Eartha Mae Kitt (January 17, 1927 - December 25, 2008), was an American act… Read Full Bio ↴Eartha Mae Kitt (January 17, 1927 - December 25, 2008), was an American actress, singer, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her 1953 Christmas song Santa Baby. Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world". She took on the role of Catwoman for the fourth season of the 1960s Batman TV series, replacing Julie Newmar who was unavailable for the final series.
Born in tiny North, South Carolina to Mamie Kitt, who was of Cherokee and African-American descent, and an American father (surname Kitt) of German and Dutch descent, she was raised by her maternal aunt Anna Mae Riley, whom she believed was her mother up until after Riley's death, when she was sent to live in New York City with her real mother.
Kitt began her career as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company and made her film debut with them in Casbah (1948). A talented singer with a distinctive voice, her hits include Let's Do It, C'est Si Bon (It's So Good), Just an Old Fashioned Girl, Monotonous, Love for Sale, I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch, Uska Dara, Mink, Schmink, Under the Bridges of Paris, and arguably her most recognizable hit, the sexily sung Christmas song Santa Baby. She sang quite a few songs in French, a language she picked up during her years performing in Europe, but she never lost her American accent, which made her French songs sound rather amusing to native French speakers. She dabbled in other languages as well, which she demonstrated in many of the live recordings of her cabaret performances.
In 1950, Orson Welles gave her her first starring role, as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus. A few years later, she was cast in the revue New Faces of 1952, introducing "Monotonous", "C'est Si Bon" and "Santa Baby", three songs with which she continues to be identified. During her run, 20th Century Fox filmed a version of the play. Welles and Kitt allegedly had a torrid affair during her run in Shinbone Alley, which earned her the nickname by Welles as "the most exciting woman in the world". In 1958, Kitt made her feature film debut opposite Sidney Poitier in The Mark of the Hawk. Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, Kitt would work on and off in film, television and on nightclub stages. In the late 1960s television series Batman, she played Catwoman after Julie Newmar left the role. This was the role for which she would best be remembered, owing to her purring feline drawl.
In 1968, however, Kitt encountered a substantial professional setback after she made anti-war statements during a White House luncheon that reportedly made First Lady Lady Bird Johnson weep uncontrollably. Professionally exiled from the U.S., she devoted her energies to overseas performances before returning to New York in a triumphant turn in the Broadway spectacle Timbuktu! (a version of the perennial Kismet set in Africa) in 1978. In the musical, one song gives a 'recipe' for mahoun, a preparation of cannabis, in which her sultry purring rendition of the refrain "constantly stirring with a long wooden spoon" was distinctive.
In 1984, she returned to hit music with a dance song, Where Is My Man; the first certified Gold record of her career. Kitt found new audiences in nightclubs across the country, including a whole new generation of gay male fans, and she responded by frequently giving benefit performances in support of HIV/AIDS organizations.
In 2000, Kitt again returned to Broadway in the short but notable run of the revival of the 1920s-themed, The Wild Party, opposite Mandy Patinkin and Toni Collette. In 2003, she replaced Chita Rivera in Nine. In recent years she had also appeared as the Wicked Witch in the North American national touring company of The Wizard of Oz.
One of her more unusual roles was as Kaa the python in a 1994 BBC Radio adaptation of The Jungle Book. Kitt lent her distinctive voice to the role of Yzma in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove and also did other voiceover work such as the voice of Queen Vexus on the animated TV series My Life as a Teenage Robot. She continued her role as Yzma on the spin-off TV series of The Emperor's New Groove, The Emperor's New School.
In recent years, Kitt's annual appearances in New York made her a fixture of the Manhattan cabaret scene. She took the stage at venues such as the Ballroom and, more recently, the Café Carlyle to explore and define her highly stylized image, alternating between signature songs (such as "Old Fashioned Millionaire"), which emphasized a witty, mercenary world-weariness, and less familiar repertoire, much of which she performed with an unexpected ferocity and bite that presented her as a survivor with a seemingly bottomless reservoir of resilience - her version of Here's to Life, frequently used as a closing number, was a sterling example of the latter. This side of her later performances is reflected in at least one of her recordings, Thinking Jazz, which preserves a series of performances with a small jazz combo that took place in the early 1990s in Germany, and which includes both standards (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes) and numbers (such as Something May Go Wrong) that seem more specifically tailored to her talents; one version of the CD includes as bonus performances a fierce, angry Yesterdays and a live take of "C'est Si Bon" that good-humoredly satirizes her sex-kitten persona.
