Happy Birthday, Zsa Zsa: Remembering Gabor's Greatest Hit

Zsa Zsa Gabor left the hospital today to celebrate her 94th birthday. This past year has been incredibly difficult for her, so let's take a moment to appreciate this amazing, irreverent woman.

Though she practically invented the entire notion of "famous for being famous," the Hungarian-born beauty (and onetime actress) is famous even among the famous for living it up, and for many years has lived in a gorgeous Bel Air villa in Los Angeles that was formerly owned by Elvis Presley -- a residence she and her husband are now selling to pay medical bills.

In her prime, however, Zsa Zsa was on a first-name basis with the world, calling every person she met "darling" (pronounced "dah-ling"). In 1958, she won a special Golden Globe for Most Glamorous Actress.

Gabor had nine husbands and was romantically linked at various times to Frank Sinatra, Rafael Trujillo Jr., William S. Paley, Mario Lanza, John F. Kennedy, Aly Kahn, Henry Kissinger, Richard Burton and Sean Connery.

She was also nearly as quotable as Yogi Berra, as these gems illustrate:

• "I don't remember anybody's name. How do you think the 'dahling' thing got started?"
• "I know nothing about sex, because I was always married."
• "I never hated a man enough to give him diamonds back."
• "I want a man who's kind and understanding. Is that too much to ask of a millionaire?"
• "I'm a great housekeeper. I get divorced. I keep the house."

But it's what happened in June 1989 that we'll probably remember her most for -- "The Slap Heard 'Round the World."

Beverly Hills motorcycle cop Paul Kramer pulled over the then 72-year-old Gabor for speeding while she drove her Rolls-Royce Corniche in Los Angeles. Kramer asked for her license and registration (which had allegedly expired) and she sped away.

The cop caught up with the feisty blonde, pulled her over again and then asked her to step from the car. She came out swinging (or rather, slapping) -- and the rest is tabloid history.

She was booked and charged with five counts in Beverly Hills: battery against an officer, disobeying an officer, driving without a registration, driving without a license and driving with an open container of alcohol (a flask of bourbon was found in her car). It later was revealed that her registration actually had been renewed and that the booze belonged to her husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt.

Shortly after, an enraged Gabor told reporters that her police experience "was like Nazi Germany."

Following a highly publicized trial, she was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 72 hours in jail, 120 hours of community service at a women's shelter and $13,000 in court costs.

Gabor was then quoted as saying, "He [Kramer] should have apologized and kissed my hand -- that's what a European gentleman would have done."

A couple of years later, Kramer sued Gabor for going on TV and saying that he was on drugs and that he was a homosexual, both of which he denied. They eventually settled out of court.

In 1990, the famous 1979 Rolls-Royce Corniche that Gabor had been driving was sold at auction for $90,000 in Las Vegas.

The slapping became one of the era's most talked about pop culture blowups, providing late-night monologue fodder for months.

There is no marker at 8551 Olympic Boulevard, at Le Doux Road, at the parking spot on the northwest corner just west of Le Cienega Boulevard. But perhaps there should be.

After all, it's the exact spot where Gabor slapped her way into cultural infamy -- the site of the biggest moment in the strange career of a celebrity who, although long past her heyday, still managed to hold the headlines.