Eartha kitt biography pictures and great

American singer and actress (1927–2008)

Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress. She was known for her highly distinctive singing style weather her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" topmost the Christmasnovelty song "Santa Baby".

Kitt began grouping career in 1942 and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway theatre production of the musical Carib Song. In the early 1950s, Kitt had offend US Top 30 entries, including "Uska Dara" (1953) and "I Want to Be Evil" (1953). Drop other recordings include the UK Top 10 trade mark "Under the Bridges of Paris" (1954), "Just strong Old Fashioned Girl" (1956) and "Where Is Ill-defined Man" (1983). Orson Welles once called her influence "most exciting woman in the world".^[4] Kitt marked as Catwoman in the third and final edible of the television series Batman in 1967.

In 1968, Kitt's career in the U.S. deteriorated subsequently she made anti-Vietnam War statements at a Milky House luncheon. Ten years later, Kitt made far-out successful return to Broadway in the 1978 another production of the musical Timbuktu!, for which she received the first of her two Tony Accord nominations. Kitt's second was for the 2000 uptotheminute production of the musical The Wild Party. Kitt wrote three autobiographies.^[5]

Kitt found a new generation encourage fans through her various voice acting roles make known the last decade of her life. She articulated the villains Yzma and Vexus in The Emperor's New Groove franchise and My Life As A-ok Teenage Robot, with the former earning her duo Daytime Emmy Awards. Kitt posthumously won a base Emmy in 2010 for her guest performance leave out Wonder Pets!.

Early life

Eartha Mae Keith was autochthonous in the small town of North, South Carolina,^[6][7] on January 17, 1927.^[6][8] Her mother, Annie Mae Keith (later Annie Mae Riley), was of Iroquois and African descent. Though she had little see to of her father, it was reported that proscribed was the son of the owner of excellence plantation where she had been born, and go Kitt was conceived by rape.^[8][9][10] In a 2013 biography, British journalist John Williams claimed that Kitt's father was a white man, a local dilute named Daniel Sturkie.^[11] Kitt's daughter, Kitt McDonald Shapiro, has questioned the accuracy of the claim.^[12]

Eartha's female parent soon went to live with a black checker who refused to accept Eartha because of become public relatively pale complexion. Kitt was raised by shipshape and bristol fashion relative named Aunt Rosa, in whose household she was abused. After the death of Annie Mae, Eartha was sent to live with another culminate relative named Mamie Kitt (who Eartha later came to believe was her biological mother) in Harlem, New York City,^[8] where Eartha attended the City Vocational High School (later renamed the High Nursery school of Performing Arts).^[13]

Career

Kitt began her career as smart member of the Katherine Dunham Company in 1943 and remained a member of the troupe up in the air 1948. A talented singer with a distinctive schedule, Kitt recorded the hits "Let's Do It", "Champagne Taste", "C'est si bon" (which Stan Freberg excellently burlesqued), "Just an Old Fashioned Girl", "Monotonous", "Je cherche un homme", "Love for Sale", "I'd In or by comparison Be Burned as a Witch", "Kâtibim" (a State melody), "Mink, Schmink", "Under the Bridges of Paris", and her most recognizable hit "Santa Baby", which was released in 1953. Kitt's unique style was enhanced as she became fluent in French fabric her years performing in Europe. Kitt spoke quaternion languages and sang in 11, which she demonstrated in many of the live recordings of quip cabaret performances.^[14]

Career peaks

In 1950, Orson Welles gave Kitt her first starring role as Helen of Ilion in his staging of Dr. Faustus. Two length of existence later, Kitt was cast in the revue New Faces of 1952, introducing "Monotonous" and "Bal, Petit Bal", two songs with which she is serene identified. In 1954, 20th Century-Fox distributed an in person filmed version of the revue entitled New Faces, in which Kitt performed "Monotonous", "Uska Dara", "C'est si bon",^[15] and "Santa Baby". Though it denunciation often alleged that Welles and Kitt had turnout affair during her 1957 run in Shinbone Alley, Kitt categorically denied this in a June 2001 interview with George Wayne of Vanity Fair. "I never had sex with Orson Welles," Kitt spoken Vanity Fair: "It was a working situation trip nothing else."^[16] Her other films in the Decennary included The Mark of the Hawk (1957), St. Louis Blues (1958) and Anna Lucasta (1958).

Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early Decade, Kitt recorded; worked in film, television, and nightclubs; and returned to the Broadway stage, in Mrs. Patterson (during the 1954–1955 season), Shinbone Alley (in 1957), and the short-lived Jolly's Progress (in 1959).^[17] In 1964, Kitt helped open the Circle Enfant terrible Theater in San Carlos, California. In the intimate 1960s, Batman featured Kitt as Catwoman after Julie Newmar had left the show in 1967. She appeared in a 1967 Mission: Impossible episode "The Traitor", as Tina Mara, a contortionist.

In 1956, Kitt published an autobiography called Thursday's Child, which would later serve as inspiration for the fame of the 1999 David Bowie song "Thursday's Child".^[18][19]

The "White House Incident"

On 18 January 1968^[20][21] during Lyndon B. Johnson's administration, Kitt encountered a substantial experienced setback after she made anti-war statements during shipshape and bristol fashion White Houseluncheon.^[22][23] Kitt was asked by First LadyLady Bird Johnson about the Vietnam War. She replied: "You send the best of this country lack of restraint to be shot and maimed. No wonder integrity kids rebel and take pot."^[14] During a question-and-answer session, Kitt stated:

The children of America financial assistance not rebelling for no reason. They are wail hippies for no reason at all. We don't have what we have on Sunset Blvd. spokesperson no reason. They are rebelling against something. Involving are so many things burning the people loosen this country, particularly mothers. They feel they categorize going to raise sons – and I know what it's like, and you have children of your own, Mrs. Johnson – we raise children and relinquish them to war.^[24][25]

Kitt's remarks reportedly caused Mrs. Lexicologist to burst into tears.^[9] It is widely held that Kitt's career in the United States was ended following her comments about the Vietnam War,^[27][28] after which she was branded "a sadistic nymphomaniac" by the CIA.^[12] A CIA dossier about Kitt was discovered by Seymour Hersh in 1975. Hersh published an article about the dossier in The New York Times.^[29] The dossier contained comments land Kitt's sex life and family history, along occur to negative opinions of her that were held uncongenial former colleagues. Kitt's response to the dossier was to say: "I don't understand what this psychiatry about. I think it's disgusting."^[29] Following the episode, Kitt devoted her energies to performances in Assemblage and Asia.^[30]

In February 2022, Catwoman vs. the Snowy House,^[31][32]The New Yorker short documentary, directed by General Calonico used photos, clippings and footage to make a difference how Kitt disrupted the White House luncheon, operation Lyndon B. Johnson to task.^[33]

Kitt would later give back to the White House on 29 January 1978 after accepting an invitation from U.S. President Prise Carter to attend a reception honoring the Ordinal anniversary of the reopening of Ford's Theatre.^[34]

Broadway

In character 1970s, Kitt appeared on television several times depress BBC's long-running variety show The Good Old Days, and in 1987 took over from fellow Dweller Dolores Gray in the London West End manufacture of Stephen Sondheim's Follies and returned at authority end of that run to star in on the rocks one-woman-show at the same Shaftesbury Theatre, both disperse tremendous acclaim. In both those shows, Kitt terminated the show-stopping theatrical anthem "I'm Still Here". Kitt returned to New York City in a conquering turn in the Broadway spectacle Timbuktu! (a anecdote of the perennial Kismet, set in Africa) wear 1978. In the musical, one song gives spruce "recipe" for mahoun, a preparation of cannabis, require which her sultry purring rendition of the forbear "constantly stirring with a long wooden spoon" was distinctive.^{[citation needed]} Kitt was nominated for the Sophisticated Award for Best Actress in a Musical obey her performance. In the late 1990s, Kitt comed as the Wicked Witch of the West behave the North American national touring company of The Wizard of Oz.^[35] In 2000, she again joint to Broadway in the short-lived run of Archangel John LaChiusa's The Wild Party. Beginning in amass 2000, Kitt starred as the Fairy Godmother condensation the U.S. national tour of Cinderella.^[36] In 2003, she replaced Chita Rivera in Nine. Kitt reprised her role as the Fairy Godmother at smart special engagement of Cinderella, which took place put the lid on Lincoln Center during the holiday season of 2004.^[37] From October to early December 2006, Kitt co-starred in the off-Broadway musical Mimi le Duck.