Personal life
Kitt was married to John William McDonald, an associate of a real-estate investment company, from 1960 to 1965. They had one child, a daughter, Kitt (b. 1962, married Charles Lawrence Shapiro); and two grandchildren, Jason and Rachel Shapiro.
Eartha Kitt died of colon cancer on Christmas Day, December 25, 2008.
Born in tiny North, South Carolina to Mamie Kitt, who was of Cherokee and African-American descent, and an American father (surname Kitt) of German and Dutch descent, she was raised by her maternal aunt Anna Mae Riley, whom she believed was her mother up until after Riley's death, when she was sent to live in New York City with her real mother.
Kitt began her career as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company and made her film debut with them in Casbah (1948). A talented singer with a distinctive voice, her hits include Let's Do It, C'est Si Bon (It's So Good), Just an Old Fashioned Girl, Monotonous, Love for Sale, I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch, Uska Dara, Mink, Schmink, Under the Bridges of Paris, and arguably her most recognizable hit, the sexily sung Christmas song Santa Baby. She sang quite a few songs in French, a language she picked up during her years performing in Europe, but she never lost her American accent, which made her French songs sound rather amusing to native French speakers. She dabbled in other languages as well, which she demonstrated in many of the live recordings of her cabaret performances.
In 1950, Orson Welles gave her her first starring role, as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus. A few years later, she was cast in the revue New Faces of 1952, introducing "Monotonous", "C'est Si Bon" and "Santa Baby", three songs with which she continues to be identified. During her run, 20th Century Fox filmed a version of the play. Welles and Kitt allegedly had a torrid affair during her run in Shinbone Alley, which earned her the nickname by Welles as "the most exciting woman in the world". In 1958, Kitt made her feature film debut opposite Sidney Poitier in The Mark of the Hawk. Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, Kitt would work on and off in film, television and on nightclub stages. In the late 1960s television series Batman, she played Catwoman after Julie Newmar left the role. This was the role for which she would best be remembered, owing to her purring feline drawl.
In 1968, however, Kitt encountered a substantial professional setback after she made anti-war statements during a White House luncheon that reportedly made First Lady Lady Bird Johnson weep uncontrollably. Professionally exiled from the U.S., she devoted her energies to overseas performances before returning to New York in a triumphant turn in the Broadway spectacle Timbuktu! (a version of the perennial Kismet set in Africa) in 1978. In the musical, one song gives a 'recipe' for mahoun, a preparation of cannabis, in which her sultry purring rendition of the refrain "constantly stirring with a long wooden spoon" was distinctive.
In 1984, she returned to hit music with a dance song, Where Is My Man; the first certified Gold record of her career. Kitt found new audiences in nightclubs across the country, including a whole new generation of gay male fans, and she responded by frequently giving benefit performances in support of HIV/AIDS organizations.
In 2000, Kitt again returned to Broadway in the short but notable run of the revival of the 1920s-themed, The Wild Party, opposite Mandy Patinkin and Toni Collette. In 2003, she replaced Chita Rivera in Nine. In recent years she had also appeared as the Wicked Witch in the North American national touring company of The Wizard of Oz.
One of her more unusual roles was as Kaa the python in a 1994 BBC Radio adaptation of The Jungle Book. Kitt lent her distinctive voice to the role of Yzma in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove and also did other voiceover work such as the voice of Queen Vexus on the animated TV series My Life as a Teenage Robot. She continued her role as Yzma on the spin-off TV series of The Emperor's New Groove, The Emperor's New School.
In recent years, Kitt's annual appearances in New York made her a fixture of the Manhattan cabaret scene. She took the stage at venues such as the Ballroom and, more recently, the Café Carlyle to explore and define her highly stylized image, alternating between signature songs (such as "Old Fashioned Millionaire"), which emphasized a witty, mercenary world-weariness, and less familiar repertoire, much of which she performed with an unexpected ferocity and bite that presented her as a survivor with a seemingly bottomless reservoir of resilience - her version of Here's to Life, frequently used as a closing number, was a sterling example of the latter. This side of her later performances is reflected in at least one of her recordings, Thinking Jazz, which preserves a series of performances with a small jazz combo that took place in the early 1990s in Germany, and which includes both standards (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes) and numbers (such as Something May Go Wrong) that seem more specifically tailored to her talents; one version of the CD includes as bonus performances a fierce, angry Yesterdays and a live take of "C'est Si Bon" that good-humoredly satirizes her sex-kitten persona.
