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You are here: Home / Classic TV / Eartha Kitt’s Lasting Legacy as Catwoman

Eartha Kitt’s Lasting Legacy as Catwoman

December 26, 2008 By Joi

Eartha Kitt
Wow. Talk about making a lasting impression. I never realized it until I looked into it this morning, but Eartha Kitt was actually in only 3 Batman episodes:

  • Catwoman’s Dressed to Kill (1967)
  • The Funny Feline Felonies (1967)
  • The Joke’s on Catwoman (1968)

Three!

It seems like her beautiful face and remarkable voice were around for a lot more. That’s the beauty of syndication..  3 seems to be 30.

Sadly, Eartha Kitt passed away yesterday – on Christmas Day.

The 5′ 4″ beauty was born in South Carolina. Her birth was the result of a white plantation owner raping a sharecropper mother of African-American and Cherokee Native American descent. I wasn’t going to include that bit of ugliness in this article, but the fact that Eartha came from such unremarkable beginnings, yet ended her life known the world over strikes me as spectacular.

I also wanted to be clear about why her mother would even think about giving her baby girl away – which she did. By the age of 9, Eartha was living in Harlem. She dropped out of school by the age of 15. Eartha was too busy just trying to survive – school didn’t rank up there with finding a place to sleep and something to eat. During this time, she slept at friends houses and on the subway.

While Eartha Kitt was born with a lot of burdens to bear, she was also born with a lot of talent, grit, and determination. She literally sang and danced her way to a better life. Eartha performed with the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe on a European tour, and she performed as a soloist at a Paris night club, where she became a very big deal.

Get this, the infamous Orson Welles called her “the most exciting girl in the world.”

Eartha Kitt never shied away from speaking her mind. I guess when you’ve already seen life’s ugliest, you throw caution aside – sort of like, “What do I need with you?!” She was all but booted from the country after making anti-war statements during a White House luncheon with Lady Bird Johnson in 1968. It wasn’t until 1977, under Jimmy Carter’s administration, that she was welcomed back to the White House.

Eartha Kitt Quotes:
“I have a great need for affection from an audience. I don’t know whether this is because I had such a tough life when I was a child.”

At the White House, 1968: “I am a mother and I know the feeling of having a baby come out of my gut. I have a baby and then you send him off to war. No wonder the kids rebel and take pot.”

“I don’t carry myself as a black person, but as a woman that belongs to everybody”

“Jamie and I were like brother and sister. He told me in fact he thought of me as a sister. Our relationship was strictly platonic and spiritual.” (About her friendship with James Dean.)

Eartha Kitt was 81 when she passed away, but (again) thanks to syndication, she’ll forever live on just as we remembered her.

Rest in Peace, Eartha.

Filed Under: Classic TV, In Memorandum, Quotes from Old Hollywood's Stars Tagged With: Batman TV, Eartha Kitt



I try to keep my posts, book reviews, and classic movie reviews as short as possible. I want to share my thoughts and (more importantly) shine a spotlight on the stars that mean so much to us, however I don't want to take up too much of your precious time. My goal is to give you information, trivia, and photos that will put a smile on both your face and your day! ~ Thank you for being here, you honor me with your presence, Joi ("Joy")

Comments

  1. Kitty Packard says

    December 31, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    This is a terrific tribute to Ms Kitt, thank you so much for posting! (by the way, I am positively squealing over your blog! TOO much fun!)

  2. Joi says

    January 2, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    Thank you SO MUCH! You’ve slapped a smile across my face, and after the day I’ve had, that’s no small accomplishment!

    – Joi

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