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.
Easy to Love
Eartha Kitt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In thinking such a thing could be
That you could ever care for me
I'm sure you hate to hear
That I adore you, dear
But grant me
Just the same
For love
You'd be so easy to love
So easy to idolize
All others above
So worth the yearning for
So swell to keep every home fire burning for
We'd be so grand at the game
So carefree together
That it does seem a shame
That you can't see
Your future with me
Cause you'd be oh, so easy to love
In the song "Easy to Love," Eartha Kitt expresses her unrequited feelings for someone who does not feel the same way about her. She acknowledges that hoping for affection from this person is a futile endeavor, but cannot help but yearn for their love nonetheless. She explains that her love interest is "so easy to love," and that they are worth the effort and emotional investment. She imagines a life where they could be happy together, carefree and in love, but sadly knows this reality will never come to fruition. The song is a heart-wrenching exploration of unrequited love and the pain that often accompanies it.
Line by Line Meaning
I know too well that I'm just wasting precious time
I am aware that I am investing my time on something that will not yield any results.
In thinking such a thing could be
Believing that someone like you could ever have feelings for somebody like me.
That you could ever care for me
That you ever have any affection or tenderness for me.
I'm sure you hate to hear
I assume you do not want to listen to what I am about to say.
That I adore you, dear
That I feel a boundless love for you, darling.
But grant me
But please allow me to explain.
Just the same
Despite that, I still feel the same way.
I'm not entirely to blame
I am not the only one responsible.
For love
It is due to the powerful feeling of love.
You'd be so easy to love
If only you knew how effortless it would be to love you.
So easy to idolize
You possess such remarkable qualities that are worthy of adoration.
All others above
Putting you on a pedestal above everyone else.
So worth the yearning for
Deserving of the longing and effort one does to attain it.
So swell to keep every home fire burning for
Such a fantastic person to create a comfortable life for and nurture.
We'd be so grand at the game
Together, we would make a remarkable team and excel in all aspects of life.
So carefree together
Our life would be without any worries or responsibilities, joyful and easy.
That it does seem a shame
It appears regrettable that we cannot be together.
That you can't see
You do not realize or understand.
Your future with me
The great life we could lead if we were together.
Cause you'd be oh, so easy to love
Because you are such a fantastic person, it would be so easy to love you.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: COLE PORTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind