ZaSu Pitts
Encyclopedia
ZaSu Pitts was an American actress who starred in many silent
dramas
and comedies, transitioning to comedy
sound film
s.
to Rulandus and Nellie (Shay) Pitts; she was the third of four children. Her father, who had lost a leg while serving in the 76th New York Infantry Regiment in the Civil War, had settled the family in Kansas
by the time ZaSu was born.
The names of her mother's sisters Eliza and Susan became the basis for ZaSu's unique first name, which has been (incorrectly) spelled as Zazu Pitts in many film credits and articles. Though the name is commonly mispronounced ˈ or ˈ , or ˈ , in her 1963 book Candy Hits (p. 15), Pitts herself gives the correct pronunciation as "Say Zoo" (ˈ), recounting that Mary Pickford predicted , "[M]any will mispronounce it", and adding, "How right [she] was...."
In 1903, when she was nine years old, the family moved to Santa Cruz, California
, seeking a warmer climate and better job opportunities. Her childhood home at 208 Lincoln Street still stands. She attended Santa Cruz High School
, where she participated in school theatricals.
. Pitts made her debut in the silent film
, The Little Princess (1917), starring Mary Pickford
. Pitts became a leading lady in Erich von Stroheim
's masterpiece, Greed
(1924); based on this performance, von Stroheim labeled Pitts "the greatest dramatic actress". Von Stroheim also featured her in his films Sins of the Fathers (1928), The Wedding March (1928), War Nurse (1930) and Walking Down Broadway, which was re-edited by Alfred L. Werker
and released as Hello, Sister!
(1933). She earned praise in all those films.
Pitts grew in popularity following a series of Universal one-reeler comedies and earned her first feature-length lead in King Vidor
's Better Times (1919). The following year she met and married actor Tom Gallery. The couple paired in several films, including Bright Eyes (1921), Heart of Twenty (1920), Patsy (1921) and A Daughter of Luxury (1922). Their daughter, Ann, was born in 1922.
In 1924, the actress, now a reputable comedy farceuse, was given the greatest tragic role of her career in Erich von Stroheim
's epic classic, Greed
(1924), a nine-hour-plus picture, edited to under two hours. The surprise casting initially shocked Hollywood, but showed that Pitts could draw tears with her doleful demeanor as well as laughs. The movie has gained respect over time, having failed initially at the box office due to its extensive cutting.
Pitts enjoyed her greatest fame in the 1930s, often starring in B movies and comedy shorts, teamed with Thelma Todd
. She also played secondary parts in many films. Her stock persona
(a fretful, flustered, worrisome spinster
) made her instantly recognizable and was often imitated in cartoons and other films. She starred in a number of Hal Roach
shorts and features, and co-starred in a series of feature-length comedies with Slim Summerville
.
Switching between comedy shorts and features, by the advent of sound, she was relegated to comedy roles. 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 the intensity of her acting. She had viewers rolling in the aisles in The Dummy
(1929), Finn and Hattie (1931), The Guardsman
(1931), Blondie of the Follies
(1932), Sing and Like It (1934) and Ruggles of Red Gap
(1935).
In the 1940s, she also found work in vaudeville
and on radio, trading quivery banter with Bing Crosby
, Al Jolson
, and Rudy Vallee
, among others. She appeared several times on the earliest Fibber McGee and Molly
show, playing a dizzy dame constantly looking for a husband. Her brief stint in the Hildegarde Withers
mystery series, replacing Edna May Oliver
, was not successful, however.
In 1944 Pitts tackled Broadway
, making her debut in the mystery, Ramshackle Inn. The play, written expressly for her, fared well, and she took the show on the road in later years. Post-war films continued to give Pitts the chance to play comic snoops and flighty relatives in such fare as Life with Father
(1947), but in the 1950s she started focusing on TV.
This culminated in her best known series role, playing second banana to Gale Storm
on The Gale Storm Show
(also known as Oh, Susannah), as Elvira Nugent ("Nugie"), the shipboard beautician. Her last role was as a switchboard operator in the Stanley Kramer
comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963), and, less than seven months after the filming of the last scene, she became that movie's second cast member to die after filming was completed.
in the mid-1950s. However, she continued to work until the very end – making brief appearances in The Thrill of It All
(1963) with Doris Day
and James Garner
, besides It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
She died June 7, 1963, aged 69, in Hollywood, California and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
.
