 Throughout
her long and storied career Eartha Kitt has been buddies with James Dean, portrayed a
purr-fect catwoman on TV in Batman, and been blacklisted by the Johnson White House for
her stance against the Vietnam War. Through it all she has survived to maintain one of the
busiest schedules in show business.
Born on a cotton plantation in South Carolina, Eartha Kitt was given away by her mother
and sent to live with an aunt in Harlem at the age of eight. It was in New York that her
distinct individuality and flair for show business manifested itself, when at the urging
of a friend she auditioned for the famed Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe. She was awarded a
position as a featured dancer and vocalist, and before she turned twenty, she had toured
with them worldwide.
While performing with the Dunham Troupe in Paris, Ms. Kitt was spotted by a nightclub
owner who signed her on as a cabaret singer. She gained fame and admirers quickly,
including Orson Welles, who called her "the most exciting woman in the world"
and signed her to play Helen of Troy in his acclaimed production of "Dr. Faust."
Upon her return to the United States, Ms. Kitt played a twenty-week run at the Blue Angel
- a still unbroken record for cabaret artists, before moving on the Village Vanguard.
There she was seen by Leonard Stillman, who included her in "New Faces of 1952."
Her legendary performance in "Monotonous," in which she appeared for a year on
Broadway, would lead to a national tour and Twentieth Century Fox film by the same name.
Broadway stardom led to a recording contract and a succession of best-selling records
including "Love For Sale" and "Folk Tales of the Tribes of Africa,"
for which she received a Grammy nomination. She also published her first autobiography,
Thursday’s Child," during this period, and returned again to the cabaret scene
with runs at The Persian Room, The Empire Room, and London’s Talk of the Town, among
others.
Ms. Kitt then made her return to Broadway in the dramatic play "Mrs. Patterson,"
for which she received a Tony nomination. Other stage appearances followed, as did film
work that included "The Mark of the Hawk" with Sidney Poitier and "Anna
Lucasta" with Sammy Davis, Jr. During this period she also became involved in the
"Batman" television series in her infamous Catwoman role while continually
finding time to make concert appearances. Singing in ten different languages, Ms. Kitt has
sung in one hundred countries and was honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s
Walk of Fame in 1960.
Ms. Kitt’s career came to a sudden about face in 1968 when at a White House luncheon
hosted by Lady Bird Johnson, Kitt spoke out against the Vietnam War. For many years
afterward, she would be blacklisted by many in the U.S. entertainment industry and would
be forced to work abroad where her status remained undiminished. In 1974 she returned to
the United States in an acclaimed Carnegie Hall concert and in 1978 received her second
Tony Award nomination.
Ms. Kitt’s second autobiography, Alone With Me, was published in 1976, and the third
volume, I’m Still Here: Confessions of a Sex Kitten, was released in 1989. In 1982 a
critically acclaimed feature-length documentary on her life entitled "All By
Myself" was produced by filmmaker Christian Blackwood.
Ms. Kitt’s fans are getting younger all the time. As Stephen Holden of the New York
Times recently wrote, "Eartha Kitt is finally being discovered by the generation that
thought Madonna pioneered the image of the pop singer as a gold-digging femme
fatale….Her avariciously slinky stage alter ego is as classic in its way as Mae
West’s shimmying blond bawd, and just as funny."
In recent years Eartha Kitt has been just as active as ever and has no plans to slow down.
In 1994 her performance at the Café Carlyle in New York had star-studded audiences and
her album "Back in Business" was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1996. She has
also made frequent guest appearances on television programs such as "The Nanny"
and "New York Undercover," while her world famous voice can be heard on
commercials and in New York City taxis advising riders to buckle up.
Eartha Kitt is the national spokesperson for Project On Growing, a program that teaches
homeless families to grow their own food and feed themselves.
|
P. Diddy at the MTV Video Music Awards
National Bar
Blacks In Government
Black Hotel Owners
|
