Zasu Pitts
Born: 1894-01-03 in Parsons, Labette County, Kansas, USA
Died: 1963-06-07
Known For: Acting
Biography
Zasu Pitts (January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) 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
1964
- The Big Parade of Comedy as Mirabelle in 'The Gay Bride' (archive footage)
1963
- Burke's Law as Mrs. Bowie
- It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as Gertie - Switchboard Operator
- The Thrill of It All as Olivia
1961
- Teenage Millionaire as Aunt Theodora
1960
1959
1957
- Perry Mason as Daphne Whilom
- This Could Be the Night as Mrs. Shea
1956
1955
1954
- Francis Joins the WACS as Valerie Humpert
1953
- Private Secretary
- General Electric Theater as Aunt Laura
1952
- Denver and Rio Grande as Jane Dwyer
1950
- What's My Line? as Self
- Francis as Valerie Humpert
1949
1948
- The Philco Television Playhouse as Belinda Pryde
1947
- Life with Father as Cousin Cora Cartwright
- The Perfect Marriage as Rosa
1946
- Breakfast in Hollywood as Elvira Spriggens
- Dear Miss Gloria as Guest star
1943
- Let's Face It as Cornelia Pigeon
1942
- So's Your Aunt Emma! as Aunt Emma Bates
- Mexican Spitfire at Sea as Miss Pepper
- The Bashful Bachelor as Geraldine
- Tish as Aggie Pilkington (as ZaSu Pitts)
1941
- The Mexican Spitfire's Baby as Emily Pepper
- Broadway Limited as Myra Pottle
- Weekend for Three as Anna, Craig's Maid
- Miss Polly as Pandora Polly
- Niagara Falls as Emmy Sawyer
- Uncle Joe as Julia Jordan
1940
- It All Came True as Miss Flint
- No, No, Nanette as Pauline Hastings
1939
- Naughty but Nice as Aunt Penelope Hardwick
- Nurse Edith Cavell as Mme. Moulin
- The Lady's from Kentucky as Dulcey Lee
- Eternally Yours as Mrs. Bingham
- Mickey the Kid as Lilly Handy
1937
- Forty Naughty Girls as Hildegarde Withers
- 52nd Street as Letitia Rondell
- Wanted! as Winnie Oatfield
1936
- Sing Me a Love Song as Gwen Logan
- 13 Hours by Air as Miss Harkins
- Mad Holiday as Mrs. Fay Kinney
- The Plot Thickens as Hildegarde Withers
1935
- Ruggles of Red Gap as Mrs. Judson
- Hot Tip as Belle McGill
- The Affair of Susan as Susan Todd
- She Gets Her Man as Esmeralda
- Spring Tonic as Maggie Conklin
- Going Highbrow as Cora Upshaw
1934
- Love Birds as Araminta Tootle
- Sing and Like It as Annie Snodgrass
- Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch as Miss Hazy
- Private Scandal as Miss Coates
- And She Learned About Dames as Herself
- Dames as Matilda Hemingway
- The Gay Bride as Mirabelle
- Three on a Honeymoon as Alice Mudge
- The Meanest Gal in Town as Tillie Prescott
- Two Alone as Esthey Roberts
- Their Big Moment as Tillie Whim
1933
- Mr. Skitch as Maddie Skitch
- Hello, Sister! as Millie
- Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men as Sybby 'Sib'
- Professional Sweetheart as Elmerada
- They Just Had to Get Married as Molly Hull
- Love, Honor and Oh, Baby! as Connie Clark
- She Whoops To Conquer as Beula
- Asleep in the Feet as Zasu
- Maids a la Mode as Miss Pitts
- Meet the Baron as Zasu
- The Bargain of the Century as Zasu
- Out All Night as Bonny
- Her First Mate as Mary Horner
- Mother's Helper
- The Vanishing Frontier as Aunt Sylvia
- One Track Minds as Zasu Pitts
1932
- Blondie of the Follies as Gertie
- Westward Passage as Mrs. Truesdale
- Make Me a Star as Mrs. Scudder
- Is My Face Red? as Morning Gazette Telephone Operator
- The Trial of Vivienne Ware as Gladys Fairweather
- Shopworn as Aunt Dot
- Back Street as Mrs. Dole
- Once in a Lifetime as Miss Leyton
- Roar of the Dragon as Gabby Woman
- Strangers of the Evening as Sybil Smith
- Broken Lullaby as Anna, Holderlin's Maid
- Madison Square Garden as Florrie