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
dramas
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
and comedies, transitioning to comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
s.
Early life
ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, KansasParsons, Kansas
Parsons is a city in the northern part of Labette County, located in Southeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,500...
to Rulandus and Nellie (Shay) Pitts; she was the third of four children. Her father, who had lost a leg while serving in the 76th New York Infantry Regiment in the Civil War, had settled the family in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
by the time ZaSu was born.
The names of her mother's sisters Eliza and Susan became the basis for ZaSu's unique first name, which has been (incorrectly) spelled as Zazu Pitts in many film credits and articles. Though the name is commonly mispronounced ˈ or ˈ , or ˈ , in her 1963 book Candy Hits (p. 15), Pitts herself gives the correct pronunciation as "Say Zoo" (ˈ), recounting that Mary Pickford predicted , "[M]any will mispronounce it", and adding, "How right [she] was...."
In 1903, when she was nine years old, the family moved to Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
, seeking a warmer climate and better job opportunities. Her childhood home at 208 Lincoln Street still stands. She attended Santa Cruz High School
Santa Cruz High School
Santa Cruz High School is a comprehensive public school in Santa Cruz, California which opened in 1897 and now serves an enrollment of about 1,040 students in grades nine through twelve.- Notable alumni :...
, where she participated in school theatricals.
Career
Pitts made her stage debut in 1915 and was discovered two years later for films by pioneer screenwriter Frances MarionFrances Marion
Frances Marion was an American journalist, author, and screenwriter often cited as the most renowned female screenwriter of the twentieth century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos.-Career:...
. Pitts made her debut in the silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
, The Little Princess (1917), starring Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
. Pitts became a leading lady in Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim was an Austrian-born film star of the silent era, subsequently noted as an auteur for his directorial work.-Background:...
's masterpiece, Greed
Greed (film)
Greed is a 1924 American dramatic silent film. It was directed by Erich von Stroheim and starring Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller, Tempe Pigott, Sylvia Ashton, Chester Conklin, Joan Standing and Jack Curtis....
(1924); based on this performance, von Stroheim labeled Pitts "the greatest dramatic actress". Von Stroheim also featured her in his films Sins of the Fathers (1928), The Wedding March (1928), War Nurse (1930) and Walking Down Broadway, which was re-edited by Alfred L. Werker
Alfred L. Werker
Alfred L. Werker was a film director whose work in movies spanned from 1917 through 1957. After a number of film production jobs and assistant directing, Werker co-directed his first film, Ridin' the Wind in 1925 alongside director Del Andrews...
and released as Hello, Sister!
Hello, Sister!
Hello, Sister! is a 1933 drama film directed by Alan Crosland, Erich von Stroheim, Raoul Walsh, and Alfred L. Werker.-Cast:* James Dunn - Jimmy* Zasu Pitts - Millie* Boots Mallory - Peggy...
(1933). She earned praise in all those films.
Pitts grew in popularity following a series of Universal one-reeler comedies and earned her first feature-length lead in King Vidor
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
's Better Times (1919). The following year she met and married actor Tom Gallery. The couple paired in several films, including Bright Eyes (1921), Heart of Twenty (1920), Patsy (1921) and A Daughter of Luxury (1922). Their daughter, Ann, was born in 1922.
In 1924, the actress, now a reputable comedy farceuse, was given the greatest tragic role of her career in Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim was an Austrian-born film star of the silent era, subsequently noted as an auteur for his directorial work.-Background:...
's epic classic, Greed
Greed (film)
Greed is a 1924 American dramatic silent film. It was directed by Erich von Stroheim and starring Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller, Tempe Pigott, Sylvia Ashton, Chester Conklin, Joan Standing and Jack Curtis....
(1924), a nine-hour-plus picture, edited to under two hours. The surprise casting initially shocked Hollywood, but showed that Pitts could draw tears with her doleful demeanor as well as laughs. The movie has gained respect over time, having failed initially at the box office due to its extensive cutting.
Pitts enjoyed her greatest fame in the 1930s, often starring in B movies and comedy shorts, teamed with Thelma Todd
Thelma Todd
Thelma Alice Todd was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films like Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, a number of Charley Chase's short comedies, and co-starring with Buster Keaton and Jimmy...
