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).

Filmography

• 1964The Big Parade of Comedy — Mirabelle in 'The Gay Bride' (archive footage)
• Burke's Law — Mrs. Bowie
• 1963It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World — Gertie - Switchboard Operator
• 1963The Thrill of It All — Olivia
• 1961Teenage Millionaire — Aunt Theodora
• Guestward, Ho!
• The Dennis O'Keefe Show
• Perry Mason — Daphne Whilom
• 1957This Could Be the Night — Mrs. Shea
• The Gale Storm Show
• Screen Director's Playhouse — Selma
• The 20th Century Fox Hour
• 1954Francis Joins the WACS — Valerie Humpert
• General Electric Theater — Aunt Laura
• Private Secretary
• 1952Denver and Rio Grande — Jane Dwyer
• 1950Francis — Valerie Humpert
• 1949Lum and Abner
• The Philco Television Playhouse — Belinda Pryde
• 1947Life with Father — Cousin Cora Cartwright
• 1947The Perfect Marriage — Rosa
• 1946Breakfast in Hollywood — Elvira Spriggens
• 1946Dear Miss Gloria — Guest star
• 1943Let's Face It — Cornelia Pigeon
• 1942Mexican Spitfire at Sea — Miss Pepper
• 1942So's Your Aunt Emma! — Aunt Emma Bates
• 1942The Bashful Bachelor — Geraldine
• 1942Tish — Aggie Pilkington (as ZaSu Pitts)
• 1941Broadway Limited — Myra Pottle
• 1941Miss Polly — Pandora Polly
• 1941Niagara Falls — Emmy Sawyer
• 1941The Mexican Spitfire's Baby — Emily Pepper
• 1941Uncle Joe — Julia Jordan
• 1941Weekend for Three — Anna, Craig's Maid
• 1940It All Came True — Miss Flint
• 1940No, No, Nanette — Pauline Hastings
• 1939Eternally Yours — Mrs. Bingham
• 1939Mickey the Kid — Lilly Handy
• 1939Naughty but Nice — Aunt Penelope Hardwick
• 1939Nurse Edith Cavell — Mme. Moulin
• 1939The Lady's from Kentucky — Dulcey Lee
• 193752nd Street — Letitia Rondell
• 1937Forty Naughty Girls — Hildegarde Withers
• 1937Wanted! — Winnie Oatfield
• 193613 Hours by Air — Miss Harkins
• 1936Mad Holiday — Mrs. Fay Kinney
• 1936Sing Me a Love Song — Gwen Logan
• 1936The Plot Thickens — Hildegarde Withers
• 1935Going Highbrow — Cora Upshaw
• 1935Hot Tip — Belle McGill
• 1935Ruggles of Red Gap — Mrs. Judson
• 1935She Gets Her Man — Esmeralda
• 1935Spring Tonic — Maggie Conklin
• 1935The Affair of Susan — Susan Todd
• 1934Dames — Matilda Hemingway
• 1934Love Birds — Araminta Tootle
• 1934Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch — Miss Hazy
• 1934Private Scandal — Miss Coates
• 1934Sing and Like It — Annie Snodgrass
• 1934The Gay Bride — Mirabelle
• 1934The Meanest Gal in Town — Tillie Prescott
• 1934Their Big Moment — Tillie Whim
• 1934Three on a Honeymoon — Alice Mudge
• 1934Two Alone — Esthey Roberts
• 1933Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men — Sybby 'Sib'
• 1933Asleep in the Feet — Zasu
• 1933Hello, Sister! — Millie
• 1933Her First Mate — Mary Horner
• 1933Love, Honor and Oh, Baby! — Connie Clark
• 1933Maids a la Mode — Miss Pitts
• 1933Meet the Baron — Zasu
• 1933Mother's Helper
• 1933Mr. Skitch — Maddie Skitch
• 1933One Track Minds — Zasu Pitts
• 1933Out All Night — Bonny
• 1933Professional Sweetheart — Elmerada
• 1933She Whoops To Conquer — Beula
• 1933The Bargain of the Century — Zasu
• 1933The Vanishing Frontier — Aunt Sylvia
• 1933They Just Had to Get Married — Molly Hull
• 1932Alum and Eve — Zasu
• 1932Back Street — Mrs. Dole
• 1932Blondie of the Follies — Gertie
• 1932Broken Lullaby — Anna, Holderlin's Maid
• 1932Destry Rides Again — Temperance Worker
• 1932Is My Face Red? — Morning Gazette Telephone Operator
• 1932Madison Square Garden — Florrie
• 1932Make Me a Star — Mrs. Scudder
• 1932Once in a Lifetime — Miss Leyton
• 1932Red Noses — Miss Pitts
• 1932Roar of the Dragon — Gabby Woman
• 1932Sealskins — Zasu Pitts
• 1932Shopworn — Aunt Dot
• 1932Show Business — Zasu
• 1932Sneak Easily — Miss Zasu Pitts - Woman of the Jury
• 1932Steady Company — Dot
• 1932Strangers of the Evening — Sybil Smith
• 1932Strictly Unreliable — Pitts
