Zita Johann

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Zita Johann (born July 14, 1904 in Temesvár , Kingdom of Hungary , Austria-Hungary , † September 20, 1993 in Nyack , New York ) was a Hungarian- American actress .

Life

Born in Austria-Hungary, Johann moved her family to New York when she was seven years old. Even at high school, she appeared in theater productions. In April 1924 she made her Broadway debut in New York . At that time she appeared in the play Man and the Masses . She received other roles in the same year in Dawn , 1925 in Drift , 1926 in Goat Song , 1928 in Machinal , 1930 in Troika and Uncle Wanja and 1931 in Tomorrow and Tomorrow . In the same year she moved to Hollywood .

Zita Johann quickly got good roles, for example she impersonated the leading female role in Tiger Hai alongside Edward G. Robinson . In the same year she reached the peak of her career as partner of Boris Karloff in the horror film The Mummy . Before she ended her film career in 1934, she played the role of Miss Morgan in The Swimming City (1933) alongside George Brent . After more than 50 years of abstinence from the screen, she had a short film comeback in 1986 in the cheap horror film Raiders of the Living Dead in the role of a librarian.

In early 1935 she returned to Broadway. This year Zita Johann could be seen in the plays Panic and Seven Keys to Baldpate . Later she only appeared sporadically on the New York Theater Mile. She got roles in Flight Into China (1939), The Burning Deck (1940) and Broken Journey (1942). During World War II, she raised funds for charitable causes and organized shows for American soldiers. In her final decades, she worked with mentally challenged children and gave private acting lessons.

From 1929 to 1933 Johann was married to the actor and producer John Houseman . This marriage ended in divorce. From 1935 until the divorce in 1938, she was married to producer John McCormick. In 1941 she finally married Bernard E. Shedd, but this marriage was divorced again.

Zita Johann died of pneumonia in 1993 at the age of 89. She remained childless.

Filmography

  • 1931: The battle (The Struggle)
  • 1932: Tiger Hai (Tiger Shark)
  • 1932: The Mummy (The Mummy)
  • 1933: Hotel on the Ocean (Luxury Liner)
  • 1933: The Man Who Dared
  • 1933: The Sin of Nora Moran
  • 1934: Grand Canary
  • 1986: Raiders of the Living Dead

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Zita Johann Dead on nytimes.com (English), accessed on October 17, 2012
  2. ↑ Biography on imdb.de (English)
personal data
SURNAME Johann, Zita
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian-American actress
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Temesvár , Kingdom of Hungary , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH 20th September 1993
Place of death Nyack , New York