Zasu Pitts
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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).
Known for
Credits
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
as Gertie - Switchboard Operator
Greed (1924)
as Trina
Westward Passage (1932)
as Mrs. Truesdale
Passion Flower (1930)
as Mrs. Harney
Life with Father (1947)
as Cousin Cora Cartwright
Shopworn (1932)
as Aunt Dot
Professional Sweetheart (1933)
as Elmerada
The Thrill of It All (1963)
as Olivia
Love Birds (1934)
as Araminta Tootle
Private Scandal (1934)
as Miss Coates
Buck Privates (1928)
as Hulda
Denver and Rio Grande (1952)
as Jane Dwyer
Broken Lullaby (1932)
as Anna, Holderlin's Maid
The Bad Sister (1931)
as Minnie
Francis (1950)
as Valerie Humpert
Mr. Skitch (1933)
as Maddie Skitch
Wife Savers (1928)
as Germaine
Old Shoes (1925)
Actor
Nurse Edith Cavell (1939)
as Mme. Moulin
Hello, Sister! (1933)
as Millie
Naughty but Nice (1939)
as Aunt Penelope Hardwick
Disneyland '59 (1959)
as Self
Blondie of the Follies (1932)
as Gertie
The Big Parade of Comedy (1964)
as Mirabelle in 'The Gay Bride' (archive footage)
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
as Mrs. Judson
Hot Tip (1935)
as Belle McGill
The Wedding March (1928)
as Cecelia Schweisser
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)
as Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Back Street (1932)
as Mrs. Dole
Souls for Sale (1923)
as Self - Celebrity Actress in Commissary
Monte Carlo (1930)
as Bertha
Meet the Baron (1933)
as Zasu
The Gay Bride (1934)
as Mirabelle
Oh, Yeah! (1929)
as The Elk
Out All Night (1933)
as Bonny
The Big Gamble (1931)
as Nora Dugan
It All Came True (1940)
as Miss Flint
'49–'17 (1917)
as Party Guest (uncredited)
Her Private Life (1929)
as Timmins
Mannequin (1926)
as Annie Pogani
So's Your Aunt Emma! (1942)
as Aunt Emma Bates
No, No, Nanette (1940)
as Pauline Hastings
Eternally Yours (1939)
as Mrs. Bingham
Forty Naughty Girls (1937)
as Hildegarde Withers
Dames (1934)
as Matilda Hemingway
Make Me a Star (1932)
as Mrs. Scudder
Love, Honor and Oh, Baby! (1933)
as Connie Clark
This Could Be the Night (1957)
as Mrs. Shea
Breakfast in Hollywood (1946)
as Elvira Spriggens
The Unexpected Father (1932)
as Polly Perkins
Sin Takes a Holiday (1930)
as Annie
And She Learned About Dames (1934)
as Herself
The Perfect Marriage (1947)
as Rosa
The Goldfish (1924)
as Amelia Pugsley
War Nurse (1930)
as Cushie
Let's Face It (1943)
as Cornelia Pigeon
The Lottery Bride (1930)
as Hilda
Youth to Youth (1922)
as Emily
Sing Me a Love Song (1936)
as Gwen Logan
Strangers of the Evening (1932)
as Sybil Smith
The Guardsman (1931)
as Liesl
Two Alone (1934)
as Esthey Roberts
The Bashful Bachelor (1942)
as Geraldine
Patsy (1921)
as Patsy
Pretty Ladies (1925)
as Maggie Keenan
The Plot Thickens (1936)
as Hildegarde Withers
Miss Polly (1941)
as Pandora Polly
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934)
as Miss Hazy
No, No, Nanette (1930)
as Pauline Hastings
The Girl Who Came Back (1923)
as Anastasia Muldoon
Mad Holiday (1936)
as Mrs. Fay Kinney
She Gets Her Man (1935)
as Esmeralda
What Happened to Jones? (1926)
as Hilda (as Zazu Pitts)
The Mexican Spitfire's Baby (1941)
as Emily Pepper
52nd Street (1937)
as Letitia Rondell
Niagara Falls (1941)
as Emmy Sawyer
Uncle Joe (1941)
as Julia Jordan
Francis Joins the WACS (1954)
as Valerie Humpert
The Devil's Holiday (1930)
as Ethel
Hollywood (1923)
as Zasu Pitts
Three on a Honeymoon (1934)
as Alice Mudge
Three Wise Fools (1923)
as Mickey
13 Hours by Air (1936)
as Miss Harkins
The Locked Door (1929)
as Telephone Girl
The Meanest Gal in Town (1934)
as Tillie Prescott
The Pajama Party (1931)
as Zasu
A Society Sensation (1918)
as Mary
Madison Square Garden (1932)
as Florrie
Roar of the Dragon (1932)
as Gabby Woman
Mexican Spitfire at Sea (1942)
as Miss Pepper
Sins of the Fathers (1928)
as Mother Spengler
The Dummy (1929)
as Rose Gleason
Sing and Like It (1934)
as Annie Snodgrass