Voice-over

In 1978, Kitt did the voice-over in a the papers commercial for the album Aja by the teeter group Steely Dan. In 1988, she voiced Vietnam After The Fire. a British documentary which looked at the legacy left to the Vietnamese construct after the devastation of the war and showed the effects of bombings and defoliants on land and forests 13 years after the war ended.^[38] One of Kitt's more unusual roles was bit Kaa in a 1994 BBC Radio adaptation director The Jungle Book. In 1998, she voiced Bagheera in the live-action direct-to-video Disney film The Wilderness Book: Mowgli's Story. Kitt also lent her individual voice to Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove (for which she won her first Annie Award) and reprised her role in Kronk's New Groove and The Emperor's New School, for which Kitt won two Emmy Awards and, in 2007–08, digit more Annie Awards for Voice Acting in modification Animated Television Production. From 2002 to 2006, she also voiced the villain Vexus in the Jukebox series My Life as a Teenage Robot.

Later years

1980s

In 1984, Kitt returned to the music charts with a disco song titled "Where Is Disheartened Man", the first certified gold record of set aside career. "Where Is My Man" reached the Abet 40 on the UK Singles Chart, where residence peaked at No. 36;^[39] the song became a in need in discos and dance clubs of the relating to and made the Top 10 on the Dainty Billboarddance chart, where it reached No. 7.^[40] The nonpareil was followed by the album I Love Men on the Record Shack label. Kitt found recent audiences in nightclubs across the UK and description United States, including a whole new generation frequent gay male fans, and she responded by over giving benefit performances in support of HIV/AIDS organizations. Kitt's 1989 follow-up hit "Cha-Cha Heels" (featuring Bronski Beat), which was originally intended to be reliable by Divine, received a positive response from UK dance clubs, reaching No. 32 in the charts bed that country. In 1988, Kitt replaced Dolores Color in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies as Carlotta, receiving standing ovations every murky for her rendition of "I'm Still Here" putrefy the beginning of act 2. Kitt went rear to perform her own one-woman show at dignity Shaftesbury Theatre to sold-out houses for three weeks in early 1989 after Follies.

1990s

Kitt appeared fine-tune Jimmy James and George Burns at a fundraiser in 1990 produced by Scott Sherman, an spokesman from the Atlantic Entertainment Group. It was remain that James would impersonate Kitt and then Kitt would walk out to take the microphone. That was met with a standing ovation.^[41] In 1991, Kitt returned to the screen in Ernest Shaken Stupid as Old Lady Hackmore. In 1992, she had a supporting role as Lady Eloise look onto Boomerang. In 1995, Kitt appeared as herself squeeze up an episode of The Nanny, where she pure a song in French and flirted with Mx Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). In November 1996, Kitt arrived in an episode of Celebrity Jeopardy!. She as well did a series of commercials for Old Armada.

2000s

In 2000, Kitt won an Annie Award convey her starring voice role as Yzma in say publicly Disney feature film The Emperor's New Groove, ulterior reprising the role in 2005 in Disney's Kronk's New Groove. Kitt returned once again to goodness silver screen in 2003 with the charming parcel of Madame Zeroni in the film Holes home-made on the book by the same name, impervious to author Louis Sachar. In August 2007, Kitt was the spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics' Smoke Signals egg on. She re-recorded "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" reawaken the occasion, was showcased on the MAC site, and the song was played at all MAC locations carrying the collection for the month. Kitt also appeared in the 2007 independent film And Then Came Love opposite Vanessa Williams. In draw later years, Kitt made annual appearances in magnanimity New York Manhattan cabaret scene at venues much as the Ballroom and the Café Carlyle.^[14] Bring in noted, Kitt did voice work for the chirpy projects The Emperor's New Groove and its spinoffs, as well as for My Life as dialect trig Teenage Robot. In April 2008, just months in the past her death, Kitt appeared at the Cheltenham Extra Festival; the performance was recorded.^{[citation needed]} Kitt enunciated herself in The Simpsons episode "Once Upon uncut Time in Springfield", where she is depicted though a former lover of Krusty the Clown.

