Memorials

[mick]

Zsa Zsa Gabor pioneered the art of being famous simply for being famous, which generations of dubious starlets have emulated ever since. She was an open book, having crafted a career from multiple marriages, conspicuous wealth and lavish wisdom about the opposite sex and the good life. And yet there remained an air of exotic mystery, borne perhaps by the accent, the glamour, her coyness about her real age and her insistence on always appearing perfectly coifed.

If there was a real Zsa Zsa, the world never knew her. She was more of a sparkling, blonde idea.

The jet-setting Hungarian actress and tabloid queen died Sunday at her Los Angeles home after a heart attack, her husband, Fredric von Anhalt, said. She was 99.