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