Cast
Zasu Pitts
Acting
Cast
Zasu Pitts
Known for
Acting
Born
1894-01-02
From
Parsons, Kansas, USA
Died
1963-06-07
Also known as Zazu Pitts, Eliza Susan Pitts, ZaSu 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).
★6.5
MOVIE1934
Love Birds
as Araminta Tootle
★7.0
MOVIE1963
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
as Gertie - Switchboard Operator
★6.3
MOVIE1932
Westward Passage
as Mrs. Truesdale
★5.4
MOVIE1930
Passion Flower
as Mrs. Harney
★7.3
MOVIE1924
Greed
as Trina
★6.0
MOVIE1933
Professional Sweetheart
as Elmerada
★6.8
MOVIE1932
Shopworn
as Aunt Dot
★10.0
MOVIE1928
Buck Privates
as Hulda
★6.0
MOVIE1933
Hello, Sister!
as Millie
★7.3
MOVIE1933
Mr. Skitch
as Maddie Skitch
★7.0
MOVIE1934
Private Scandal
as Miss Coates
★10.0
MOVIE1929
Twin Beds
as Tillie
★5.6
MOVIE1931
The Bad Sister
as Minnie
★9.0
MOVIE1925
Old Shoes
★5.3
MOVIE1930
The Lottery Bride
as Hilda
★10.0
MOVIE1921
Patsy
as Patsy
★6.2
MOVIE1940
No, No, Nanette
as Pauline Hastings
★6.0
MOVIE1934
The Gay Bride
as Mirabelle
★5.6
MOVIE1952
Denver and Rio Grande
as Jane Dwyer
★6.7
MOVIE1942
So's Your Aunt Emma!
as Aunt Emma Bates
★6.6
MOVIE1939
Nurse Edith Cavell
as Mme. Moulin
★7.0
MOVIE1928
Wife Savers
as Germaine
★3.0
MOVIE1929
Her Private Life
as Timmins
★7.0
MOVIE1935
Hot Tip
as Belle McGill
★5.0
MOVIE1929
Oh, Yeah!
as The Elk
★7.1
MOVIE1963
The Thrill of It All
as Olivia
★10.0
MOVIE1926
Mannequin
as Annie Pogani
★6.0
MOVIE1946
Breakfast in Hollywood
as Elvira Spriggens
MOVIE1946
Dear Miss Gloria
as Guest star
★6.3
MOVIE1932
Blondie of the Follies
as Gertie
★6.8
MOVIE1939
Naughty but Nice
as Aunt Penelope Hardwick
★7.3
MOVIE1934
The Meanest Gal in Town
as Tillie Prescott
★5.6
MOVIE1937
Forty Naughty Girls
as Hildegarde Withers
★8.0
MOVIE1925
A Woman's Faith
as Blanche Odile
★5.8
MOVIE1917
'49–'17
as Party Guest (uncredited)
★7.0
MOVIE1932
The Unexpected Father
as Polly Perkins
MOVIE1933
She Whoops To Conquer
as Beula
★9.0
MOVIE1936
Sing Me a Love Song
as Gwen Logan
★6.1
MOVIE1957
This Could Be the Night
as Mrs. Shea
★6.3
MOVIE1923
Souls for Sale
as Self - Celebrity Actress in Commissary
★6.3
MOVIE1930
No, No, Nanette
as Pauline Hastings
★7.3
MOVIE1959
Disneyland '59
as Self
★9.0
MOVIE1930
Little Accident
as Monica
★6.7
MOVIE1947
Life with Father
as Cousin Cora Cartwright
★5.8
MOVIE1917
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
as Undetermined Role (uncredited)
★7.2
MOVIE1964
The Big Parade of Comedy
as Mirabelle in 'The Gay Bride' (archive footage)
★5.8
MOVIE1940
It All Came True
as Miss Flint
★7.0
MOVIE1922
Youth to Youth
as Emily
★6.3
MOVIE1942
The Bashful Bachelor
as Geraldine
★5.8
MOVIE1919
The Other Half
as Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid
★7.0
MOVIE1931
The Pajama Party
as Zasu
★5.0
MOVIE1941
Broadway Limited
as Myra Pottle
★6.7
MOVIE1924
Secrets of the Night
as Celia Stebbins
★7.5
MOVIE1933
Out All Night
as Bonny
★6.1
MOVIE1954
Francis Joins the WACS
as Valerie Humpert
★6.1
MOVIE1931
The Big Gamble
as Nora Dugan
★6.3
MOVIE1930
The Devil's Holiday
as Ethel
★9.0
MOVIE1931
Beyond Victory
as Fritzi Mobley
★7.0
MOVIE1934
And She Learned About Dames
as Herself
★5.8
MOVIE1950
Francis
as Valerie Humpert
★7.1
MOVIE1935
Ruggles of Red Gap
as Mrs. Judson
★6.5
MOVIE1935
Spring Tonic
as Maggie Conklin
★6.8
MOVIE1931
On the Loose
as Zasu
★6.5
MOVIE1931
Seed
as Jennie
★6.5
MOVIE1930
Monte Carlo
as Bertha
★10.0
MOVIE1922
Is Matrimony a Failure?
