Classic Rant #315 (August 19, 2010): Zsa Zsa Ta-Ta (Not Yet, Dahling!)

No, Zsa Zsa Gabor is still hanging onto life as she battles numerous maladies.

I give this woman a lot of credit. She turned down another operation to prolong her life. She has decided that her 90 years old-plus body has had enough, and will live out her remaining days at home.

Zsa Zsa is a strong woman, and her resilience, even at the end of her life, shows that she is a fighter all the way.

How else would you explain her life? She was a star of something, but few could ever figure out what that was.

She was one of three Hungarian-born sisters: Magda, the non-star sister, Eva, who was a star, at least on the small screen, and Zsa Zsa, who was a star of her own making.

The sisters left Hungary when they were persecuted for being Jewish.

The beautiful Zsa Zsa was said to have had numerous affairs with rich and powerful men during the 1930s and 1940s, and she moved up the ladder in Hollywood, appearing in numerous films, including the original "Moulin Rouge."

But she was making more of a name for herself as a socialite, and all the celebrity frills that accompanied her being one of the rich followed her around for the rest of her life, even today, as she supposedly is on her death bed.

She added to this designation by being something of an eccentric. Her appearances on every talk show during the 1950s and 1960s simply added to the frenzy about her being a rich and powerful socialite, but for years, she actually had numerous financial problems, even though she had immense wealth which seemingly went up and down almost by the day.

Often mixed up with younger sister Eva (Eva was on "Green Acres," not Zsa Zsa), she became more eccentric as she got older, and was prime fodder for shows such as Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show."

Her name Zsa Zsa was the punchline for numerous jokes, and became as famous as such one-name wonders as Cher and Liberace, much of it for her decadence, or supposed decadence.

Whether it was slapping a policeman or going to court against her only child who she thought was robbing her, Zsa Zsa was in the headlines for decades, less as an actress and more as an eccentric, or what the general public considered to be a "celebrity": supposed wealth, fast and famous friends, the bodacious wearing of what we now call "bling," etc.

Yes, she was certainly the Paris Hilton of her time: not much talent, but smart enough to always get her name in the newspapers. And she, in fact, was a Hilton for a period in her life, the wife of Conrad Hilton, who she claimed raped her, a situation that produced her only child, and there was acrimony between mother and daughter for years.

Now, we hear that since she has been home, she is actually in improving health.

To that, I say "Fantastic!"

Zsa Zsa lives! Will there be more headlines coming her way?

You better believe it. And I am sure that's the way she wants it.

(Just one aside: it was reported by the press that while she was in the hospital and supposedly on her death bed, she asked for a priest to deliver her last rites. Being Jewish, I don't understand why she asked for a priest, but again, this just added to the eccentricities that Zsa Zsa has exhibited for decades.)