Broadway Limited (1941)
as Myra Pottle
River's End (1930)
as Louise
The Other Half (1919)
as Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid
The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932)
as Gladys Fairweather
Twin Beds (1929)
as Tillie
Better Times (1919)
as Nancy Scroggs
Seed (1931)
as Jennie
Alum and Eve (1932)
as Zasu
A Woman's Faith (1925)
as Blanche Odile
A Little Princess (1917)
as Becky
Teenage Millionaire (1961)
as Aunt Theodora
War Mamas (1931)
as Zasu
The Honeymoon (1929)
as Caecilia
Strictly Unreliable (1932)
as Pitts
The Soilers (1932)
as Zasu
Monte Carlo (1926)
as Hope Durant
Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men (1933)
as Sybby 'Sib'
The Squealer (1930)
as Bella
Going Highbrow (1935)
as Cora Upshaw
Spring Tonic (1935)
as Maggie Conklin
Once in a Lifetime (1932)
as Miss Leyton
The Crooked Circle (1932)
as Nora Rafferty
A Modern Musketeer (1917)
as A Kansas Belle (uncredited)
Is Matrimony a Failure? (1922)
as Mrs. Wilbur
Steady Company (1932)
as Dot
The Secret Witness (1931)
as Bella
Secrets of the Night (1924)
as Celia Stebbins
The Vanishing Frontier (1933)
as Aunt Sylvia
The Re-Creation of Brian Kent (1925)
as Judy
Is My Face Red? (1932)
as Morning Gazette Telephone Operator
Mother's Helper (1933)
Actor
Asleep in the Feet (1933)
as Zasu
Casey at the Bat (1927)
as Camille
A Woman of Experience (1931)
as Katie
Mary of the Movies (1923)
as Zasu Pitts (uncredited)
Sunny Side Up (1926)
as Evelyn
Dear Miss Gloria (1946)
as Guest star
They Just Had to Get Married (1933)
as Molly Hull
The Squall (1929)
as Lena
Free Love (1930)
as Ada, the Maid
One Track Minds (1933)
as Zasu Pitts
Finn and Hattie (1931)
as Mrs. Hattie Haddock
Sneak Easily (1932)
as Miss Zasu Pitts - Woman of the Jury
She Whoops To Conquer (1933)
as Beula
1925 Studio Tour (1925)
as Self
Changing Husbands (1924)
as Delia
Maids a la Mode (1933)
as Miss Pitts
The Old Bull (1932)
as Zasu
Let's Do Things (1931)
as Zasu Pitts
Tillie of the Nine Lives (1917)
Actor
Beyond Victory (1931)
as Fritzi Mobley
Risky Business (1926)
as Agnes Wheaton
Lazybones (1925)
as Ruth Fanning
Her First Mate (1933)
as Mary Horner
Weekend for Three (1941)
as Anna, Craig's Maid
This Thing Called Love (1929)
as Clara Bertrand
Poor Men's Wives (1923)
as Apple Annie
Wages for Wives (1925)
as Luella Logan
Poor Relations (1919)
as Daisy Perkins
The Great Divide (1925)
as Polly Jordan
Thunder Mountain (1925)
as Mandy Coulter
Show Business (1932)
as Zasu
Destry Rides Again (1932)
as Temperance Worker
Mickey the Kid (1939)
as Lilly Handy
Tea- With a Kick! (1923)
as 'Brainy' Jones
The Affair of Susan (1935)
as Susan Todd
Uneasy Money (1917)
as Suza - the Editor's Assistant
13 Washington Square (1928)
as The Maid
Men, Women, and Money (1919)
as Katie Jones
Tish (1942)
as Aggie Pilkington (as ZaSu Pitts)
On the Loose (1931)
as Zasu
A Lady's Name (1918)
as Emily
As the Sun Went Down (1919)
as Sal Sue
How Could You, Jean? (1918)
as Oscar's Sweetheart
Sealskins (1932)
as Zasu Pitts
Lum and Abner (1949)
Actor
Their Mad Moment (1931)
as Miss Dibbs
Red Noses (1932)
as Miss Pitts
Early to Wed (1926)
as Mrs. Dugan
The Talk of the Town (1918)
Actor
Her Big Night (1926)
as Gladys Smith
The Fast Set (1924)
as Mona
Heart of Twenty (1920)
as Katie Abbott
Penrod and Sam (1931)
as Mrs. Bassett
Catch-As Catch-Can (1931)
as ZaSu
The Lady's from Kentucky (1939)
as Dulcey Lee
Why They Left Home (1917)
as Mary Mandrake
The Argyle Case (1929)
as Mrs. Wyatt
Their Big Moment (1934)
as Tillie Whim
A Daughter of Luxury (1922)
as Mary Cosgrove
Daughters of Today (1924)
as Lorena
Little Accident (1930)
as Monica
Seeing It Through (1920)
as Betty Lawrence
Honey (1930)
as Mayme
Wanted! (1937)
as Winnie Oatfield
His Fatal Beauty (1917)
as Perscilla
West of the Water Tower (1924)
as Dessie Arnhalt
Paris (1929)
as Harriet
For the Defense (1922)
as Jennie Dunn
The Great Love (1926)
as Nancy
The Bargain of the Century (1933)
as Zasu
A Desert Dilemma (1917)
Actor