Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor may have leg amputated: husband

3 January 2011 - 20H02

Ailing actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, seen here in 1989, was taken to hospital over the weekend and may have to have her leg partially amputated, her husband said Monday.

AFP - Ailing actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was taken to hospital over the weekend and may have to have her leg partially amputated, her husband said Monday.

Prinz Frederic von Anhalt said his 93-year-old wife -- who was read the last rites during a health scare last year -- was on antibiotics and heavy-duty painkillers but did not know what was being done.

Gabor "actually was due before the holidays, but we didn't want her to be in the hospital, we wanted to celebrate the holidays at home," von Anhalt told AFP from outside the emergency room.

An infected wound on her lower right leg had grown considerably over the past weeks, "so we are very much concerned it doesn't heal any more," he said.

The Hungarian-born actress's lengthy film career includes spots in a dozen films and television series, including John Huston's 1952 "Moulin Rouge" and the 1958 film noir "Touch of Evil" by Orson Welles. She also lent her voice to several animated films and TV series.

But the platinum blonde is especially known for her flamboyant lifestyle, legal troubles, nine marriages and a propensity to call just about everyone "darling" with her distinctive accent.

Before her latest hospitalization, she enjoyed the Christmas break in typically lavish style. "We had some champagne and caviar .. we really celebrated good," von Anhalt said.

"I knew she had to go to the hospital, but I didn't want to tell her anything," he said.

The aging star will be treated with powerful antibiotics for two days, and then doctors will decide "if they cut the wound out or if they have to take the leg off, or half of it .. they don't know yet," von Anhalt said.

Gabor is conscious "but she doesn't talk, she opens her eyes, she sees me but she doesn't talk. .. she gets morphine, she gets everything, so that's OK."

The actress was hospitalized in July after she fell and broke her hip. She underwent hip replacement surgery but suffered more complications, including a blood clot for which she had more surgery.

During another hospital stay in August, she called in a priest to administer last rites, then left the hospital a day later insisting that she wanted to be back home in her posh Bel Air neighborhood.