People active in the silent era and people who keep the silent era alive. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Photograph: Silent Era image collection.

ZaSu Pitts

Born 3 January 1894 in Parsons, Kansas, USA, as Eliza Susan Pitts.
Died 7 June 1963 in Hollywood, California, USA, of cancer.

Married actor Tom Gallery, 23 July 1920; one child; divorced, 2 May 1933.
Married John E. Woodall, 8 October 1933; until Eliza’s death, 7 June 1963.

ZaSu Pitts (according to family members, pronounced “zah-soo”) was born in Kansas, and her family moved to Santa Cruz, California, when she was nine years old. Her shy personality found expression in high school drama productions, and she began her acting career on stage in 1915. Writer Frances Marion encouraged Pitts to try motion pictures in 1917.

Equally proficient in comedies and dramas, Pitts worked independently in shorts and feature films for Mary Pickford Film Corporation (1917-1918), The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated (1918), Brentwood Film Company (1919), Fox Film Corporation (1920, 1925), Universal Pictures Corporation (1921, 1924-1926, 1928), Metro Pictures Corporation (1922), Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (1922-1924, 1927), Goldwyn Producing Corporation (1923), Preferred Pictures, Incorporated (1923), Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corporation (1924), Constance Talmadge Productions (1924), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Corporation (1924-1926), DeMille Pictures Corporation (1926), Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation (1928), First National Pictures, Incorporated (1929), Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated (1929) and Feature Productions, Incorporated (1929).

Pitts’ greatest role of the silent era was as Trina McTeague in Greed (1924) for Erich von Stroheim.

Pitts continued largely in character roles in motion pictures and television until her death in 1963.

References: Website-SilMaj; Website-IMDb.