January 01, 2009 12:00am
Tribute to Sasha Gabor
Source: Adult Industry News
by: Steve Nelson/Don Benn
Sasha Gabor, also known as Gabor Sarközi and Samuel Gutmann, reportedly died of heart complications shortly after his 63rd birthday in a hotel in Bangkok, Thailand on June 27, 2008.
Born June 6, 1945, Sasha moved to Norway from Hungary as a refugee in 1957. Sasha made his first adult movie, ''Every Woman has a Fantasy'', in 1983 after coming to America. In his early work he was known for his impersonation of Burt Reynolds.
Being a Burt Reynolds double, and in later years doing an uncanny Sean Connery impersonation, was not his only talents. Sasha spoke eight languages including Norwegian, English, Hungarian, German, French, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. He also was a pilot, circus musician, soldier, and writer.
Moving back to Norway in 2001 to avoid issues with the IRS, Sasha was the unlucky recipient of muggings and police apathy. [See stories linked in the box to the right.]
Sasha was a close personal friend of Ron Jeremy. Ron verified that Sasha had medical problems and died before he could visit Finland where he and Sasha were supposed to meet for an event the summer of 2008. He was characterized as kind and thoughtful by all who knew him.
He would call me ''Admiral Nelson'' or just ''Admiral'' and I usually got the longest rambling message from him and sometimes couldn't understand one word! It was obvious he had heart trouble as indicated by what he told me at one time, ''I forgot to take my heart medication but that is not enough to have this effect,'' he wrote, ''It is My Heart that is failing me. Maybe it is my time to go... so why fight it? If you don't hear from me or can get hold of me on my cell, then my sister Agnes will know if I have passed away.''
Sasha traveled to Bangkok at the beginning of June, 2008, after telling me a month or two earlier he was planning on moving there from Oslo. He had been to Thailand several other times for cosmetic surgery and absolutely loved it there. He was talking about publishing a book here in the States called ''Sasha Gabor's Time Travel in Utopia - How to Travel Back in Time 15 Years for 150 Thousand Baht and 'Shag' 30 Girls at the Same Time''. That's the last I heard from him.
Another long-time friend of Sasha, former adult journalist Don Benn, said, ''He was the first adult performer to befriend me, (met him in his Burt Reynolds ''Bandit'' outfit at the Adult Stars Magazine booth), and show me around (took me to my very first CES adult party in a penthouse... And made sure I had a hell of a great time). When he left the country in 2001 he remained in constant phone and email contact with me... And a few years ago when he read that I had retired for health reasons he was the VERY FIRST person to call me and stayed in constant email contact with me ALWAYS asking about my health. He was warm, kind, generous, and always had a great story (usually involving Ron Jeremy and himself) to share. While he certainly had no shortage of vices and flaws... he was a loyal and caring friend... And he will be missed.''
He celebrated his birthday on the 6th turning 63, but 3 weeks later on the 27th of June he was found dead at his hotel. The Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok confirmed that ''A man with American citizenship... died in Thailand'' Sasha's immediate family confirmed to the newspapers that he died during a stay abroad shortly afterward.
There were headlines in Norway at the time of his death that read ''Norway's most famous pornstar dead''. Sasha Gabor leaves three x-wives, a fiance, and five children.
|