- The Unexpected Father as Polly Perkins
- Show Business as Zasu
- Destry Rides Again as Temperance Worker
- The Soilers as Zasu
- Steady Company as Dot
- Sneak Easily as Miss Zasu Pitts - Woman of the Jury
- Red Noses as Miss Pitts
- Strictly Unreliable as Pitts
- The Crooked Circle as Nora Rafferty
- Alum and Eve as Zasu
- Sealskins as Zasu Pitts
- The Old Bull as Zasu
1931
- The Bad Sister as Minnie
- Let's Do Things as Zasu Pitts
- The Big Gamble as Nora Dugan
- A Woman of Experience as Katie
- Catch-As Catch-Can as ZaSu
- The Guardsman as Liesl
- The Pajama Party as Zasu
- Beyond Victory as Fritzi Mobley
- Finn and Hattie as Mrs. Hattie Haddock
- Penrod and Sam as Mrs. Bassett
- Their Mad Moment as Miss Dibbs
- The Secret Witness as Bella
- Seed as Jennie
- On the Loose as Zasu
- War Mamas as Zasu
1930
- Passion Flower as Mrs. Harney
- Sin Takes a Holiday as Annie
- The Devil's Holiday as Ethel
- The Lottery Bride as Hilda
- Little Accident as Monica
- War Nurse as Cushie
- No, No, Nanette as Pauline Hastings
- Monte Carlo as Bertha
- Free Love as Ada, the Maid
- River's End as Louise
- Honey as Mayme
- The Squealer as Bella
1929
- This Thing Called Love as Clara Bertrand
- Twin Beds as Tillie
- The Locked Door as Telephone Girl
- Oh, Yeah! as The Elk
- The Squall as Lena
- Her Private Life as Timmins
- The Honeymoon as Caecilia
- The Dummy as Rose Gleason
- The Argyle Case as Mrs. Wyatt
- Paris as Harriet
1928
- Wife Savers as Germaine
- Buck Privates as Hulda
- Sins of the Fathers as Mother Spengler
- The Wedding March as Cecelia Schweisser
- 13 Washington Square as The Maid
1927
- Casey at the Bat as Camille
1926
- Mannequin as Annie Pogani
- What Happened to Jones? as Hilda (as Zazu Pitts)
- Risky Business as Agnes Wheaton
- Early to Wed as Mrs. Dugan
- Monte Carlo as Hope Durant
- Her Big Night as Gladys Smith
- The Great Love as Nancy
- Sunny Side Up as Evelyn
1925
- Old Shoes
- A Woman's Faith as Blanche Odile
- The Re-Creation of Brian Kent as Judy
- Pretty Ladies as Maggie Keenan
- 1925 Studio Tour as Self
- Lazybones as Ruth Fanning
- Wages for Wives as Luella Logan
- The Great Divide as Polly Jordan
- Thunder Mountain as Mandy Coulter
1924
- Greed as Trina
- Secrets of the Night as Celia Stebbins
- West of the Water Tower as Dessie Arnhalt
- The Goldfish as Amelia Pugsley
- Changing Husbands as Delia
- Daughters of Today as Lorena
- The Fast Set as Mona
1923
- Mary of the Movies as Zasu Pitts (uncredited)
- Tea- With a Kick! as 'Brainy' Jones
- Souls for Sale as Self - Celebrity Actress in Commissary
- The Girl Who Came Back as Anastasia Muldoon
- Hollywood as Zasu Pitts
- Poor Men's Wives as Apple Annie
- Three Wise Fools as Mickey
1922
- Is Matrimony a Failure? as Mrs. Wilbur
- A Daughter of Luxury as Mary Cosgrove
- Youth to Youth as Emily
- For the Defense as Jennie Dunn
1921
- Patsy as Patsy
1920
- Seeing It Through as Betty Lawrence
- Heart of Twenty as Katie Abbott
1919
- The Other Half as Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid
- Men, Women, and Money as Katie Jones
- As the Sun Went Down as Sal Sue
- Better Times as Nancy Scroggs
- Poor Relations as Daisy Perkins
1918
- The Talk of the Town
- How Could You, Jean? as Oscar's Sweetheart
- A Lady's Name as Emily
- A Society Sensation as Mary
1917
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm as Undetermined Role (uncredited)
- Why They Left Home as Mary Mandrake
- '49 – '17 as Party Guest (uncredited)
- A Modern Musketeer as A Kansas Belle (uncredited)
- A Little Princess as Becky
- Tillie of the Nine Lives
- Uneasy Money as Suza - the Editor's Assistant
- His Fatal Beauty as Perscilla
- A Desert Dilemma