Mitzi Green(1920-1969)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mitzi Green, also known as Mitze Green, was born Elizabeth Keno in The
Bronx on October 22, 1920. At age 3, she began appearing in her
parents' vaudeville act. In the early 1930s, she starred in several
popular films with Paramount Pictures, including
Tom Sawyer (1930) and
Huckleberry Finn (1931). She
became known as "Little Mitzi," and she was the first child star to
sign for a multi-picture contract with Paramount. Green had a natural
talent for comedy and mimicry, and audiences were impressed by her
uncanny imitations of Greta Garbo and
George Arliss. She was also a gifted
singer, performing two songs in
Girl Crazy (1932). But her career as
"Little Mitzi" would not last. Green matured quickly, and at age 14 she
was cast in an adult role in
Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1934),
which marked the end of her career as a child star. Green left
Hollywood and spent the next several years performing on Broadway and
in night clubs. She starred in the original Broadway production of
Rogers' and Hart's Babes in Arms, where she introduced the classic song
"My Funny Valentine." During this time she appeared in only one film,
Santa Fe Trail (1940), in which
she had a bit part. Green's career as an adult star in Hollywood began
in 1952, when she re-emerged on screen in
Lost in Alaska (1952), opposite
Abbott and Costello. She also appeared in
Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952)
and the sitcom
So This Is Hollywood (1955),
in which she played a perceptive stunt woman. After many years of
retirement, Green died of cancer on May 24, 1969, in Huntington Beach,
California. She was 48. She is buried in Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in
Mission Hills, California.
