MovieChat Forums > Raiders of the Living Dead Discussion > Zita Johann

Zita Johann

posted 17 years ago by robert48-1
3 replies | jump to latest

I would love to know how Zita Johann ended up in this flick. She was the love interest in the original "Mummy" with Boris Karloff and was briefly married to John Houseman. The last movie she was in as listed by IMDB was in 1934 and then she pops up fifty years later as the librarian in this film. She appears in nothing else and dies in 1993. What in the world persuaded her to come out of retirement and appear in a low budget horror film? Was it as a favor to some relative who was involved in the production?

[–] dmc102 17 years ago

You will find that lots of old Universal stars made appearances in schlocky horror movies in the 70s and 80s. Lon Chaney Jr was in "Dracula Vs. Frankenstein" which was produced by the same company as this movie - producers like Fred Olen Ray roped stars like Buster Crabbe into their movies.

These old stars did it for the money. These low-budget movie producers would pay them more for a two or three minute cameo than any of the leading actors just so that they could get a big name on the poster. They would find out which old folks home these actors were in, offer them a nice wad of cash for a days work and hey-presto - you have a terrible horror film with a big star!

Call Me Jack. Union Jack.

[–] Scubadiverbob 17 years ago

Hey robert48-1 At the time the movie was in the planning/production stages (1985-86) Zita Johann was devoting a large part of her time to running a workshop for aspiring actors. From what I understand she was approached by Sam Sherman, the director, to have a part in the movie to peak the interest of movie fans new and old because of her appearance with Karloff in the MUMMY. I don't know if you knew but Ms. Johann was so dedicated to Boadway (rather than films) that she turned down offers from MGM and RKO to stay and star on Broadway with some guy named "Clark Gable". She also appeared in "Tiger Shark" with Edward G. Robinson.
Next time you watch the movie keep an eye out in the beginning for the uniformed police officer chasing the stolen tanker truck along the highway - that was me. Unfortunately, the (my) voice was "dubbed in" and isn't mine.

Hope this gives you some insight - Bob

[–] fast_fierce_and_funny 15 years ago

Hey robert48-1 At the time the movie was in the planning/production stages (1985-86) Zita Johann was devoting a large part of her time to running a workshop for aspiring actors. From what I understand she was approached by Sam Sherman, the director, to have a part in the movie to peak the interest of movie fans new and old because of her appearance with Karloff in the MUMMY.

Thanks very much for the explanation.

I saw her this past weekend on the Silver Screen in The Sin of Nora Moran and was fascinated by her, mainly because I had never heard of her before (and I thought I knew all the old-time actresses).

Naturally, I ended up on the IMDb to check out her film credits. I was fortunate enough to have seen The Mummy on the Silver Screen a couple of years back, but to tell the truth, I didn't pay much attention to Zita Johann's performance (Karloff grabbed my interest, for obvious reasons). I do remember that she was quite beautiful, though.

At any rate, it was nice to see that someone remembered Miss Johann more than a half-century after her last screen appearance. I took a look at a poster for Raiders of the Living Dead and she is credited with being a "Special Guest Star" in the film. Which I think is pretty cool. :)

I find myself wondering if the gap of 52 years between her last film (Grand Canary, 1934) and Raiders (1986) is a record for the IMDb. I've seen gaps of 20 years or so between credits, but a half-century? That's really something...