. She also played secondary parts in many films. Her stock persona
Stock character
A Stock character is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes,...
(a fretful, flustered, worrisome spinster
Spinster
A spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married.For a woman to be identified as a spinster, age is critical...
) made her instantly recognizable and was often imitated in cartoons and other films. She starred in a number of Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
shorts and features, and co-starred in a series of feature-length comedies with Slim Summerville
Slim Summerville
Slim Summerville was an American film actor, best known as a comedy performer.-Life and career:Born George Joseph Summerville in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Summerville began his career as a "Keystone Kop" in 1912...
.
Switching between comedy shorts and features, by the advent of sound, she was relegated to comedy roles. A bitter disappointment was when she was replaced in the classic war drama All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) by Beryl Mercer
Beryl Mercer
Beryl Mercer was a Spanish-born American-based actress of the 1920s and 1930s.Born to British parents in Seville, Beryl Mercer was best-known for her motherly roles in film and regularly appeared as a grandmother or cook or maid in some high profile films...
after her initial appearance in previews drew unintentional laughs, despite the intensity of her acting. She had viewers rolling in the aisles in The Dummy
The Dummy
"The Dummy" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:The episode opens with ventriloquist Jerry Etherson and his dummy Willie in the middle of one of his acts, somewhere in New York City. After the act, he goes back to his dressing room and begins to...
(1929), Finn and Hattie (1931), The Guardsman
The Guardsman
The Guardsman is a 1931 film based on the play Testőr by Ferenc Molnár. It stars Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Roland Young and ZaSu Pitts...
(1931), Blondie of the Follies
Blondie of the Follies
Blondie of the Follies is a 1932 comedy film directed by Edmund Goulding and written by Anita Loos and Frances Marion.-Cast :*Marion Davies as Blondie McClune*Robert Montgomery as Larry Belmont...
(1932), Sing and Like It (1934) and Ruggles of Red Gap
Ruggles of Red Gap
Ruggles of Red Gap was serialized beginning December 26, 1914 in the Saturday Evening Post and became a best selling novel in 1915 by Harry Leon Wilson, adapted for the Broadway stage as a musical the same year, and made into a movie several times, most famously in 1935.In the comedy Western film...
(1935).
In the 1940s, she also found work in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and on radio, trading quivery banter with Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
, and Rudy Vallee
Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
, among others. She appeared several times on the earliest Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
show, playing a dizzy dame constantly looking for a husband. Her brief stint in the Hildegarde Withers
Hildegarde Withers
Hildegarde Withers is a fictional character who appeared in several films and novels. She was created by Stuart Palmer.Miss Withers "whom the census enumerator had recently listed as 'spinster, born Boston, age thirty-nine, occupation school teacher'" becomes an amateur sleuthin the first book of...
mystery series, replacing Edna May Oliver
Edna May Oliver
Edna May Oliver was an American stage and film actress. During the 1930s, she was one of the best-known character actresses in American films, often playing tart-tongued spinsters.-Early life:...
, was not successful, however.
In 1944 Pitts tackled Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, making her debut in the mystery, Ramshackle Inn. The play, written expressly for her, fared well, and she took the show on the road in later years. Post-war films continued to give Pitts the chance to play comic snoops and flighty relatives in such fare as Life with Father
Life with Father (film)
Life with Father is a 1947 American comedy film. It tells the true story of Clarence Day, a stockbroker who wants to be master of his house, but finds his wife and his children ignoring him, until they start making demands for him to change his own life. In keeping with the autobiography, all the...
(1947), but in the 1950s she started focusing on TV.
This culminated in her best known series role, playing second banana to Gale Storm
Gale Storm
Gale Storm was an American actress and singer who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show.-Early life:...
on The Gale Storm Show
The Gale Storm Show
The Gale Storm Show is an American sitcom starring Gale Storm. The series premiered on September 29, 1956, and ran until 1960 for 143 half-hour black-and-white episodes, initially on CBS and in its last year on ABC...
(also known as Oh, Susannah), as Elvira Nugent ("Nugie"), the shipboard beautician. Her last role was as a switchboard operator in the Stanley Kramer
Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer was an American film director and producer. Kramer was responsible for some of Hollywood's most famous "message" movies...
comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
(1963), and, less than seven months after the filming of the last scene, she became that movie's second cast member to die after filming was completed.
