ZaSu Pitts Biography

ZaSu Pitts

The name “ZaSu”" was created because her two aunts, Eliza and Susan, each wanted the baby named after them. Pitts started working as an extra in movies, but was discovered by Mary Pickford, who is credited with giving Pitts small roles in The Little Princess and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm in 1917. Although she played dramatic roles in Greed (1925), The Wedding March (1928), and All Quiet on the Western Front, Pitts was usually cast in comic roles with the advent of talking films. Her trademark hand wringing and her high-pitched voice were the basis for Olive Oyl in the Popeye cartoons. From Monte Carlo (1930), to her last film, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Pitts was a popular supporting actress in movies, the stage, and on TV. She wrote the book Candy Hits by ZaSu Pitts.