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