51. Zsa Zsa Gabor

When you hear the name ‘Zsa Zsa Gabor’, thoughts most likely turn to her many, many husbands and her flashy, unrepentant glamour. But did you know that this former beauty queen was once a sought-after actress and starred in the hugely popular 1960s TV show, Green Acres?

Gabor was born to Jewish parents in Budapest in 1917. In later years, the family abandoned their Judaism and converted to the Catholic church, but this was not uncommon at the time in Hungary, due to virulent anti-semitism. Schooled in Switzerland, she broke into show business when she was discovered on a trip to Vienna, by a famous opera singer who invited her to sing in his new show.  She arrived in America a few years later, after taking the title of Miss Hungary in 1936, and began a long career in film and television, as well as the first of her nine eventual marriages.

Zsa Zsa was described as witty, charming and exuberant and remained a Hollywood fixture until her death, aged 99, at a hospital in Los Angeles. Known as much for her scandalous private life as her talents on-stage, this old-school Hollywood icon may be gone, but she’s certainly never going to be forgotten.