Zita Johann (born Elisabeth Johann; 14 July 1904 – 24 September 1993) was an Austrian-American actress. She is known for her role in

Karl Freund Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. (January 16, 1890 – May 3, 1969) was an Austrian cinematography, cinematographer and film director best known for photographing ''Metropolis (1927 film), Metropolis'' (1927), ''Dracula (1931 English-language film), Dracul ...

's film ''

The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places *Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States *Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in Par ...

'' (1932) starring Boris Karloff.

Life and career

A German-speaking

Banat Swabian The Banat Swabians are an ethnic German population in the former Kingdom of Hungary in Central-Southeast Europe, part of the Danube Swabians. They emigrated in the 18th century to what was then the Austrian Empire's Banat of Temeswar province, la ...

, Zita Johann was born Elisabeth Johann in the village of Deutschbentschek (near Timișoara), Austria-Hungary. The village is now part of Romania. Her father, a

hussar A hussar ( , ; hu, huszár, pl, husarz, sh, husar / ) was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely ...

officer named Stefan Johann, emigrated with his family to the United States in 1911. She debuted on Broadway in 1924 and made her first film appearance in D.W. Griffith's 1931 film '' The Struggle''. After seven films, she quit to work in theater, collaborating with

John Houseman John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born British-American actor and producer of theatre, film, and television. He became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director ...

, to whom she was married from 1929 to 1933, and with Orson Welles. She also taught

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

to people with

learning disorder Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficult ...

s. She made her last film appearance in the 1986

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

Raiders of the Living Dead ''Raiders of the Living Dead'' is a 1986 American horror film directed by Samuel M. Sherman from a script he co-wrote with Brett Piper. Plot In an abandoned prison, a doctor revived executed convicts as the living dead. Jonathan (Scott Schwartz ...

''. Johann married three times. In 1962, she was a guest artist at Elmwood Playhouse in Nyack, New York, where she directed '' Don Juan In Hell''. She died in 1993 at age 89 in Nyack, NY. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered on a family farm in upstate New York.

Theatre credits

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Zita Johann papers, 1924-1954
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Zita Johann Photo Gallery at ScienceMonster.NetZita Johann on the Deutschbenschek website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johann, Zita 1904 births 1993 deaths People from Timiș County Banat Swabians American stage actresses Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American actresses People from Nyack, New York