Personal life
Kitt was married to John William McDonald, an associate of a real-estate investment company, from 1960 to 1965. They had one child, a daughter, Kitt (b. 1962, married Charles Lawrence Shapiro); and two grandchildren, Jason and Rachel Shapiro.
Eartha Kitt died of colon cancer on Christmas Day, December 25, 2008.
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Eartha-Quake
Eartha Kitt Lyrics
A Woman Wouldn't Be a Woman (Woman, woman, woman) (Woman, woman, woman) (Woman, woman, w…
African Lullaby Barbra Streisand Streisand Superman Lullaby For Myself Se…
Angelitos Negros Pintor nacido en mi tierra Con el pincel extranjero Pintor…
Annie Doesn't Live Here Any More (Annie, where's Annie, Where, oh where is Annie?) Annie doe…
April In Portugal I found my April dream in Portugal with you When we…
Beale Street Blues I've seen the lights of gay Broadway, Old Market Street down…
C'est Si Bon C'est si bon De partir n'importe où Bras dessus, bras dessou…
Careless Love Love, oh love, oh careless love You've fly through my head…
Chantez Les Bas Down in Louisiana, Louisiana Land of Creole Sues, Patois, Ma…
Do You Remember I can hear you sighin' Sayin' you'll stay beside me Why must…
Easy Does It easy does it when you take me in your arms tonight squeeze…
Enough You and I, an unmatched pair Took the time to touch,…
Hesitating Blues Hello Central, what's the matter with this line? I wanna ta…
Hey Jacque Hey, Jacques-- Have you seen Louis? Is he still in Paris? …
I Can't Give You Anything but Love Gee, but it's tough to be broke, kid. It's not a…
I Want to Be Evil I've posed for pictures with Iv'ry Soap I've petted stray do…
I Wantcha Around Pause at the crossings, wait for the light Go to bed…
I'd Rather Be Burned As A Witch They say that I′m a witch And that I weave a…
If I Can't Take It With Me If I can't take it with me when I go I…
If I Was a Boy If I was a boy I'd know the things a…
Just an Old Fashioned Girl I'm just an old fashioned girl with an old fashioned…
Lazy Afternoon It's a lazy afternoon And the beetle bugs are zoomin' And th…
Le Danseur de Charleston Un gentleman un peu noir A une poule dans un bar Offrait…
Let's Do It Birds do it, bees do it Even educated fleas do it Let's…
Lilac Wine I lost myself on a cool damp night I gave myself…
Looking for a Boy I am just a little girl Who's looking for a little…
Love Is a Gamble I was a humdrum person Leading a life apart When love flew…
Lullaby of Birdland Lullaby of Birdland, that's what I Always hear when you…
Mack the Knife Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear And it shows…
Mambo De Paree Oui Oui When they do the mambo in Paree Ca c' est quelque…
Mink Shmink A friend of mine called me up not long ago He…
Monotonous Everyone gets into a dull routine If they don’t get a…
Mountain High, Valley Low If you need me I will be near by, mountain high,…
My Heart Belongs to Daddy While tearing off a game of golf I may make a…
Nobody Taught Me When I was a baby so I've been told I was…
Nothin' for Christmas I'm gettin' nothin' for Christmas Poor little Eartha is sad …
Santa Baby Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree for…
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes They asked me how I knew My true love was true Oh,…
Solitude In my solitude You haunt me With dreadful ease Of days gone …
Somebody Bad Stole De Wedding Bell Somebody bad stole de wedding bell Somebody bad stole de we…
St. Louis Blues I hate to see that evening sun go down I hate…
Strangers in the Starlight We were strangers in the starlight Two hearts passing in the…
The Blues I hate to see that evening sun go down I hate…
The Heel The one who has me for his own Is on the…
There Is No Cure for L'amour There is no cure, For l'amour, Because l'amour Is toujur. Th…
This Year's Santa Baby Santa Baby, I must admit that you were a dear…
Thursday's Child Monday's child is fair of face And Tuesday's child is full…
Two Lovers I saw two lovers last night Down where the ships put…
Under the bridges of Paris How would you like to be Down by the Seine with…
Uska Dara Üsküdar'a gider iken aldi da bir yagmur 2x Kâtibimin setresi…
What Is This Thing Called Love I was a humdrum person Leading a life apart When love flew…
Yellow Bird Yellow bird, up high in banana tree Yellow bird, you sit…