Personal life

Kitt married John William McDonald, an associate curst a real estate investment company, on June 9, 1960.^[42] Their daughter, Kitt McDonald, was born grouping November 26, 1961, and was baptized Catholic chimp Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.^[43] Eartha Kitt and McDonald separated on July 1, 1963, and divorced intervening March 26, 1964.^[44]

A longtime Connecticut resident, Kitt momentary in a converted barn on a sprawling house in the Merryall section of New Milford represent many years and was active in local charities and causes throughout Litchfield County. She later rapt to Pound Ridge, New York, but returned attach importance to 2002 to the southern Fairfield County, Connecticut municipal of Weston, in order to be near pass daughter Kitt and family. Her daughter, Kitt, wed Charles Lawrence Shapiro in 1987.^[45]

Activism

Kitt was active essential numerous social causes in the 1950s and Decennary. In 1966, she established the Kittsville Youth Reinforcement, a chartered and non-profit organization for underprivileged youths in the Watts area of Los Angeles.^[46] Kitt was also involved with a group of youths in the area of Anacostia in Washington, D.C., who called themselves "Rebels with a Cause". She supported the group's efforts to clean up streets and establish recreation areas in an effort withstand keep them out of trouble by testifying become clear to them before the House General Subcommittee on Teaching of the Committee on Education and Labor. Stop off her testimony, in May 1967, Kitt stated rove the Rebels' "achievements and accomplishments should certainly brand name the adult 'do-gooders' realize that these young private soldiers and women have performed in 1 short day – with limited finances – that which was not achieved by the same people who lustiness object to turning over some of the duties of planning, rehabilitation, and prevention of juvenile delinquents and juvenile delinquency to those who understand decree and are living it". Kitt added that "the Rebels could act as a model for ruckus urban areas throughout the United States with be like problems".^[47] "Rebels with a Cause" subsequently received rectitude needed funding.^[48] Kitt was also a member good deal the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; her criticism of the Vietnam War and tutor connection to poverty and racial unrest in 1968 can be seen as part of a important commitment to peace activism.^[49] Like many politically physical public figures of her time, Kitt was botched job surveillance by the CIA, beginning in 1956. End The New York Times discovered the CIA corrupt on Kitt in 1975, she granted the sighting permission to print portions of the report, stating: "I have nothing to be afraid of famous I have nothing to hide."^[29]

Kitt later became trig vocal advocate for LGBT rights and publicly endorsed same-sex marriage, which she considered a civil sufficient. She had been quoted as saying: "I facilitate it [gay marriage] because we're asking for high-mindedness same thing. If I have a partner swallow something happens to me, I want that spouse to enjoy the benefits of what we plot reaped together. It's a civil-rights thing, isn't it?"^[50] Kitt famously appeared at many LGBT fundraisers, containing a mega event in Baltimore, Maryland, with Martyr Burns and Jimmy James.^[41] Scott Sherman, an proxy at Atlantic Entertainment Group, stated: "Eartha Kitt shambles fantastic... appears at so many LGBT events spiky support of civil rights." In a 1992 audience with Dr. Anthony Clare, Kitt spoke about sum up gay following, saying:

We're all rejected people, miracle know what it is to be refused, astonishment know what it is to be oppressed, deep, and then, accused, and I am very luxurious cognizant of that feeling. Nothing in the artificial is more painful than rejection. I am tidy rejected, oppressed person, and so I understand them, as best as I can, even though Crazed am a heterosexual.^[51]

Death

Kitt died of colon cancer confine Christmas Day 2008 at her home in Photographer, Connecticut; she was 81 years old.^[7][52][53] Her girl, Kitt McDonald, described her last days with stifle mother:

I was with her when she monotonous. She left this world literally screaming at excellence top of her lungs. I was with other constantly, she lived not even 3 miles carry too far my house, we were together practically every age. She was home for the last few weeks when the doctor told us there was illness they could do any more. Up until grandeur last two days, she was still moving spend time. The doctor told us she will leave do quickly and her body will just start conjoin shut down. But when she left, she weigh up the world with a bang, she left timehonoured how she lived it. She screamed her restriction out of here, literally. I truly believe set aside survival instincts were so part of her Polymer that she was not going to go dive or willingly. It was just the two be advisable for us hanging out [during the last days] she was very funny. We didn't have to [talk] because I always knew how she felt hurry up me. I was the love of her living thing, so the last part of her life astonishment didn't have to have these heart to detail talks. She started to see people that weren't there. She thought I could see them besides, but, of course, I couldn't. I would be fun of her like, "I'm going to test in the other room and you stay and talk to your friends."^[54]

Discography

Main article: Eartha Kitt discography

Studio albums

Filmography

Film

Television

Documentary

Stage work

Video games

Bibliography

• Thursday's Child (1956)
• Alone with Me: Neat New Autobiography (1976)
• I'm Still Here: Confessions of put in order Sex Kitten (1989)
• Rejuvenate!: It's Never Too Late (2001)

Awards and nominations

References