Zasu Pitts

Zasu Pitts

  • Birthday: 1894-01-02
  • Deathday: 1963-06-07
  • Place of birth: Parsons, Kansas, USA
  • Also know as: Zazu Pitts

Biography

Zasu Pitts was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the advent of sound films. She may be best known for her performance in Erich von Stroheim's epic silent film Greed. Based on her performance, von Stroheim labeled Pitts "the greatest dramatic actress". He also featured her in his films The Honeymoon (1928), The Wedding March (1928), War Nurse (1930) and Walking Down Broadway, released as Hello, Sister! (1933). However, for the most part, with the advent of sound Pitts was mostly relegated to comedy parts. A bitter disappointment was when she was replaced in the classic war drama All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) by Beryl Mercer after her initial appearance in previews drew unintentional laughs, despite her intense performance. She had viewers rolling in the aisles in Finn and Hattie (1931), The Guardsman (1931), Blondie of the Follies (1932), Sing and Like It (1934) and Ruggles of Red Gap (1935). In 1936 and 1937 she portrayed Hildegarde Withers in two movies, succeeding Edna May Oliver as the spinster sleuth, but they were not well received. In the 1950s she started focusing on television. This culminated in her best known series role, playing second banana to Gale Storm on CBS's The Gale Storm Show (1956) (also known as Oh, Susannah) in the role of Elvira Nugent ("Nugie"), the shipboard beautician. In 1961, Pitts was cast opposite Earle Hodgins in the episode "Lonesome's Gal" on the ABC sitcom, Guestward, Ho!, set on a dude ranch in New Mexico. In 1962, Pitts appeared in an episode of CBS's Perry Mason, "The Case of the Absent Artist". Her final role was as Gertie, the switchboard operator in the Stanley Kramer comedy epic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Filmography

Strictly Unreliable

1932

As Pitts

On the Loose

1931

As Zasu

The Crooked Circle

1932

As Nora Rafferty

Strangers of the Evening

1932

As Sybil Smith

So's Your Aunt Emma!

1942

As Aunt Emma Bates

Pretty Ladies

1925

As Maggie Keenan

Sing and Like it

1934

As Annie Snodgrass

The Meanest Gal in Town

1934

As Tillie Prescott

Sealskins

1932

As Zasu Pitts

Alum and Eve

1932

As Zasu

Show Business

1932

As Zasu

Catch-As Catch-Can

1931

As ZaSu

Maids a la Mode

1933

As Miss Pitts

Red Noses

1932

As Miss Pitts

The Affair of Susan

1935

As Susan Todd

The Soilers

1932

As Zasu

Let's Do Things

1931

As Zasu Pitts

The Pajama Party

1931

As Zasu

War Mamas

1931

As Zasu

Sneak Easily

1932

As Miss Zasu Pitts - Woman of the Jury

The Old Bull

1932

As Zasu

She Gets Her Man

1935

As Esmeralda

Their Big Moment

1934

As Tillie Whim

Miss Polly

1941

As Pandora Polly

Love Birds

1934

As Araminta Tootle

Hot Tip

1935

As Belle McGill

She Whoops To Conquer

1933

As Beula

Wanted!

1937

As Winnie Oatfield

Better Times

1919

As Nancy Scroggs

The Honeymoon

1929

As Caecilia

Patsy

1921

As Patsy

Private Scandal

1934

As Miss Coates

Greed

1924

As Trina

The Plot Thickens

1936

As Hildegarde Withers

Once in a Lifetime

1932

As Miss Leyton

Forty Naughty Girls

1937

As Hildegarde Withers

Going Highbrow

1935

As Cora Upshaw

Mr. Skitch

1933

As Maddie Skitch

Out All Night

1933

As Bonny

Hello, Sister!

1933

As Millie

Her First Mate

1933

As Mary Horner

Asleep in the Feet

1933

As Zasu

Tish

1942

As Aggie Pilkington (as ZaSu Pitts)

Three on a Honeymoon

1934

As Alice Mudge

They Just Had to Get Married

1933

As Molly Hull

The Unexpected Father

1932

As Polly Perkins

Love, Honor and Oh, Baby!

