Zsa Zsa Gabor laid to rest 5 years after her death

Nearly five years after her death in Los Angeles, Zsa Zsa Gabor's ashes were buried in her native city of Budapest on Wednesday.

The Hungarian news agency Magyar Távirati Iroda (MTI) reported that the much-married actress and Hollywood socialite, who had curated a larger-than-life persona that delighted generations of fans throughout her 99 years of life, was laid to rest at the Fiumei Road Cemetery, the burial site of some of Hungary's most prominent figures in politics, culture and the arts.

Gabor died in December 2016 of heart failure after years of declining health. A mourning ceremony was held for her in Los Angeles.

Her widower, Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, the last of her eight husbands, said Wednesday at the cemetery that Gabor, whose émigré sisters Magda and Eva were actress-socialites as well, had always remembered her homeland. Balazs Bokor, president of the Hungarian Hollywood Council, said at the ceremony that while Gabor "wanted to see the world, she always thought of Hungary." Actress Eva Vandor, who dubbed Gabor's voice into Hungarian, called the star "cheerful, humorous and brave."

Prinz von Anhalt (né Hans Robert Lichtenberg), who married Gabor in 1986 when she was 70 and he 43, separately told the news agency Reuters that he buried three-quarters of her ashes in Budapest, leaving the remaining quarter in Los Angeles. He said he flew with her urn first to London, then to Germany and finally to Budapest as coronavirus border limitations lessened.

During the urn's airplane travel, he said, "She was first class, she had her own seat and she had her passport, everything there. It was her last trip, she always used to go first class, she had her Champagne, caviar ... ."

He added, "And then we arrived in Budapest ... That's what she wanted and that's what she had in her last will. She definitely wanted to be in Budapest because her father is buried here, too."

Gabor, born Sári Gábor, appeared in films including "Moulin Rouge" (1952), Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" (1958), and the campy "Queen of Outer Space" (1958) and "A Very Brady Sequel" (1996), as well as in numerous TV comedies and dramas. She is likely better known for her comedic quips to reporters and on talk and game shows, and for her marriages to numerous men including hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and Oscar-winning actor George Sanders.