Comprehensive information and links about ZaSu Pitts

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

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.

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.

Hollywood

Pitts debuted in silent film in 1917, in a number of roles including that of Becky in (1924), for which performance, von Stroheim labelled Pitts "his greatest dramatic actress". Von Stroheim also featured her in . Her last role, shortly before her death was as a voice actress (switchboard operator) in the comedy,

Death

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

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 ZaSu Pitts' voice.From the 1940s through the early 1960s, ZaSu Pitts also made numerous television appearances, including her role in She was on radio, appearing several times on the earliest Fibber McGee show. Her character was a somewhat dipsy dame who was constantly looking for a husband.