# Are the Gabor sisters known in Hungary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** actor-characters\ **Created:** [May 2, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477 "2023-05-02T18:03:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/1 "2023-05-02T18:03:55Z")
The Gabor sisters (Zsa Zsa and Eva in particular) are probably the most famous Hungarians in the United States. They’re basically the archetypal glamorous European socialites. Are they know at hall in their homeland? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/2 "2023-05-02T18:53:16Z")
I was interested in the answer and did a little digging. This makes it sound like at least Zsa Zsa was. > **[Zsa Zsa Gabor - "Hungarian at heart" - The Budapest Times](https://www.budapesttimes.hu/people/zsa-zsa-gabor-hollywood-celebrity-was-a-hungarian-at-heart/)** > > The Hungarian-born Zsa Zsa Gabor was without any major talent in acting among the first to become famous simply for being famous. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/3 "2023-05-02T19:20:03Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > The Gabor sisters (Zsa Zsa and Eva in particular) are probably the most famous Hungarians in the United States. There are several Hungarians as or more well known in the US, including Harry Houdini, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, and Johnny Weissmuller. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/4 "2023-05-02T19:43:08Z")
None of those were famous because they were Hungarian celebrities, and I would guess that most people didn’t even know their nationality. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/5 "2023-05-02T19:46:33Z")
Probably Lugosi was. That sounds right. But none of this answers the actual question of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/6 "2023-05-02T20:18:12Z")
Most people thought Lugosi was Transylvanian 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/7 "2023-05-02T20:29:12Z")
In the 1990s, at least, Hungarians were acutely interested in people of Hungarian origin who had made it big abroad (and especially in America): people like Tony Curtis, Tom Lantos, George Pataki, and Monica Seles. However, when I talked to people in Hungary about Hungarian celebrities abroad, neither Zsa Zsa Gabor’s nor Eva Gabor’s name ever came up. I think I saw them mentioned in the newspaper once. Considering how well-known the Gabor sisters were in the United States, it was surprising that in Hungary, they were barely on most people’s radar as successful Hungarian-Americans. (Same with Bela Lugosi.) Source: American guy who lived in Hungary in the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/8 "2023-05-02T20:31:29Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Most people thought Lugosi was Transylvanian He wasn’t, but it was close. Transylvania was the region immediately east of where Lugosi was born, in what was western Hungary and is now eastern Romania. The Gabor sisters were from Budapest, about 185 miles away. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/9 "2023-05-02T20:34:38Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Transylvania was the region immediately east of where Lugosi was born, in what was western Hungary and is now eastern Romania. Do you have west and east flipped there? Or Hungary and Romania flipped? Or am I confused? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-gabor-sisters-known-in-hungary/983477/10 "2023-05-02T20:37:07Z")
No, you’re right. It was **eastern** Hungary and is now **western** Romania.