She was born in Budapest, the daughter of Vilmos and Jolie Gabor (née Jancsi Tilleman). Her elder sisters were Magda Gabor and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Gabor's maternal family was Jewish and her maternal grandparents died in the Holocaust. Biographers speculate that her paternal family were originally Jewish as well, but converted to Catholicism in order to assimilate, although this has not been confirmed.

Her first movie was Forest Landing (1941) at Paramount Pictures. She acted in movies throughout the 1950s. In the 1960s, she commenced her best known role in the TV sitcom Green Acres, in which she portrayed Lisa Douglas, a New York wife living on a farm. This was a hit show for several seasons and is still seen in syndication.

In later years, she was involved in some animated Disney movies, providing the Hungarian-accented voices of Duchess in The Aristocats and Miss Bianca in The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under.

Like her sisters, Éva was known for her string of marriages: she had five :

1939-1942 Erik Drimmer, a Swedish physician 1943-1950 Charles Isaacs 1956-1956 John Williams, an American physician 1959-1972 Richard Brown 1973-1983 Frank Jameson For several years, Eva played the role of girlfriend for businessman/entertainer Merv Griffin, attending events together for publicity purposes. She was a successful businesswoman as well, marketing "Eva Gabor Wigs".

Eva Gabor died at the age of 76 in Los Angeles of respiratory failure after suffering from food poisoning. Although the youngest of the three sisters, she was the first of them to die. She is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California.