Marriages
- Tom Gallery (July 23, 1920 – May 2, 1933; divorced); two children: Ann Gallery (natural) and Don Gallery (born Marvin Carville La Marr), whom they adopted and renamed after the 1926 drug-related death of his mother and Pitts' good friend, silent film actress Barbara La MarrBarbara La MarrBarbara La Marr was an American stage and film actress, cabaret artist and screenwriter.La Marr was known as "The Girl Who Is Too Beautiful", after a Hearst newspaper feature writer, Adela Rogers St...
. - John E. Woodall (October 8, 1933 – June 7, 1963) (her death).
Death
Declining health dominated Pitts' later years, particularly after she was diagnosed with cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in the mid-1950s. However, she continued to work until the very end – making brief appearances in The Thrill of It All
The Thrill of It All
The Thrill of It All is a romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison starring Doris Day, James Garner, Arlene Francis, and ZaSu Pitts. The screenplay was written by Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner...
(1963) with Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
and James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
, besides It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
She died June 7, 1963, aged 69, in Hollywood, California and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Holy Cross Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery at 5835 West Slauson Avenue in Culver City, California, operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles....
.
Legacy
- ZaSu Pitts was an excellent cook and collector of candy recipes, which culminated in a cookbook titled Candy Hits by ZaSu Pitts, published posthumously in 1963.
- Mae QuestelMae QuestelMae Questel was an American actress and vocal artist best known for providing the voices for the animated characters, Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. She began in vaudeville, and played occasional small roles in films and television later in her career, most notably the role of Aunt Bethany in 1989's...
caricatured Pitts's voice and "oh, dear" mannerisms for the character Olive OylOlive OylOlive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however Olive Oyl was a main character for 10 years before Popeye's 1929...
for the Fleischer StudiosFleischer StudiosFleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
animated cartoon version of Popeye the Sailor. - ZaSu Pitts has a star on the Hollywood Walk of FameHollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
. - In 1994, she was honored with her image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al HirschfeldAl HirschfeldAlbert "Al" Hirschfeld was an American caricaturist best known for his simple black and white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars.-Personal life:Born in St...
. - In Parsons, KansasParsons, KansasParsons is a city in the northern part of Labette County, located in Southeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,500...
, there is a star tile at the entrance to the Parsons Theatre to commemorate her. - During the 1980s, a large R&B/SoulSoul musicSoul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
band based in San Francisco performed under the name "The ZaSu Pitts Memorial OrchestraZaSu Pitts Memorial OrchestraThe ZaSu Pitts Memorial Orchestra was formed in San Francisco by Stephen Ashman, a bass-player. They released several LPs in the 1984-1987 time period and continue to be active...
" - She was referenced by the comedic trio Zucker, Abrahams and ZuckerZucker, Abrahams and ZuckerZucker, Abrahams and Zucker are an American comedy filmmaking trio consisting of Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker who specializes in slapstick comedy films during the 1980s and the early 1990s...
in the 1982 police spoof comedy series Police Squad!Police Squad!Police Squad! is a television comedy series first broadcast in 1982, created by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker and starring Leslie Nielsen. A spoof of police procedurals, the series was packed with ZAZ's usual sight gags, wordplay and non sequiturs...
episode "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)A Substantial Gift is the first episode of the television series Police Squad!. It was written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker.-Plot:...
" (first aired on March 4, 1982). In that episode, lead character Frank Drebin exposes a suspect's secret identity by reciting that she was formerly "a brunette hitman known as Zasu Pitts". - A street in Las Vegas, NevadaLas Vegas, NevadaLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
is named after her. - An allusion in Bored of the RingsBored of the RingsBored of the Rings is the title of a paperback parody of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. This short novel was written by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney, who later founded National Lampoon...
. - Pitts is mentioned in the play and movie version of The Man Who Came to DinnerThe Man Who Came to DinnerThe Man Who Came to Dinner is a comedy in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939 at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. It then enjoyed a number of New York and London revivals. The first London production was staged at The Savoy Theatre starring Robert...
. The main character, Sheridan Whiteside (Monty WoolleyMonty WoolleyMonty Woolley was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor. At the age of 50, he achieved a measure of stardom for his best-known role in the stage play and 1942 film The Man Who Came to Dinner...
