Zasu Pitts
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).
Acted in
The Big Parade of Comedy
1964
as Mirabelle in 'The Gay Bride' (archive footage)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
1963
as Gertie - Switchboard Operator
Burke's Law
1963
as Mrs. Bowie
The Thrill of It All
1963
as Olivia
Teenage Millionaire
1961
as Aunt Theodora
Guestward, Ho!
1960
The Dennis O'Keefe Show
1959
Disneyland '59
1959
as Self
Perry Mason
1957
as Daphne Whilom
This Could Be the Night
1957
as Mrs. Shea
The Gale Storm Show
1956
The Silent Partner
1955
as Selma
The 20th Century Fox Hour
1955
Screen Director's Playhouse
1955
as Selma
Francis Joins the WACS
1954
as Valerie Humpert
General Electric Theater
1953
as Aunt Laura
Private Secretary
1953
Denver and Rio Grande
1952
as Jane Dwyer
Francis
1950
as Valerie Humpert
What's My Line?
1950
as Self - Mystery Guest
Lum and Abner
1949
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
as Belinda Pryde
Life with Father
1947
as Cousin Cora Cartwright
The Perfect Marriage
1947
as Rosa
Breakfast in Hollywood
1946
as Elvira Spriggens
Dear Miss Gloria
1946
as Guest star
Let's Face It
1943
as Cornelia Pigeon
Tish
1942
as Aggie Pilkington (as ZaSu Pitts)
So's Your Aunt Emma!
1942
as Aunt Emma Bates
The Bashful Bachelor
1942
as Geraldine
Mexican Spitfire at Sea
1942
as Miss Pepper
Weekend for Three
1941
as Anna, Craig's Maid
The Mexican Spitfire's Baby
1941
as Emily Pepper
Miss Polly
1941
as Pandora Polly
Uncle Joe
1941
as Julia Jordan
Niagara Falls
1941
as Emmy Sawyer
Broadway Limited
1941
as Myra Pottle
No, No, Nanette
1940
as Pauline Hastings
It All Came True
1940
as Miss Flint
Eternally Yours
1939
as Cary Bingham
Nurse Edith Cavell
1939
as Mme. Moulin
Mickey the Kid
1939
as Lilly Handy
Naughty But Nice
1939
as Aunt Penelope Hardwick
The Lady's from Kentucky
1939
as Dulcey Lee
52nd Street
1937
as Letitia Rondell
Forty Naughty Girls
1937
as Hildegarde Withers
Wanted!
1937
as Winnie Oatfield
Sing Me a Love Song
1936
as Gwen Logan
The Plot Thickens
1936
as Hildegarde Withers
Mad Holiday
1936
as Mrs. Fay Kinney
13 Hours by Air
1936
as Miss Harkins
The Affair of Susan
1935
as Susan Todd
Hot Tip
1935
as Belle McGill
She Gets Her Man
1935
as Esmeralda
Going Highbrow
1935
as Cora Upshaw
Spring Tonic
1935
as Maggie Conklin
Ruggles of Red Gap
1935
as Mrs. Judson
The Gay Bride
1934
as Mirabelle
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1934
as Miss Hazy
Dames
1934
as Matilda Hemingway
Their Big Moment
1934
as Tillie Whim
Private Scandal
1934
as Miss Coates
Love Birds
1934
as Araminta Tootle
Sing and Like it
1934
as Annie Snodgrass
And She Learned About Dames
1934
as Herself
Three on a Honeymoon
1934
as Alice Mudge
Two Alone
1934
as Esthey Roberts
The Meanest Gal in Town
1934
as Tillie Prescott
Mr. Skitch
1933
as Maddie Skitch
Meet the Baron
1933
as Zasu
Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men
1933
as Sybby 'Sib'
Love, Honor and Oh, Baby!
1933
as Connie Clark
Her First Mate
1933
as Mary Horner
Professional Sweetheart
1933
as Elmerada de Leon
One Track Minds
1933
Hello, Sister!
1933
as Millie
The Bargain of the Century
1933
as Zasu
Out All Night
1933
as Bonny
The Vanishing Frontier
1933
as Aunt Sylvia
Maids a la Mode
1933
as Miss Pitts
Asleep in the Feet
1933
as Zasu
They Just Had to Get Married
1933
as Molly Hull
She Whoops To Conquer
1933
as Beula
Sneak Easily
1932
as Miss Zasu Pitts - Woman of the Jury
Madison Square Garden
1932
as Florrie
The Soilers
1932
as Zasu
Once in a Lifetime
1932
as Miss Leyton
The Crooked Circle
1932
as Nora Rafferty
Alum and Eve
1932
as Zasu
Blondie of the Follies
1932
as Gertie
Show Business
1932
as Zasu
Back Street
1932
as Mrs. Dole
Roar of the Dragon
1932
as Gabby Woman
Make Me a Star
1932
as Mrs. Scudder
Is My Face Red?
