Celebrity is a tricky beast, especially for folks who start as one thing and then become famous in a different way. Eva Gabor is a great example. She worked pretty consistently as an actress for decades before Green Acres debuted. Despite her experience, though, she was perhaps better known for her family's exploits. As part of the well-known "Gabor sisters," Eva was in the public eye as a socialite whose relationships and personal life were well-documented and often mentioned in tabloids. 

So, instead of being famous for being an actress, Eva Gabor found herself famous for being Eva Gabor. Worse, she sometimes wasn't even the most famous Gabor and frequently felt overshadowed by her sister Zsa Zsa. 

"It does not help to be from a family where there is so much chaos," Eva Gabor told an Associated Press writer in 1990. "I walk down the street and people yell, 'Hey, Zsa Zsa,' and I say, 'Not Zsa Zsa—Eva!"

While Gabor believed she was capable of some serious, bona fide acting, she felt that Green Acres may have kept her from reaching her potential.

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Green AcresEva Gabor

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"Hollywood typecasts you always. It's very difficult to get out of that. I was never given a chance to do a performance where the audience can see that I'm a serious actress. I know I'm a good actress."

"Once you do a character like Lisa Douglas," said Gabor, "no one thinks of you as a dramatic actress."

Although the role may not have propelled her acting career the way a dramatic movie may have, Gabor still recognized the challenges of a sitcom. It turns out that playing Lisa Douglas was no easy feat.

"People think comedy is easy to do. It's not, it's actually harder."

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