1933

As Connie Clark

The Secret Witness

1931

As Bella

Francis

1950

As Valerie Humpert

Shopworn

1932

As Aunt Dot

Meet the Baron

1933

As Zasu

Mad Holiday

1936

As Mrs. Fay Kinney

The Bashful Bachelor

1942

As Geraldine

Niagara Falls

1941

As Emmy Sawyer

Westward Passage

1932

As Mrs. Truesdale

Let's Face It

1943

As Cornelia Pigeon

The Gay Bride

1934

As Mirabelle

Professional Sweetheart

1933

As Elmerada de Leon

Teenage Millionaire

1961

As Aunt Theodora

Uncle Joe

1941

As Julia Jordan

Destry Rides Again

1932

As Temperance Worker

13 Hours by Air

1936

As Miss Harkins

Two Alone

1934

As Esthey Roberts

Finn and Hattie

1931

As Mrs. Hattie Haddock

Steady Company

1932

As Dot

Casey at the Bat

1927

As Camille

Lazybones

1925

As Ruth Fanning

The Trial of Vivienne Ware

1932

As Gladys Fairweather

The Other Half

1919

As Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid

Mickey the Kid

1939

As Lilly Handy

Make Me a Star

1932

As Mrs. Scudder

Their Mad Moment

1931

As Miss Dibbs

Secrets of the Night

1924

As Celia Stebbins

Buck Privates

1928

As Hulda

For the Defense

1922

As Jennie Dunn

This Thing Called Love

1929

As Clara Bertrand

13 Washington Square

1928

As The Maid

Wife Savers

1928

As Germaine

The Vanishing Frontier

1933

As Aunt Sylvia

Ruggles of Red Gap

1935

As Mrs. Judson

Dames

1934

As Matilda Hemingway

It All Came True

1940

As Miss Flint

Oh, Yeah!

1929

As The Elk

The Guardsman

1931

As Liesl

Monte Carlo

1930

As Bertha

The Lottery Bride

1930

As Hilda

Mexican Spitfire at Sea

1942

As Miss Pepper

Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men

1933

As Sybby 'Sib'

The Mexican Spitfire's Baby

1941

As Emily Pepper

River's End

1930

As Louise

Beyond Victory

1931

As Fritzi Mobley

A Woman of Experience

1931

As Katie

Sing Me a Love Song

1936

As Gwen Logan

Back Street

1932

As Mrs. Dole

Mannequin

1926

As Annie Pogani

Little Accident

1930

As Monica

The Lady's from Kentucky

1939

As Dulcey Lee

Sunny Side Up

1926

As Evelyn

Dear Miss Gloria

1946

As Guest star

The Great Love

1926

As Nancy

The Fast Set

1924

As Mona

Life with Father

1947

As Cousin Cora Cartwright

Eternally Yours

1939

As Cary Bingham

Changing Husbands

1924

As Delia

Nurse Edith Cavell

1939

As Mme. Moulin

Roar of the Dragon

1932

As Gabby Woman

A Little Princess

1917

As Becky

Broadway Limited

1941

As Myra Pottle

Sin Takes a Holiday

1930

As Annie

The Squall

1929

As Lena

Spring Tonic

1935

As Maggie Conklin

Weekend for Three

1941

As Anna, Craig's Maid

Madison Square Garden

1932

As Florrie

War Nurse

1930

As Cushie

A Lady's Name

1918

As Emily

Francis Joins the WACS

1954

As Valerie Humpert

Paris

1929

As Harriet

Old Shoes

1925

As

Mary of the Movies

1923

As Zasu Pitts (uncredited)

Poor Men's Wives

1923

As Apple Annie

The Goldfish

1924

As Amelia Pugsley

The Squealer

1930

As Bella

52nd Street

1937

As Letitia Rondell

Dreams of Monte Carlo

1926

As Hope Durant

Blondie of the Follies

1932

As Gertie

The Thrill of It All

1963

As Olivia

The Big Gamble

1931

As Nora Dugan

Passion Flower

1930

As Mrs. Harney

Seed

1931

As Jennie

Is My Face Red?

1932

As Morning Gazette Telephone Operator

Risky Business

1926

As Agnes Wheaton

A Society Sensation

1918

As Mary

No, No, Nanette

1940

As Pauline Hastings

Tea- With a Kick!

1923

As 'Brainy' Jones

Sins of the Fathers

1928

As Mother Spengler

Thunder Mountain

1925

As Mandy Coulter

The Bad Sister

1931

As Minnie

Denver and Rio Grande

1952

As Jane Dwyer

How Could You, Jean?

1918

As Oscar's Sweetheart

Three Wise Fools

1923

As Mickey

Naughty But Nice

1939

As Aunt Penelope Hardwick

No, No, Nanette

1930

As Pauline Hastings

Broken Lullaby

1932

As Anna, Holderlin's Maid

Breakfast in Hollywood

1946

As Elvira Spriggens

Honey

1930

As Mayme

The Great Divide

1925

As Polly Jordan

The Locked Door

1929

As Telephone Girl

The Wedding March

1928

As Cecelia Schweisser

The Dummy

1929

As Rose Gleason

A Daughter of Luxury

1922

As Mary Cosgrove

This Could Be the Night

1957

As Mrs. Shea

The Devil's Holiday

1930

As Ethel

A Modern Musketeer

1917

As A Kansas Belle (uncredited)

Free Love

1930

As Ada, the Maid

Her Private Life

1929

As Timmins

What Happened to Jones

1926

As Hilda (as Zazu Pitts)

'49–'17

1917

As Party Guest (uncredited)

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

1917

As Undetermined Role (uncredited)

Penrod and Sam

1931

As Mrs. Bassett

Souls for Sale

1923

As Herself - Celebrity Actress in Commissary

1925 Studio Tour

1925

As Self

The Big Parade of Comedy

1964

As (archive footage)

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

1963

As Gertie - Switchboard Operator

Disneyland '59

1959

As Self

Hollywood

1923

As Zasu Pitts

keyboard_arrow_up