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Eartha Mae Kitt was born Eartha Mae Keith on January 17, 1927 to a Cherokee/Black mother and German father on a cotton plantation in North, a small town in Orangeburg County near Columbia, South Carolina.
Raised by Anna Mae Riley, a Black woman whom she believed to be her mother, at age 8 she was sent to live with another family until Anna Mae death due to her man’s refusal to accept the child’s light complexion. She was ultimately sent to live with her biological mother Mamie Kitt in New York City.
Eartha began her career in 1943 with the Katherine Dunham Company, a relationship that lasted until 1948. As a member she appeared in the 1945 original Broadway production of the musical Carib Song. Orson Welles signed her 1950 to her first starring Broadway role as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus, followed by Shinbone Alley. During this decade she starred in films such as Mark of the Hawk, St. Louis Blues and Anna Lucasta.
A talented singer with a distinctive voice and unique style that became enhanced as she became fluent in French, by the early 1950s, she had six US Top 30 hits and a UK Top 10 hit “under The Bridges of Paris” with two more in 1963 and 1983. Kitt recorded such hits as Let’s Do It”, “Champagne Taste”, C’est Si Bon”, “Just An Old Fashioned Girl”, “Monotonous”, “Je Cherche Un Homme”, “Love For Sale” and “Santa Baby” among others.
Success found her way into television taking over the role of Catwoman in 1967 for the 3rd and final season of Batman. But in 1968, her career in America suffered due to President Lyndon B. Johnson after she made anti-war statements at a White House luncheon. It wasn’t until ten years later that she made a successful return to Broadway in the 1978 original production of the musical Timbuktu, receiving the first of her two Tony Award nominations; the second was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Party.
Eartha toured and performed in Europe for many years and her English-speaking performances always seemed to be enriched by a soft French feel. She spoke four languages and sang in seven, which she effortlessly demonstrated in many of the live recordings of her cabaret performances. Over the course of her career from the Seventies until her death, Kitt voiced television commercials, wrote three autobiographies, had disco hits, was embraced by the gay community, continued making movies, making appearances on popular television shows, returned to Broadway and touring companies, and became a darling of the cabaret scene.
Eartha Kitt, actress, jazz singer, cabaret star, dancer, stand-up comedienne, activist and voice artist, winner of three Emmy Awards, and recipient of a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star was a true renaissance woman who screamed her way out of this world, passed away in her home on Christmas Day, December 25, 2008.
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