Zasu Pitts
Acting
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
Acting206
movieThe Big Parade of Comedy
1964
Mirabelle in 'The Gay Bride' (archive footage)
movieIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
1963
Gertie - Switchboard Operator
tvBurke's Law
1963
Mrs. Bowie
movieTeenage Millionaire
1961
Aunt Theodora
tvPerry Mason
1957
Daphne Whilom
movieThis Could Be the Night
1957
Mrs. Shea
movieFrancis Joins the WACS
1954
Valerie Humpert
tvGeneral Electric Theater
1953
Aunt Laura
movieDenver and Rio Grande
1952
Jane Dwyer
movieFrancis
1950
Valerie Humpert
tvThe Philco Television Playhouse
1948
Belinda Pryde
movieLife with Father
1947
Cousin Cora Cartwright
movieBreakfast in Hollywood
1946
Elvira Spriggens
movieDear Miss Gloria
1946
Guest star
movieLet's Face It
1943
Cornelia Pigeon
movieTish
1942
Aggie Pilkington (as ZaSu Pitts)
movieSo's Your Aunt Emma!
1942
Aunt Emma Bates
movieThe Bashful Bachelor
1942
Geraldine
movieMexican Spitfire at Sea
1942
Miss Pepper
movieWeekend for Three
1941
Anna, Craig's Maid
movieThe Mexican Spitfire's Baby
1941
Emily Pepper
movieMiss Polly
1941
Pandora Polly
movieUncle Joe
1941
Julia Jordan
movieNiagara Falls
1941
Emmy Sawyer
movieBroadway Limited
1941
Myra Pottle
movieNo, No, Nanette
1940
Pauline Hastings
movieIt All Came True
1940
Miss Flint
movieEternally Yours
1939
Mrs. Bingham
movieNurse Edith Cavell
1939
Mme. Moulin
movieMickey the Kid
1939
Lilly Handy
movieNaughty but Nice
1939
Aunt Penelope Hardwick
movieThe Lady's from Kentucky
1939
Dulcey Lee
movie52nd Street
1937
Letitia Rondell
movieForty Naughty Girls
1937
Hildegarde Withers
movieWanted!
1937
Winnie Oatfield
movieSing Me a Love Song
1936
Gwen Logan
movieThe Plot Thickens
1936
Hildegarde Withers
movieMad Holiday
1936
Mrs. Fay Kinney
movie13 Hours by Air
1936
Miss Harkins
movieThe Affair of Susan
1935
Susan Todd
movieHot Tip
1935
Belle McGill
movieShe Gets Her Man
1935
Esmeralda
movieGoing Highbrow
1935
Cora Upshaw
movieSpring Tonic
1935
Maggie Conklin
movieRuggles of Red Gap
1935
Mrs. Judson
movieThe Gay Bride
1934
Mirabelle
movieDames
1934
Matilda Hemingway
movieTheir Big Moment
1934
Tillie Whim
moviePrivate Scandal
1934
Miss Coates
movieLove Birds
1934
Araminta Tootle
movieSing and Like It
1934
Annie Snodgrass
movieThree on a Honeymoon
1934
Alice Mudge
movieTwo Alone
1934
Esthey Roberts
movieThe Meanest Gal in Town
1934
Tillie Prescott
movieMr. Skitch
1933
Maddie Skitch
movieAggie Appleby, Maker of Men
1933
Sybby 'Sib'
movieLove, Honor and Oh, Baby!
1933
Connie Clark
movieHer First Mate
1933
Mary Horner
movieProfessional Sweetheart
1933
Elmerada
movieOne Track Minds
1933
Zasu Pitts
movieHello, Sister!
1933
Millie
movieThe Vanishing Frontier
1933
Aunt Sylvia
movieMaids a la Mode
1933
Miss Pitts
movieThey Just Had to Get Married
1933
Molly Hull
movieSneak Easily
1932
Miss Zasu Pitts - Woman of the Jury
movieOnce in a Lifetime
1932
Miss Leyton
movieThe Crooked Circle
1932
Nora Rafferty
movieBack Street
1932
Mrs. Dole
movieRoar of the Dragon
1932
Gabby Woman
movieMake Me a Star
1932
Mrs. Scudder
movieIs My Face Red?