as Mrs. Wilbur
★6.3
MOVIE1936
The Plot Thickens
as Hildegarde Withers
★4.3
MOVIE1931
The Secret Witness
as Bella
★7.5
MOVIE1932
Broken Lullaby
as Anna, Holderlin's Maid
MOVIE1917
Tillie of the Nine Lives
★5.6
MOVIE1930
Sin Takes a Holiday
as Annie
★8.0
MOVIE1926
The Great Love
as Nancy
★5.2
MOVIE1936
13 Hours by Air
as Miss Harkins
★6.4
MOVIE1932
Back Street
as Mrs. Dole
MOVIE1933
Mother's Helper
★5.8
MOVIE1925
Pretty Ladies
as Maggie Keenan
★8.0
MOVIE1917
Why They Left Home
as Mary Mandrake
★6.3
MOVIE1931
Finn and Hattie
as Mrs. Hattie Haddock
★6.5
MOVIE1932
Roar of the Dragon
as Gabby Woman
★8.0
MOVIE1933
Love, Honor and Oh, Baby!
as Connie Clark
★5.7
MOVIE1961
Teenage Millionaire
as Aunt Theodora
★8.0
MOVIE1927
Casey at the Bat
as Camille
★9.0
MOVIE1924
The Goldfish
as Amelia Pugsley
★7.3
MOVIE1934
Two Alone
as Esthey Roberts
★5.2
MOVIE1917
A Little Princess
as Becky
★6.2
MOVIE1931
A Woman of Experience
as Katie
★10.0
MOVIE1923
The Girl Who Came Back
as Anastasia Muldoon
★7.8
MOVIE1933
Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men
as Sybby 'Sib'
★4.0
MOVIE1929
The Squall
as Lena
★5.9
MOVIE1939
Eternally Yours
as Mrs. Bingham
★7.0
MOVIE1925
Thunder Mountain
as Mandy Coulter
★5.0
MOVIE1934
Sing and Like It
as Annie Snodgrass
★7.3
MOVIE1932
Once in a Lifetime
as Miss Leyton
★8.0
MOVIE1926
Her Big Night
as Gladys Smith
★10.0
MOVIE1933
Her First Mate
as Mary Horner
★6.6
MOVIE1926
What Happened to Jones?
as Hilda (as Zazu Pitts)
★5.2
MOVIE1932
The Crooked Circle
as Nora Rafferty
★6.8
MOVIE1941
Weekend for Three
as Anna, Craig's Maid
★9.0
MOVIE1932
The Trial of Vivienne Ware
as Gladys Fairweather
★10.0
MOVIE1923
Poor Men's Wives
as Apple Annie
★5.0
MOVIE1932
Is My Face Red?
as Morning Gazette Telephone Operator
★5.3
MOVIE1933
Meet the Baron
as Zasu
★6.7
MOVIE1941
Niagara Falls
as Emmy Sawyer
★6.4
MOVIE1932
Make Me a Star
as Mrs. Scudder
★7.0
MOVIE1926
Monte Carlo
as Hope Durant
★4.7
MOVIE1934
Their Big Moment
as Tillie Whim
★8.0
MOVIE1928
Sins of the Fathers
as Mother Spengler
★5.2
MOVIE1930
War Nurse
as Cushie
★7.1
MOVIE1928
The Wedding March
as Cecelia Schweisser
★5.1
MOVIE1932
Strangers of the Evening
as Sybil Smith
★6.1
MOVIE1929
The Locked Door
as Telephone Girl
★6.0
MOVIE1934
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
as Miss Hazy
★5.8
MOVIE1918
A Society Sensation
as Mary
★6.3
MOVIE1925
1925 Studio Tour
as Self
★5.4
MOVIE1943
Let's Face It
as Cornelia Pigeon
★5.5
MOVIE1947
The Perfect Marriage
as Rosa
★4.4
MOVIE1942
Mexican Spitfire at Sea
as Miss Pepper
MOVIE1917
His Fatal Beauty
as Perscilla
★7.0
MOVIE1926
Risky Business
as Agnes Wheaton
★6.8
MOVIE1932
The Soilers
as Zasu
★6.5
MOVIE1934
Dames
as Matilda Hemingway
★5.2
MOVIE1931
The Guardsman
as Liesl
★6.5
MOVIE1932
Show Business
as Zasu
★10.0
MOVIE1923
Three Wise Fools
as Mickey
★8.0
MOVIE1935
She Gets Her Man
as Esmeralda
★4.6
MOVIE1941
The Mexican Spitfire's Baby
as Emily Pepper
★6.4
MOVIE1930
River's End
as Louise
★7.5
MOVIE1931
Their Mad Moment
as Miss Dibbs
★5.5
MOVIE1917
