ZaSu Pitts

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ZaSu Pitts (January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was a United States movie actress. In many of her film credits and contemporary articles, her name is rendered as Zazu Pitts or Zasu Pitts. [Note: some on-line biographies claim ZaSu was born January 3, 1894, and the Internet Broadway Database gives her birth date as January 3, 1898; But her California death record reflects that she was born January 3, 1901. To make matters more confusing, the Social Security Death Record reflects a birthdate of January 3, 1900.]

1 Birth
2 Hollywood
3 Marriage
4 Death
5 Trivia
6 Filmography
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Birth

ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas and grew up in Santa Cruz, California. Her unusual first name was coined from parts of the names "Eliza" and "Susan", female relatives who both wanted ZaSu's mother to name the child after them. Though the name is commonly mispronounced as "Zazz-oo", in her 1930s film shorts with Thelma Todd (below) it is clearly pronounced on-screen (by Todd) as "ZAY-sue". Similarly, it was consistently pronounced "ZAY-sue" during her recurrent guest appearences on Fibber McGee and Molly's show in 1939.

[edit] Hollywood

Pitts was discovered by screenwriter Frances Marion and made her debut in the silent film The Little Princess, starring Mary Pickford in 1917. With the tenderness of her acting and the melancholy of her eyes, she was a wonderful leading lady in Erich von Stroheim's masterpiece Greed (1924), for which performance, von Stroheim labelled Pitts "the greatest dramatic actress". Von Stroheim also featured her in his films The Wedding March (1928) and Walking Down Broadway (1933), which was re-edited by Alfred L. Werker and released as Hello Sister.

Pitts enjoyed her greatest fame, however, in the 1930's, often starring in B movies and comedy shorts, often teamed with Thelma Todd. She also played secondary parts in many films. Her stock persona of a hand-wringing, 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 that were popular but her brief stint in the Hildegarde Withers mystery series was not well received. Films featuring Pitts include Nurse Edith Cavell (1939) and two film adaptations of No, No, Nanette - one in 1930 and another in 1940. Pitts achieved renewed fame in television in the 1950's, notably costarring in Gale Storm's sitcom Oh, Susanna. Her last role, shortly before her death, was as a voice actress (switchboard operator) in the Stanley Kramer comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

[edit] Marriage

Pitts was married to actor Tom Gallery from 1920 to 1932. They had two children: a daughter, Ann Gallery, and a son, Don Gallery (né Marvin Carville La Marr), whom they adopted after the 1926 death of his mother, silent film actress Barbara La Marr.

[edit] Death

ZaSu Pitts died of cancer in Hollywood, California at age 69. She was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery although she was not known to be a Roman Catholic.

[edit] Trivia

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 1994, she was honored with her image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.
When Hollywood switched to talkies Pitts, who had a distinctive nasal voice with a wavering vibrato, switched to comedy character actor roles.
When Mae Questel was called on to create the screen voice of the character "Olive Oyl" for the Fleischer Studios animated cartoon version of the comic strip "Popeye", Questel created a caricature of Pitts' voice.
From the 1940s through the early 1960s, Pitts also made numerous television appearances, including her role in Oh! Susanna (1956-1960), with Gale Storm as her niece.
She was on radio, appearing several times on the earliest Fibber McGee and Molly show. Her character was a somewhat dipsy dame who was constantly looking for a husband.
Referred to sadistic gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as a "ferret".
Conservative in politics and with her money, she left her lucrative job with Thelma Todd over a money dispute with Hal Roach, and often complained about taxes.