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