MATCHMAKER SETS UP GALPAL WITH FUTURE OSCAR WINNER
Brad Pitt on Mystery Date in 1983 at the University of Missouri. Photo courtesy of Ann Zimmerman
The best local angle involving the Academy Awards?
And the winner is…Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Ann Zimmerman!
When she was a sophomore at the University of Missouri in 1983, she and her roommate, Jeanie Barnard of St. Louis, were members of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority
“The Theta house hosted a party called Mystery Date,” Zimmerman told Norm.Vegas
“The premise of the party was that you could set up your roommate on a mystery date. She wouldn’t know who her date was until she arrived at the party,” Zimmerman said in an email.
“Jeanie had a big crush on Brad Pitt at the time so that is who I set her up with,” said Zimmerman.
Pitt, then 19, had enrolled at Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism and looking at advertising.
“We all knew each other being in the Greek system,” Zimmerman said. "Lots and lots of parties back in the 80s!
"They had a great time and remained friends but no romance came out of it,” said Zimmerman. "Brad was a really nice guy in college and well-liked by everyone.
"Shortly after the Mystery Date, Jeannie began dating her future husband Bill,” said Zimmerman, who grew up in Kansas City. "They just celebrated 33 years of happiness together!"
"He was a good-looking Sigma Chi frat boy from Springfield, Missouri,” said Zimmerman. "He was certainly popular and well-liked within the Greek system but I don’t think he was well-known campus wide (like a star athlete would have been).”
Pitt dropped out of Missouri two credits shy of gaining a degree and headed for Hollywood. It was not a straight shot to stardom. As a struggling actor he got a job as a mascot for El Pollo Loco. He wore a yellow feathered chicken suit for the grand opening of the food chain’s location at Sunset and LeBrea.
He landed minor roles on “Another World” and “Growing Pains” before landing a small part, but major exposure, in “Thelma and Louise” in 1991 as a bare chested hunk in a cowboy hat.
He won his second Oscar on Sunday for his supporting role in “Once Upon a Time (in Hollywood).” He received his first Oscar for producing “12 Years a Slave” in 2014,