• 1932The Crooked Circle — Nora Rafferty
• 1932The Old Bull — Zasu
• 1932The Soilers — Zasu
• 1932The Trial of Vivienne Ware — Gladys Fairweather
• 1932The Unexpected Father — Polly Perkins
• 1932Westward Passage — Mrs. Truesdale
• 1931A Woman of Experience — Katie
• 1931Beyond Victory — Fritzi Mobley
• 1931Catch-As Catch-Can — ZaSu
• 1931Finn and Hattie — Mrs. Hattie Haddock
• 1931Let's Do Things — Zasu Pitts
• 1931On the Loose — Zasu
• 1931Penrod and Sam — Mrs. Bassett
• 1931Seed — Jennie
• 1931The Bad Sister — Minnie
• 1931The Big Gamble — Nora Dugan
• 1931The Guardsman — Liesl
• 1931The Pajama Party — Zasu
• 1931The Secret Witness — Bella
• 1931Their Mad Moment — Miss Dibbs
• 1931War Mamas — Zasu
• 1930Free Love — Ada, the Maid
• 1930Honey — Mayme
• 1930Little Accident — Monica
• 1930Monte Carlo — Bertha
• 1930No, No, Nanette — Pauline Hastings
• 1930Passion Flower — Mrs. Harney
• 1930River's End — Louise
• 1930Sin Takes a Holiday — Annie
• 1930The Devil's Holiday — Ethel
• 1930The Lottery Bride — Hilda
• 1930The Squealer — Bella
• 1930War Nurse — Cushie
• 1929Her Private Life — Timmins
• 1929Oh, Yeah! — The Elk
• 1929Paris — Harriet
• 1929The Argyle Case — Mrs. Wyatt
• 1929The Dummy — Rose Gleason
• 1929The Honeymoon — Caecilia
• 1929The Locked Door — Telephone Girl
• 1929The Squall — Lena
• 1929This Thing Called Love — Clara Bertrand
• 1929Twin Beds — Tillie
• 192813 Washington Square — The Maid
• 1928Buck Privates — Hulda
• 1928Sins of the Fathers — Mother Spengler
• 1928The Wedding March — Cecelia Schweisser
• 1928Wife Savers — Germaine
• 1927Casey at the Bat — Camille
• 1926Early to Wed — Mrs. Dugan
• 1926Her Big Night — Gladys Smith
• 1926Mannequin — Annie Pogani
• 1926Monte Carlo — Hope Durant
• 1926Risky Business — Agnes Wheaton
• 1926Sunny Side Up — Evelyn
• 1926The Great Love — Nancy
• 1926What Happened to Jones? — Hilda (as Zazu Pitts)
• 1925A Woman's Faith — Blanche Odile
• 1925Lazybones — Ruth Fanning
• 1925Old Shoes
• 1925Pretty Ladies — Maggie Keenan
• 1925The Great Divide — Polly Jordan
• 1925The Re-Creation of Brian Kent — Judy
• 1925Thunder Mountain — Mandy Coulter
• 1925Wages for Wives — Luella Logan
• 1924Changing Husbands — Delia
• 1924Daughters of Today — Lorena
• 1924Greed — Trina
• 1924Secrets of the Night — Celia Stebbins
• 1924The Fast Set — Mona
• 1924The Goldfish — Amelia Pugsley
• 1924West of the Water Tower — Dessie Arnhalt
• 1923Hollywood — Zasu Pitts
• 1923Mary of the Movies — Zasu Pitts (uncredited)
• 1923Poor Men's Wives — Apple Annie
• 1923Tea- With a Kick! — 'Brainy' Jones
• 1923The Girl Who Came Back — Anastasia Muldoon
• 1923Three Wise Fools — Mickey
• 1922A Daughter of Luxury — Mary Cosgrove
• 1922For the Defense — Jennie Dunn
• 1922Is Matrimony a Failure? — Mrs. Wilbur
• 1922Youth to Youth — Emily
• 1921Patsy — Patsy
• 1920Heart of Twenty — Katie Abbott
• 1920Seeing It Through — Betty Lawrence
• 1919As the Sun Went Down — Sal Sue
• 1919Better Times — Nancy Scroggs
• 1919Men, Women, and Money — Katie Jones
• 1919Poor Relations — Daisy Perkins
• 1919The Other Half — Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid
• 1918A Lady's Name — Emily
• 1918A Society Sensation — Mary
• 1918How Could You, Jean? — Oscar's Sweetheart
• 1918The Talk of the Town
• 1917'49 – '17 — Party Guest (uncredited)
• 1917A Desert Dilemma
• 1917A Little Princess — Becky
• 1917A Modern Musketeer — A Kansas Belle (uncredited)
• 1917His Fatal Beauty — Perscilla
• 1917Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm — Undetermined Role (uncredited)
• 1917Tillie of the Nine Lives
• 1917Uneasy Money — Suza - the Editor's Assistant
• 1917Why They Left Home — Mary Mandrake

Appearances as themselves (5)

• 1959Disneyland '59 — Self
• What's My Line? — Self
• 1934And She Learned About Dames — Herself
• 19251925 Studio Tour — Self
• 1923Souls for Sale — Self - Celebrity Actress in Commissary