), orders his nurse to "Stop acting like ZaSu Pitts and explain yourself!" - In a made-for-TV version of The Man Who Came to Dinner, in which Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
played Whiteside, Pitts was cast as the nurse, Miss Preen, so the remark about "stop acting like ZaSu Pitts" was actually made directly to Pitts herself.
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1917 | Becky | |||
| 1918 | How Could You Jean? How Could You Jean? How Could You, Jean? was a silent comedy-drama film, starring Mary Pickford, directed by William Desmond Taylor, and based on a novel by Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd... |
Oscar's Sweetheart | ||
| 1918 | ||||
| 1919 | Better Times Better Times (1919 film) -Cast:* ZaSu Pitts - Nancy Scroggs* David Butler - Peter Van Alstyne* Jack McDonald - Ezra Scroggs* William De Vaull - Si Whittaker * Hugh Fay - Jack Ransom* George Hackathorne - Tony* Georgia Woodthorpe - A young old lady... |
Nancy Scroggs | ||
| 1919 | Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid | |||
| 1919 | Poor Relations Poor Relations Poor Relations is a 1919 silent drama film directed by King Vidor.-Cast:* Florence Vidor - Dorothy Perkins* Lillian Leighton - Ma Perkins* William De Vaull - Pa Perkins * Roscoe Karns - Henry* ZaSu Pitts - Daisy Perkins... |
Daisy Perkins | ||
| 1920 | Seeing It Through | Betty Lawrence | ||
| 1921 | Patsy | Patsy | ||
| 1922 | Youth to Youth | Emily | ||
| 1923 | Souls for Sale Souls for Sale Souls for Sale is a silent film written, directed, and produced by Rupert Hughes from his novel of the same name. The film featured Eleanor Boardman in her first leading role, having won a contract with Goldwyn Studios through their "New Faces of 1921" contest just two years prior.The film is most... |
Herself | Cameo role | |
| 1923 | Three Wise Fools | Mickey | ||
| 1923 | Hollywood Hollywood (1923 film) Hollywood was a silent comedy film directed by James Cruze, co-written by Frank Condon and Thomas J. Geraghty, and released by Paramount Pictures.The film has become famous as having featured cameos of more than thirty famous Hollywood stars... |
Herself | Cameo role | |
| 1924 | Daughters of Today | Lorena | ||
| 1924 | Triumph Triumph (1924 film) Triumph is a 1924 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.-Cast:* Leatrice Joy - Ann Land* Rod La Rocque - King Garnet* Victor Varconi - William Silver* Charles Ogle - James Martin* Theodore Kosloff - Varinoff* Robert Edeson - Smauel Overton... |
A Factory Girl | ||
| 1924 | Changing Husbands Changing Husbands Changing Husbands is a 1924 American silent comedy starring Leatrice Joy, and Victor Varconi, directed by Frank Urson and written by Sada Cowan and Howard Higgin. The runtime is 70 minutes.-Cast:*Leatrice Joy as Gwynne Evans/Ava Graham... |
Delia | ||
| 1924 | Greed Greed (film) Greed is a 1924 American dramatic silent film. It was directed by Erich von Stroheim and starring Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller, Tempe Pigott, Sylvia Ashton, Chester Conklin, Joan Standing and Jack Curtis.... |
Trina | ||
| 1925 | Polly Jordan | |||
| 1925 | Pretty Ladies Pretty Ladies Pretty Ladies is a silent comedy-drama film starring ZaSu Pitts and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is a fictional recreation of the famed Ziegfeld Follies. Directed by Monta Bell, the film was written by Alice D.G... |
Maggie Keenan | ||
| 1925 | Nancy | |||
| 1926 | Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (1926 film) -Plot:An American adventurer hides from pursuing detectives in the hotel room of a young schoolteacher.-Cast:* Lew Cody - Tony Townsend* Gertrude Olmstead - Sally Roxford* Roy D'Arcy - Prince Boris* Karl Dane - The Doorman* Zasu Pitts - Hope Durant... |
Hope Durant | ||
| 1926 | Sunny Side Up | Evelyn | ||
| 1927 | Casey at the Bat Casey at the Bat (1927 film) Casey at the Bat is a 1927 silent film starring Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling, Zasu Pitts, and Sterling Holloway. The film was directed by Monte Brice and loosely based on the baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" written by Ernest Thayer.-Cast:... |
Camille | With Wallace Beery Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor... and Ford Sterling Ford Sterling Ford Sterling was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4' he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.-Biography:... |
|
| 1928 | Cecelia Schweisser | |||
| 1929 | Paris | Harriet | ||
