My question is inspired by the recent passing of Zsa Zsa Gabor. Some people that I know are claiming that Zsa Zsa Gabor is the first person to be famous for being famous. Even NBC has an article proclaiming this.
I’m not so sure that Zsa Zsa Gabor really qualifies. Her Wikipedia entry states that she had already begun her career in acting in Hungary in the 1930s before moving to the USA. I see multiple movie and TV roles to her credit from the 50s through the 90s. If Gabor is famous for being famous, wouldn’t every entertainer meet the definition of famous for being famous?
Paris Hilton, on the other hand got her start with The Simple Life, in which she played herself. Her Wikipedia entry lists over half her movie and TV roles as playing herself. I’m still not sure how she became famous.
What do you all think? My vote goes to Paris Hilton as the first famous for being famous person. I’m not taking this one too seriously, it’s meant as a more lighthearted thread
The Gabors were famous for being famous, and famously so. You can find references to that effect in the 1950s and earlier. Acting was not any of their strong suits. They were pretty much the first modern “celebrities” - which I define as “famous for being famous” regardless of the occasional dabble at acting or singing or whatever.
Famous for being famous, I don’t think how you initially became famous matters. In the 70’s everyone knew Zsa Zsa, but not for roles in Hungary, or even movies she made in the 50’s. She was famous for being Zsa Zsa, sure she appeared on TV shows, Love Boat for example, but she was not famous for being on these shows, she was on these shows, because she was famous.
But the vast majority of people did not know her as an actress, they knew her simply as Zsa Zsa, who was guest starring on these shows.
Yeah, but read the Wikipedia article more closely. Zsa Zsa was Miss Hungary of 1936. She came to the U.S. in 1941 and married Conrad Hilton the next year, thus establishing herself a rich man’s beautiful wife almost immediately.
In addition to Gloria Vanderbilt, the famous for being famous social crowd also included Princess Margaret of England.
Before them there was Wallis Warfield Simpson, aka The Duchess of Windsor, whose main talents seemed to be good conversation and the ability to make wealthy men fall in love with ther.
And before her there was Lillie Langtry, first famous for being a “professional beauty” (along with other lovely socialites who usually ended up in bed with the Prince of Wales, i.e. Victoria’s son). And then there’s Nell Gwyn, although at least she was involved in the theatre before King Charles II took a fancy to her.
I suppose Zsa Zsa is particularly notable for being an independently famous woman, i.e. there were plenty of people who knew of her and knew she’d been married a lot, but probably couldn’t name any of her husbands - her fame was beyond any of her film roles or any man with whom she’d been associated.
Before seeing the Conrad Hilton reference in this thread, I doubt I could have named even one of her husbands, nor any of her early film roles, yet her name and affect have been a cultural touchstone for me since childhood.
The expression “famous for being famous” dates back to the 1960s, well before Paris Hilton was born. Hilton’s accomplishments are probably even less impressive than those of many other people described in this way, but she definitely wasn’t the first.
I’m gonna quibble with this. Paris Hilton got her “start” when her sex tape was leaked to the internet. Before that, she was an occasional mention in the society and gossip columns. After that, she was a household name.
Had the sex tape not happened, neither would The Simple Life, The Hottie and the Nottie, nor anything else have happened.
Well, she won the top prize on a game show because of her knowledge, which I think counts as an accomplishment. On the other hand, I think she owed some of her celebrity to the fact that being an attractive young female psychologist whose expertise was in boxing made her a novelty in 1950s America, which I think sort of supports what you’re saying.
Well, if she was famous only for that and kept appearing in the public eye because she had once appeared on a game show, it would be close. That her unlikely turn on $64k Question apparently led to her being given her own show, and then her own national column, doesn’t mean her career was “for being famous.”
Like a lot of comedy and TV leftovers, she did spend a lot of time being a game show panelist, but that was later. I still haven’t figured out who some of the panelists on Celebrity Squares and Match Game ever were…