1932
Morning Gazette Telephone Operator
movieWestward Passage
1932
Mrs. Truesdale
movieStrangers of the Evening
1932
Sybil Smith
movieThe Trial of Vivienne Ware
1932
Gladys Fairweather
movieDestry Rides Again
1932
Temperance Worker
movieShopworn
1932
Aunt Dot
movieRed Noses
1932
Miss Pitts
movieSealskins
1932
Zasu Pitts
movieBroken Lullaby
1932
Anna, Holderlin's Maid
movieThe Unexpected Father
1932
Polly Perkins
moviePenrod and Sam
1931
Mrs. Bassett
movieThe Big Gamble
1931
Nora Dugan
movieTheir Mad Moment
1931
Miss Dibbs
movieLet's Do Things
1931
Zasu Pitts
movieSeed
1931
Jennie
movieBeyond Victory
1931
Fritzi Mobley
movieThe Bad Sister
1931
Minnie
movieFinn and Hattie
1931
Mrs. Hattie Haddock
moviePassion Flower
1930
Mrs. Harney
movieFree Love
1930
Ada, the Maid
movieWar Nurse
1930
Cushie
movieRiver's End
1930
Louise
movieMonte Carlo
1930
Bertha
movieLittle Accident
1930
Monica
movieHoney
1930
Mayme
movieNo, No, Nanette
1930
Pauline Hastings
movieThe Honeymoon
1929
Caecilia
movieThis Thing Called Love
1929
Clara Bertrand
movieThe Locked Door
1929
Telephone Girl
movieParis
1929
Harriet
movieOh, Yeah!
1929
The Elk
movieHer Private Life
1929
Timmins
movieThe Argyle Case
1929
Mrs. Wyatt
movieTwin Beds
1929
Tillie
movieThe Dummy
1929
Rose Gleason
movieSins of the Fathers
1928
Mother Spengler
movieThe Wedding March
1928
Cecelia Schweisser
movie13 Washington Square
1928
The Maid
movieWife Savers
1928
Germaine
movieCasey at the Bat
1927
Camille
movieHer Big Night
1926
Gladys Smith
movieRisky Business
1926
Agnes Wheaton
movieSunny Side Up
1926
Evelyn
movieEarly to Wed
1926
Mrs. Dugan
movieMonte Carlo
1926
Hope Durant
movieWhat Happened to Jones?
1926
Hilda (as Zazu Pitts)
movieMannequin
1926
Annie Pogani
movieWages for Wives
1925
Luella Logan
movieLazybones
1925
Ruth Fanning
movieThunder Mountain
1925
Mandy Coulter
moviePretty Ladies
1925
Maggie Keenan
A Woman's Faith
1925
Blanche Odile
movieThe Great Divide
1925
Polly Jordan
movieGreed
1924
Trina
movieSecrets of the Night
1924
Celia Stebbins
movieThe Goldfish
1924
Amelia Pugsley
movieWest of the Water Tower
1924
Dessie Arnhalt
movieTea- With a Kick!
1923
'Brainy' Jones
movieHollywood
1923
Zasu Pitts
movieMary of the Movies
1923
Zasu Pitts (uncredited)
movieSouls for Sale
1923
Self - Celebrity Actress in Commissary
movieThe Girl Who Came Back
1923
Anastasia Muldoon
moviePoor Men's Wives
1923
Apple Annie
movieFor the Defense
1922
Jennie Dunn
movieIs Matrimony a Failure?
1922
Mrs. Wilbur
A Daughter of Luxury
1922
Mary Cosgrove
Patsy
1921
Patsy
Heart of Twenty
1920
Katie Abbott
Seeing It Through
1920
Betty Lawrence
moviePoor Relations
1919
Daisy Perkins
movieThe Other Half
1919
Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid
movieBetter Times
1919
Nancy Scroggs
movieMen, Women, and Money
1919
Katie Jones
movieHow Could You, Jean?
1918
Oscar's Sweetheart
movieA Modern Musketeer
1917
A Kansas Belle (uncredited)
movie'49–'17
1917
Party Guest (uncredited)
movieRebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1917
Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Uneasy Money
1917
Suza - the Editor's Assistant
Why They Left Home
1917
Mary Mandrake