A Modern Musketeer
as A Kansas Belle (uncredited)
★6.5
MOVIE1935
Going Highbrow
as Cora Upshaw
★10.0
MOVIE1926
Early to Wed
as Mrs. Dugan
★7.0
MOVIE1937
52nd Street
as Letitia Rondell
★6.0
MOVIE1932
Strictly Unreliable
as Pitts
★9.0
MOVIE1919
Men, Women, and Money
as Katie Jones
★6.8
MOVIE1932
Madison Square Garden
as Florrie
★7.0
MOVIE1931
Penrod and Sam
as Mrs. Bassett
★6.4
MOVIE1936
Mad Holiday
as Mrs. Fay Kinney
★9.0
MOVIE1923
Hollywood
as Zasu Pitts
★8.0
MOVIE1932
Sneak Easily
as Miss Zasu Pitts - Woman of the Jury
★10.0
MOVIE1932
Steady Company
as Dot
★7.5
MOVIE1932
Red Noses
as Miss Pitts
★7.0
MOVIE1924
Changing Husbands
as Delia
★4.9
MOVIE1941
Miss Polly
as Pandora Polly
★5.7
MOVIE1932
Destry Rides Again
as Temperance Worker
★8.0
MOVIE1923
Mary of the Movies
as Zasu Pitts (uncredited)
★8.0
MOVIE1930
The Squealer
as Bella
★8.0
MOVIE1919
Poor Relations
as Daisy Perkins
★7.0
MOVIE1934
Three on a Honeymoon
as Alice Mudge
★7.0
MOVIE1941
Uncle Joe
as Julia Jordan
★4.8
MOVIE1933
Asleep in the Feet
as Zasu
★3.7
MOVIE1933
Maids a la Mode
as Miss Pitts
★9.0
MOVIE1917
Uneasy Money
as Suza - the Editor's Assistant
★9.0
MOVIE1937
Wanted!
as Winnie Oatfield
★7.0
MOVIE1925
Wages for Wives
as Luella Logan
★1.0
MOVIE1918
The Talk of the Town
★7.0
MOVIE1925
The Re-Creation of Brian Kent
as Judy
★4.2
MOVIE1933
The Bargain of the Century
as Zasu
★8.0
MOVIE1929
The Dummy
as Rose Gleason
★3.3
MOVIE1931
Catch-As Catch-Can
as ZaSu
★9.0
MOVIE1925
The Great Divide
as Polly Jordan
★7.5
MOVIE1930
Free Love
as Ada, the Maid
★7.0
MOVIE1933
They Just Had to Get Married
as Molly Hull
★7.0
MOVIE1924
Daughters of Today
as Lorena
MOVIE1917
A Desert Dilemma
★9.0
MOVIE1939
Mickey the Kid
as Lilly Handy
★10.0
MOVIE1935
The Affair of Susan
as Susan Todd
MOVIE1922
A Daughter of Luxury
as Mary Cosgrove
★9.0
MOVIE1929
This Thing Called Love
as Clara Bertrand
★6.7
MOVIE1932
Sealskins
as Zasu Pitts
★6.5
MOVIE1942
Tish
as Aggie Pilkington (as ZaSu Pitts)
★10.0
MOVIE1923
Tea- With a Kick!
as 'Brainy' Jones
★10.0
MOVIE1929
The Argyle Case
as Mrs. Wyatt
MOVIE1919
As the Sun Went Down
as Sal Sue
★8.0
MOVIE1933
The Vanishing Frontier
as Aunt Sylvia
★6.0
MOVIE1932
The Old Bull
as Zasu
★5.7
MOVIE1930
Honey
as Mayme
★10.0
MOVIE1924
West of the Water Tower
as Dessie Arnhalt
MOVIE1918
A Lady's Name
as Emily
★10.0
MOVIE1920
Seeing It Through
as Betty Lawrence
★10.0
MOVIE1922
For the Defense
as Jennie Dunn
★7.0
MOVIE1929
The Honeymoon
as Caecilia
★6.8
MOVIE1925
Lazybones
as Ruth Fanning
★8.0
MOVIE1931
Let's Do Things
as Zasu Pitts
MOVIE1949
Lum and Abner
★8.0
MOVIE1931
War Mamas
as Zasu
★10.0
MOVIE1920
Heart of Twenty
as Katie Abbott
★7.0
MOVIE1929
Paris
as Harriet
MOVIE1919
Better Times
as Nancy Scroggs
★10.0
MOVIE1924
The Fast Set
as Mona
★8.0
MOVIE1939
The Lady's from Kentucky
as Dulcey Lee
★10.0
MOVIE1926
Sunny Side Up
as Evelyn
MOVIE1918
How Could You, Jean?
as Oscar's Sweetheart
★5.8
MOVIE1928
13 Washington Square
as The Maid
★7.0
MOVIE1933
One Track Minds
as Zasu Pitts
★6.8
MOVIE1932
Alum and Eve
as Zasu