tornado: First-person accounts from survivors
  4. Orr Family Farm
None
  1. 9-year-old girl among first tornado victims identified

    Third-grader Ja’Nae Hornsby is among the first of the Oklahoma victims to be identified. Hornsby was one of the students who perished when the tornado hit Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla. on Monday afternoon.

    5/22/2013 1:32:38 AM +00:00 2013-05-22T01:32:38
None
  1. Arias pleads for her life: 'I want everyone's pain to stop'

    Asking the jury that convicted her of murder to now let her live, Jodi Arias said in a Phoenix courtroom Tuesday that she never meant to cause her victim’s family so much pain — and that if she was given a life sentence she would contribute to society.

    5/21/2013 8:03:52 PM +00:00 2013-05-21T20:03:52
None
  1. Nate Billings / AP

    Educators emerge as heroes in Oklahoma

    5/21/2013 3:59:53 PM +00:00 2013-05-21T15:59:53
None
  1. Adrees Latif / Reuters

    Search for survivors: 48-hour window of opportunity

    5/21/2013 10:50:15 PM +00:00 2013-05-21T22:50:15