1932
as Morning Gazette Telephone Operator
The Old Bull
1932
as Zasu
Westward Passage
1932
as Mrs. Truesdale
Strangers of the Evening
1932
as Sybil Smith
The Trial of Vivienne Ware
1932
as Gladys Fairweather
Strictly Unreliable
1932
as Pitts
Destry Rides Again
1932
as Temperance Worker
Shopworn
1932
as Aunt Dot
Red Noses
1932
as Miss Pitts
Steady Company
1932
as Dot
Sealskins
1932
as Zasu Pitts
Broken Lullaby
1932
as Anna, Holderlin's Maid
The Unexpected Father
1932
as Polly Perkins
On the Loose
1931
as Zasu
The Secret Witness
1931
as Bella
War Mamas
1931
as Zasu
The Guardsman
1931
as Liesl
The Pajama Party
1931
as Zasu
Penrod and Sam
1931
as Mrs. Bassett
The Big Gamble
1931
as Nora Dugan
Catch-As Catch-Can
1931
as ZaSu
Their Mad Moment
1931
as Miss Dibbs
A Woman of Experience
1931
as Katie
Let's Do Things
1931
as Zasu Pitts
Seed
1931
as Jennie
Beyond Victory
1931
as Fritzi Mobley
The Bad Sister
1931
as Minnie
Finn and Hattie
1931
as Mrs. Hattie Haddock
Passion Flower
1930
as Mrs. Harney
Free Love
1930
as Ada, the Maid
War Nurse
1930
as Cushie
Sin Takes a Holiday
1930
as Annie
River's End
1930
as Louise
The Lottery Bride
1930
as Hilda
Monte Carlo
1930
as Bertha
The Squealer
1930
as Bella
Little Accident
1930
as Monica
The Devil's Holiday
1930
as Ethel
Honey
1930
as Mayme
No, No, Nanette
1930
as Pauline Hastings
The Honeymoon
1929
as Caecilia
This Thing Called Love
1929
as Clara Bertrand
The Locked Door
1929
as Telephone Girl
Paris
1929
as Harriet
Oh, Yeah!
1929
as The Elk
Her Private Life
1929
as Timmins
The Argyle Case
1929
as Mrs. Wyatt
Twin Beds
1929
as Tillie
The Squall
1929
as Lena
The Dummy
1929
as Rose Gleason
Sins of the Fathers
1928
as Mother Spengler
The Wedding March
1928
as Cecelia Schweisser
Buck Privates
1928
as Hulda
13 Washington Square
1928
as The Maid
Wife Savers
1928
as Germaine
Casey at the Bat
1927
as Camille
Dreams of Monte Carlo
1926
as Hope Durant
Risky Business
1926
as Agnes Wheaton
Sunny Side Up
1926
as Evelyn
The Great Love
1926
as Nancy
Early to Wed
1926
as Mrs. Dugan
What Happened to Jones
1926
as Hilda (as Zazu Pitts)
Mannequin
1926
as Annie Pogani
Wages for Wives
1925
as Luella Logan
Lazybones
1925
as Ruth Fanning
Thunder Mountain
1925
as Mandy Coulter
Pretty Ladies
1925
as Maggie Keenan
1925 Studio Tour
1925
as Self
Old Shoes
1925
The Great Divide
1925
as Polly Jordan
Greed
1924
as Trina
Secrets of the Night
1924
as Celia Stebbins
The Fast Set
1924
as Mona
Changing Husbands
1924
as Delia
The Goldfish
1924
as Amelia Pugsley
Tea- With a Kick!
1923
as 'Brainy' Jones
Hollywood
1923
as Zasu Pitts
Three Wise Fools
1923
as Mickey
Mary of the Movies
1923
as Zasu Pitts (uncredited)
Souls for Sale
1923
as Self - Celebrity Actress in Commissary
Poor Men's Wives
1923
as Apple Annie
For the Defense
1922
as Jennie Dunn
A Daughter of Luxury
1922
as Mary Cosgrove
Patsy
1921
as Patsy
Heart of Twenty
1920
as Katie Abbott
Seeing It Through
1920
as Betty Lawrence
The Other Half
1919
as Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid
Better Times
1919
as Nancy Scroggs
A Lady's Name
1918
as Emily
The Talk of the Town
1918
A Society Sensation
1918
as Mary
How Could You, Jean?
1918
as Oscar's Sweetheart
A Modern Musketeer
1917
as A Kansas Belle (uncredited)
A Little Princess
1917
as Becky
'49–'17
1917
as Party Guest (uncredited)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1917
as Undetermined Role (uncredited)