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Zita Johann

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Zita Johann
Zita Johann in 1927
Born
Elizabeth Johann

(1904-07-14)14 July 1904
Deutschbentschek (near Temesvar), Austria-Hungary
Died24 September 1993(1993-09-24) (aged 89)
Nyack, New York, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active
  • 1924–1942
  • 1962
  • 1986
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1929; div. 1933)​
  • John McCormick
  • Bernard E. Shedd[1]
PartnerJohn Huston

Zita Johann (born Elizabeth Johann) (14 July 1904 – 24 September 1993) was an Austrian-American actress. She is best known for her role in Karl Freund's film The Mummy (1932) starring Boris Karloff.

Early life

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Johann was born on July 14, 1904 in Temesvar, Austria-Hungary, which is now Timisoara, Timiș County, Romania.[2]

A German-speaking Banat Swabian, Zita Johann was born Elizabeth Johann in the village of Deutschbentschek (near Timișoara), Austria-Hungary. The village is now part of Romania. Johann left her home and moved to the U.S. when she was about 7 years old.[3] Her father, a hussar officer named Stefan Johann, emigrated with his family to the United States in 1911.[4]

In high school, she began to act in school plays.[5] Later, she appeared with the Theatre Guild Repertory Company in touring productions of Peer Gynt, The Devil's Disciple and He Who Gets Slapped.[6][7]

Career

[edit]

Johann debuted on Broadway in 1924.[8] She turned down the lead in Universal’s 1929 theatrical version of Show Boat, so she could star in the play, Machinal, with a young Clark Gable.[8]

She subsequently signed a contract with MGM to act in films.[8] Her contract was unique at the time in that it had a script approval clause, which is an indication of how much the studio had wanted to sign her.[8] She took full advantage of the clause and turned down most scripts she was offered.[8] She was said to have once asked Irving Thalberg why he made such awful pictures.[8] About six months later, she asked to be released from her contract.[8]

Johann made her first film appearance in D.W. Griffith's 1931 film The Struggle. Johann had been a great admirer of Griffith and was delighted to star in the film, which was inspired in part by his own struggle with alcoholism. The film was not a success.

However, the next year, she starred in her most famous film, The Mummy (1932), with Boris Karloff. It seemed like a perfect role for her because of her own beliefs in reincarnation and mysticism.[8] However, the director, Karl Freund, was hostile to her on set. He forced her to film a (later deleted) scene while unprotected from lions, and he tried to get her to film a semi-nude scene.[8] Johann asserted Freund set her up as a scapegoat in case his directorial debut was unsuccessful.[9]

Johann went on to make other films and was also known for her performances in The Sin of Nora Moran (1933) and Luxury Liner (1933). None were as successful as The Mummy.

Nonetheless, her great love was the theater and she did not like Hollywood. She felt exploited by the studio moguls who viewed actors as commodities, and she didn't like being on camera which she felt was a barrier between her and the audience.[8] By contrast, in the theater, she had more rehearsal time, felt less rushed and was less exhausted at the end of the day.[8] In her New York Post obituary in 1993, she was quoted as having said: "I hated Hollywood. It was no more than a personality and sex factory. They weren't interested in acting."[10] In her obituary in The Independent, she was quoted as having described the dehumanizing Hollywood system: "The moguls created stars and sold them to the public, the way a grocer sold a 39-cent can of tomatoes to his shoppers."[7]

When the studio tried to make her appear in Thirteen Women, which she considered a tawdry melodrama, Johann asked RKP to be released from her contract.[6] After seven films, she quit to work in theatre again, collaborating with John Houseman, to whom she was married at the time, and with Orson Welles. From the 1920s through the early 1940s, Johann appeared in a number of Broadway productions including: "Dawn" (1924) at the Sam H. Harris Theatre, "The Goat Song" (1926) at The Theatre Guild, "Machinal" (1928) at the Plymouth Theatre, "Troyka" (1930) at the Hudson Theatre, "Uncle Vanya" (1930) at the Booth Theatre, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (1931) at the Henry Miller's Theatre, "Seven Keys To Baldpate" (1935) at the National Theatre, "The Burning Deck" (1940) at the Maxine Elliott's Theatre and "Broken Journey" (1942) at the Henry Miller's Theatre.[5]

In addition to her career as an actress, Johann was also a writer. She wrote plays and film scripts under the pseudonyms Joan Wolfe and Elizabeth Yorke.[11][5] Under the pen name, Joan Wolfe, she wrote the scripts Emily's Week and The Raw Deal.[11]

Johann later spent a lot of time doing community work and taught acting classes for children out of her home.[8] In the 1970s she filmed a show called Zita and Her Friends, which was aimed at helping parents and children have better communication and stronger relationships.[8] She also taught acting to people with learning disorders.[1]

In 1962, she was a guest artist at Elmwood Playhouse in Nyack, New York, where she directed Don Juan In Hell.

She made her last film appearance in the 1986 horror film Raiders of the Living Dead.