| 1929 | Telephone Girl | |||
| 1929 | This Thing Called Love This Thing Called Love This Thing Called Love is a US romantic comedy film starring Edmund Lowe, Constance Bennett, Ruth Taylor, Roscoe Karns, Zazu Pitts, and Jean Harlow. Harlow appears in a cameo role, as she was not yet famous.... |
Clara Bertrand | ||
| 1930 | No, No, Nanette | Pauline Hastings | ||
| 1930 | Ethel | |||
| 1930 | Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (1930 film) Monte Carlo is a 1930 American musical comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It stars Jeanette MacDonald as Countess Helene Mara. The film is also notable for the song "Beyond the Blue Horizon", which was written for the film and was performed by Jeanette MacDonald. The film was also hailed by... |
Bertha | ||
| 1931 | Minnie | |||
| 1931 | Seed | Jennie | ||
| 1931 | Penrod and Sam | Mrs. Bassett | Alternative title: The Adventures of Penrod and Sam | |
| 1931 | Liesl, the Maid | |||
| 1931 | On the Loose On the Loose (1931 film) On The Loose is a comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced and directed by Hal Roach, and starring Zasu Pitts and Thelma Todd. The short film features a cameo appearance by Laurel and Hardy.- Plot :... |
Zasu | Short subject | |
| 1932 | Broken Lullaby Broken Lullaby Broken Lullaby is an American drama film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by Samson Raphaelson and Ernest Vajda is based on the 1930 play L'homme que j'ai tué by Maurice Rostand and its 1931 English-language adaptation, The Man I Killed, by Reginald... |
Anna, Holderlin's Maid | ||
| 1932 | Shopworn Shopworn Shopworn is a 1932 Pre-Code romantic drama film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Regis Toomey.-Plot:Waitress Kitty Lane and wealthy David Livingston fall in love. However his overly protective mother Helen does not approve and does everything she can to break them up... |
Aunt Dot | ||
| 1932 | Destry Rides Again Destry Rides Again (1932 film) Destry Rides Again is a 1932 Western movie starring Tom Mix about a man wrongly framed who returns to wreak havoc following his release from prison. The picture was directed by Benjamin Stoloff and based upon a novel by Max Brand... |
Temperance Worker | Alternative title: Justice Rides Again With Tom Mix Tom Mix Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. He made a reported 336 films between 1910 and 1935, all but nine of which were silent features... |
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| 1932 | Westward Passage Westward Passage Westward Passage is a 1932 American drama film directed by Robert Milton and starring Ann Harding, Laurence Olivier, Zasu Pitts and Irving Pichel. A woman falls in love and marries, but soon discovers how unpleasant her new husband is. The film marked Olivier's first major role in the United States... |
Mrs. Truesdale | ||
| 1932 | Back Street Back Street (1932 film) Back Street is a 1932 film made by Universal Pictures, directed by John M. Stahl, and produced by Carl Laemmle Jr.. The screenplay was written by Gladys Lehman and based on the novel by Fannie Hurst. The film stars Irene Dunne and John Boles.-Plot:... |
Mrs. Dole | ||
| 1932 | Blondie of the Follies Blondie of the Follies Blondie of the Follies is a 1932 comedy film directed by Edmund Goulding and written by Anita Loos and Frances Marion.-Cast :*Marion Davies as Blondie McClune*Robert Montgomery as Larry Belmont... |
Gertie | ||
| 1932 | Nora Rafferty | |||
| 1933 | They Just Had to Get Married They Just Had to Get Married They Just Had to Get Married is a comedy film directed by Edward Ludwig and starring Slim Summerville, Zasu Pitts, Roland Young, and Verree Teasdale.... |
Molly Hull | ||
| 1933 | Hello, Sister! Hello, Sister! Hello, Sister! is a 1933 drama film directed by Alan Crosland, Erich von Stroheim, Raoul Walsh, and Alfred L. Werker.-Cast:* James Dunn - Jimmy* Zasu Pitts - Millie* Boots Mallory - Peggy... |
Millie | ||
| 1933 | Meet the Baron Meet the Baron Meet the Baron is a comedy film starring Jack Pearl, Jimmy Durante, Edna May Oliver, Zasu Pitts, Ted Healy and the Three Stooges.-Plot:... |
Zasu | ||
| 1933 | Mr. Skitch | Maddie Skitch | ||
| 1934 | Dames Dames Dames is a 1934 Warner Bros. musical comedy film directed by Ray Enright with dance numbers created by Busby Berkeley. The film stars Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, ZaSu Pitts, and Hugh Herbert... |
Matilda Ounce Hemingway | ||
