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