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