| 1934 | Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a 1934 comedy-genre film, directed by Norman Taurog, and based on the 1901 novel by Alice Hegan Rice. It also appeared as a radio series between 1936 and 1938. It is one of two movies that feature a rare film performance by famed Broadway stage actress Pauline... |
Miss Hazy | ||
| 1934 | Mirabelle | |||
| 1935 | Ruggles of Red Gap Ruggles of Red Gap Ruggles of Red Gap was serialized beginning December 26, 1914 in the Saturday Evening Post and became a best selling novel in 1915 by Harry Leon Wilson, adapted for the Broadway stage as a musical the same year, and made into a movie several times, most famously in 1935.In the comedy Western film... |
Prunella Judson | With Charles Laughton Charles Laughton Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:... and Charles Ruggles Charles Ruggles Charles Sherman “Charlie” Ruggles was a comic American actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films. He was also the brother of director, producer, and silent actor Wesley Ruggles .-Background:Charlie Ruggles was born in Los Angeles, California in 1886... |
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| 1936 | Thirteen Hours by Air Thirteen Hours by Air Thirteen Hours by Air is a 1936 mystery film made by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Mitchell Leisen, and starred Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett... |
Miss Harkins | ||
| 1936 | The Plot Thickens The Plot Thickens (film) The Plot Thickens is a 1936 Drama film directed by William Sistrom, starring James Gleason and Zasu Pitts, who plays the aging schoolteacher and amateur sleuth, Hildegarde Withers, in Stuart Palmer's stories... |
Hildegarde Withers | ||
| 1937 | Forty Naughty Girls | Hildegarde Withers | ||
| 1939 | Dulcey Lee | With George Raft George Raft George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s... and Ellen Drew Ellen Drew Ellen Drew was an American film actress.Born Esther Loretta Ray in Kansas City, Missouri, Drew worked various jobs and won a number of beauty contests before becoming an actress... |
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| 1939 | Eternally Yours Eternally Yours (film) Eternally Yours is a 1939 American comedy film made by Walter Wanger and released by United Artists. The film was produced and directed by Tay Garnett with Walter Wanger as executive producer, from a screenplay by C. Graham Baker and Gene Towne.... |
Mrs. Bingham | ||
| 1940 | It All Came True It All Came True It All Came True is a 1940 comedy film. It stars Humphrey Bogart as a gangster who hides from the police in a boarding house. Costar Ann Sheridan introduced the hit song "Angel in Disguise".-Cast:*Ann Sheridan as Sarah Jane Ryan... |
Miss Flint | ||
| 1940 | No, No Nanette No, No, Nanette (1940 film) No, No, Nanette is a 1940 American film directed by Herbert Wilcox and based on the musical of the same name.- Cast :*Anna Neagle as Nanette*Richard Carlson as Tom Gillespie*Victor Mature as William Trainor*Roland Young as Mr. "Happy" Jimmy Smith... |
Pauline Hastings | ||
| 1941 | Niagara Falls Niagara Falls (1941 film) Niagara Falls is a 1941 American comedy of errors film directed by Gordon Douglas that was one of Hal Roach's Streamliners.- Plot summary :A peanut vendor sights a man named Sam Sawyer attempting suicide by jumping off a cliff into the waters below... |
Emmy Sawyer | ||
| 1942 | Geraldine | |||
| 1942 | So's Your Aunt Emma So's Your Aunt Emma So's Your Aunt Emma is a 1942 American film directed by Jean Yarbrough.The film is also known as Meet the Mob.- Cast :*Zasu Pitts as Aunt Emma Bates*Roger Pryor as Terry Connors, Globe-Register Reporter... |
Aunt Emma | Alternative title: Meet the Mob | |
| 1943 | Let's Face It! | Cornelia Figeson | ||
| 1946 | Breakfast in Hollywood | Elvira Spriggens | ||
| 1947 | Life with Father Life with Father (film) Life with Father is a 1947 American comedy film. It tells the true story of Clarence Day, a stockbroker who wants to be master of his house, but finds his wife and his children ignoring him, until they start making demands for him to change his own life. In keeping with the autobiography, all the... |
Cousin Cora Cartwright | With William Powell William Powell William Horatio Powell was an American actor.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles... and Irene Dunne Irene Dunne Irene Dunne was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron , Theodora Goes Wild , The Awful Truth , Love Affair and I Remember Mama... |
