George Sanders - Personal Life

Personal Life

On 27 October 1940, Sanders married Susan Larson; they divorced in 1949. From later that year until 1954, Sanders was married to Hungarian actress Zsa Zsa Gabor (with whom he starred in the 1956 film Death of a Scoundrel after their divorce). On 10 February 1959, Sanders married actress Benita Hume, widow of actor Ronald Colman. She died in 1967, the same year Sanders' brother Tom Conway died of liver failure. Sanders became distant from his brother a decade before 1967 due to Tom's drinking problem.

His autobiography, Memoirs of a Professional Cad, was published in 1960 and gathered critical praise for its wit. Sanders suggested the title A Dreadful Man for his biography, which was later written by Sanders' friend Brian Aherne, and published in 1979.

Sanders' last marriage was on 4 December 1970, to Magda Gabor, the elder sister of his second wife. This marriage lasted only six weeks, after which he began drinking heavily (ironic due to him having become distant with his brother Tom Conway for his own drinking problem).

In his later years, Sanders suffered from dementia, worsened by waning health. He can be seen teetering in his last films, owing to a loss of balance. According to Aherne's biography, he also had a minor stroke. Sanders' speech sounds impaired in the low-budget film Psychomania, his last film performance. Sanders could not bear the notion of losing his health or needing help from someone else, and he became deeply depressed. At about this time, Sanders found he could no longer play his grand piano, which he dragged outside and smashed with an axe. His last girlfriend, who was Mexican and much younger than he, persuaded Sanders to sell his beloved house in Majorca, Spain, which he later bitterly regretted. From then on, he drifted.