Personal life

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Johann was a spiritual person who prayed before each performance.[6] In an act reminiscent of the Roman orators before political speeches, she would call upon the spirits of the people she was to portray to ask that they inspire her work.[9] Johann described herself as a "mystic" and claimed to have levitated.[7] She described her process before a play: "to me, the theatre was related to the spirit. Before every performance I sat alone in my dressing-room, said my prayers, died unto myself and became my character."[7]

Johann married three times. She married John Houseman October 5, 1929.[12] Houseman (né Jacques Haussmann) had been born in Bucharest, about 300 miles from where Johann had been born.[13] When the couple married, Houseman was a grain dealer like his father, but his business career was wiped out by the Wall Street Crash just weeks after the wedding.[12] It was Johann's idea that Houseman should reinvent himself as an actor, following her lead in the theater.[12] During her film career, they lived in Malibu, where Johann enjoyed painting, reading and playing violin.[8] The couple divorced in Mexico on September 13, 1933.[12][11]

Johann briefly dated John Huston. In February 1933 she suffered injuries after a car accident where he had been driving drunk.[8] Johann went through the windshield of Huston's car.[14] A little over six months later, Huston was involved in another car accident, which killed dancer, Tosca Roulien.[6]

After an only seven day courtship, Johann married retired film producer, John McCormick, on July 9, 1935.[8] McCormick proved to be controlling and an alcoholic.[8] They divorced on August 18, 1938.[12]

During World War II, Johann raised money for war-related charities, and organized performances for American soldiers.[6] At her third wedding raised money for Finnish war orphans.[8]

For her third marriage, Johann wanted to find someone who was completely out of the industry, so she married Bernard Shedd (Schetnitz), an economist and publisher.[8] The relationship began when he was in the military and stationed in California.[11] After the marriage, she found out he did not have much money and was not motivated to contribute much to their marriage.[8] They married on April 18, 1941 and divorced in the 1950s.[12]

During her marriage to Shedd, Johann moved back to New York and bought a home in Rockland County, which is part of the New York City metropolitan area.[8] Johann lived there for decades. She never re-married or had children, but devoted her life towards community and charity.[8]

Johann died from pneumonia at a hospital in Nyack, New York, on 24 September 1993, at the age of 89.[1] She was cremated and her ashes were scattered in a stream on a family farm in Upstate New York.[9]

Theatre credits

[edit]
Zita Johann and Clark Gable in Machinal (1928)
Date Title Role Notes
14 April – June 1924 Man and the Masses First Woman Prisoner Garrick Theatre, New York[15]
24 November 1924 – January 1925 Dawn Judith Sam H. Harris Theatre, New York[15]
18 June – 29 November 1925 Grand Street Follies Performer Neighborhood Playhouse, New York[15]
25 January – March 1926 The Goat Song Kruna Guild Theatre, New York[15]
7 September – 24 November 1928 Machinal A Young Woman Plymouth Theatre, New York[15]
1–1 April 1930 Troyka Natascha Hudson Theatre, New York[15]
22 September – October 1930 Uncle Vanya Sofya Alexandrovna Booth Theatre, New York[15]
13 January – July 1931 Tomorrow and Tomorrow Eve Redman Henry Miller's Theatre, New York[15]
14–16 March 1935 Panic Ione Imperial Theatre, New York[15][16]: 159 
27 May – June 1935 Seven Keys to Baldpate Mary Norton National Theatre, New York[15]
1–2 March 1940 The Burning Deck Nina Brandt Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York[15]
23 June – July 1942 Broken Journey Rachel Thatcher Arlen Henry Miller's Theatre, New York[15]

Filmography

[edit]
Poster for The Mummy (1932)
Year Title Role Notes
1931 The Struggle Florrie Wilson [17]
1932 Tiger Shark Quita Silva [17]
The Mummy Helen Grosvenor [18]
1933 Luxury Liner Miss Morgan [18]
The Man Who Dared Teena Pavelic [18]
The Sin of Nora Moran Nora Moran [18]
1934 Grand Canary Suzan Tranter [18]
1986 Raiders of the Living Dead Librarian [17]
1993 D. W. Griffith: Father of Film On-screen participant (documentary) [17]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Grimes, William (30 September 1993). "Zita Johann Dead; Actress, 89, Played The Mummy's Love". The New York Times. p. B11. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Zita Johann | Actress". IMDb. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Zita Johann". prod.tcm.com. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Deutschbentschek in Banat". DVHH. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "ABOUT ZITA JOHANN". Liesl Ehardt. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Zita Johann - Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d "Obituary: Zita Johann". The Independent. 6 October 1993. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "Zita Johann Unveiled: Hollywood's Mystic Rebel". ANTONIA CARLOTTA PRESENTS UNIVERSALLY ME. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  9. ^ a b c Monsters, Classic (14 July 2014). "Zita Johann". Classic Monsters. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Zita Johann". prod.tcm.com. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  11. ^ a b c d "archives.nypl.org -- Zita Johann papers". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Zita Johann - Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  13. ^ "John Houseman - Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  14. ^ Meyers, Jeffrey (2011). John Huston: Courage and Art. New York, New York USA: Crown/Archetype. p. 40. ISBN 9780307590695.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Zita Johann". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  16. ^ Houseman, John (1972). Run-Through: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-21034-3.
  17. ^ a b c d "Zita Johann". BFI Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  18. ^ a b c d e "Zita Johann". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
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