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| 1950 | Francis Francis (1950 film) Francis is a 1950 black-and-white comedy film that launched the Francis the Talking Mule series. It starred Donald O'Connor as an American soldier who gets into trouble when he insists an Army mule named Francis can speak. The distinctive voice of Francis was provided by Chill Wills... |
Nurse Valerie Humpert | With Donald O'Connor Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor was an American dancer, singer, and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule... and Patricia Medina Patricia Medina Patricia Paz Maria Medina is an English actress from Liverpool, England. Her father was a Spaniard and her mother was English. Medina began acting as a teenager in the late 1930s... |
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| 1952 | Denver and Rio Grande Denver and Rio Grande (film) Denver and Rio Grande is a western film, directed by Byron Haskin and released by Paramount Pictures in 1952.The film is a dramatization of the building of the Denver and Rio Grande railway, which was chartered in 1870. It was filmed on location on the actual railway near Durango, Colorado... |
Jane Dwyer | With Edmond O'Brien Edmond O'Brien Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa... and Sterling Holloway Sterling Holloway Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company... |
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| 1954 | Francis Joins the WACS Francis Joins the WACS Francis Joins the WACS is a 1954 American comedy film starring Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, Mamie Van Doren and Chill Wills. A young man is brought back into the U.S. Army, but a computer error assigns him to the Women's Army Corps... |
Lt. Valerie Humpert | With Donald O'Connor Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor was an American dancer, singer, and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule... , Julie Adams Julie Adams Julie Adams is an American film and television actress, sometimes credited as Julia Adams or Betty Adams.-Life and career:... , and Mamie Van Doren Mamie Van Doren Mamie Van Doren is an American actress and singer; who rose to popularity as Universal Pictures's version of 20th Century Fox's Marilyn Monroe.... |
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| 1957 | This Could Be the Night This Could Be the Night (film) This Could Be the Night is a 1957 MGM comedy-drama film directed by Robert Wise. The movie is based on the short stories by Cornelia Baird Gross and stars Jean Simmons and Paul Douglas. Actor Anthony Franciosa made his debut in this film.-Plot:... |
Mrs. Katie Shea | With Jean Simmons Jean Simmons Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J... and Tony Franciosa |
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| 1961 | Aunt Theodora | |||
| 1963 | Olivia | With Doris Day Doris Day Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,... and James Garner James Garner James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades... |
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| 1963 | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers... |
Gertie–Switchboard Operator | With Spencer Tracy Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951... |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Miss Preen | Episode: "The Man Who Came to Dinner" | |
| 1955 | Screen Directors Playhouse | Selma | Episode: "The Silent Partner" |
| 1956 | Miss Appleton | Episode: "Mr. Belvedere" | |
| 1956– 1960 |
Elvira Nugent | 91 episodes | |
| 1957 | Private Secretary Private Secretary (TV series) Private Secretary is an American sitcom that aired from February 1, 1953 to September 10, 1957 on CBS, alternating with The Jack Benny Program on Sundays at 7:30pm EST... |
Aunt Martha | Episode: "Not Quite Paradise" |
| 1960 | Loretta Kimball | Episode: "Dimples" | |
| 1961 | Guestward, Ho! Guestward, Ho! Guestward, Ho! is a situation comedy which aired on the ABC network in the 1960-1961 television season, based on the 1956 book of the same title by Patrick Dennis, author of Auntie Mame.... |
Episode: "Lonesome's Gal" | |
| 1961 | Perry Mason Perry Mason (TV series) Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner... |
Daphne Whilom | Episode: "The Case of the Absent Artist" |
| 1963 | Burke's Law Burke's Law Burke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud... |
Mrs. Bowie | Episode: "Who Killed Holly Howard?" |