Zita Johann
Zita Johann (* July 14, 1904 in Temesvár, Austria - Hungary, † September 20, 1993 in Nyack, New York ) was an American actress.
Life and career
Born in Austria - Hungary, Johann moved with her family to New York when she was seven years old. Even in high school she performed in theater productions. In April 1924 she made her debut on Broadway in New York. At that time she appeared in the play Man and the Masses. Other roles she received in the same year in Dawn, 1925 in Drift, 1926 in Goat Song, 1928 in Machinal, 1930 in Troika and Uncle Vanya in 1931 and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. In the same year she moved to Hollywood.
Zita Johann quickly got good roles, as she played on the side of Edward G. Robinson as the female lead in Tiger shark. In the same year she reached the peak of her career as a partner of Boris Karloff in the horror film The Mummy. Before 1934, her film career ended, she starred opposite George Brent in The Floating City (1933 ) the role of Miss Morgan. After 50 years of canvas abstinence they had in 1986 a short film comeback inm cheap horror movie Raiders of the Living Dead in the role of a librarian.
Early in 1935, she returned to Broadway. Later this year, we saw Zita Johann in pieces Panic and Seven Keys to Baldpate. Later she appeared only sporadically on the New York theater district. So she got roles in Flight Into China ( 1939), The Burning Deck ( 1940) and in Broken Journey ( 1942). During the Second World War, she collected donations for charitable purposes and organized shows for American troops. In her last decades, she worked with mentally disabled children and gave private acting lessons.
From 1929 to 1933 John was married to 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 eventually married Bernard E. Shedd, but this marriage also ended in divorce again.
Zita Johann died in 1993 at the age of 89 years of pneumonia. They had no children.