Eartha Kitt
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby".
Kitt began her career in 1942 and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway theatre production of the musical Carib Song. In the early 1950s, Kitt had six US Top 30 entries, including "Uska Dara" (1953) and "I Want to Be Evil" (1953). Her other recordings include the UK Top 10 song "Under the Bridges of Paris" (1954), "Just an Old Fashioned Girl" (1956) and "Where Is My Man" (1983). Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Kitt starred as Catwoman in the third and final season of the television series Batman in 1967.<ref name="BBC">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1968, Kitt's career in the U.S. deteriorated after she made anti-Vietnam War statements at a White House luncheon with Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson.<ref name="BBC" /> Ten years later, Kitt made a successful return to Broadway in the 1978 original production of the musical Timbuktu!, for which she received the first of her two Tony Award nominations. Kitt's second was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Party. She wrote three autobiographies.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Kitt found a new generation of fans through her various voice acting roles in the last decade of her life. She voiced the villains Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove franchise and Vexus in My Life As A Teenage Robot, with the former earning her two Daytime Emmy Awards. Kitt posthumously won a third Emmy in 2010 for her guest performance on Wonder Pets!.
Early life
Eartha Mae Keith was born in the small town of North, South Carolina,<ref name="guardian">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="death-ap"/> on January 17, 1927.<ref name="guardian"/><ref name=telegraph/> Her mother, Annie Mae Keith (later Annie Mae Riley), was of Cherokee and African descent.<ref name="BBC" /> Though she had little knowledge of her father, it was reported that he was the son of the owner of the plantation where she had been born, and that Kitt was conceived by rape.<ref name=telegraph>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref name=indiancountry>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In a 2013 biography, British journalist John Williams claimed that Kitt's father was a white man, a local doctor named Daniel Sturkie.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Kitt's daughter, Kitt McDonald Shapiro, has questioned the accuracy of the claim.<ref name="Luck">Template:Cite news</ref>
Eartha's mother soon went to live with a black man who refused to accept Eartha because of her relatively pale complexion. Kitt was raised by a relative named Aunt Rosa, in whose household she was abused. Interviewed on BBC Wales' Late Call in 1971, Kitt said:
I remember at times when we didn't have anything to eat for what seemed like an insurmountable amount of time. We had to rely on the forest and whatever we could dig out of the ground, such as weeds or a grass I remember that had a kind of onion growing at the bottom of it. And when we could find things like that to eat then we were alright. ... I'm very glad that [her childhood self] will always be a part of me because she helps me do what she knows I have to do out there on that stage.<ref name="BBC" />
After the death of Annie Mae, Eartha was sent to live with another close relative named Mamie Kitt (whom Eartha later came to believe was her biological mother) in Harlem, New York City,<ref name=telegraph /> where Eartha attended the Metropolitan Vocational High School (later renamed the High School of Performing Arts).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Career
Kitt began her career as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company in 1943 and remained a member of the troupe until 1948. A talented singer with a distinctive voice, Kitt recorded the hits "Let's Do It", "Champagne Taste", "C'est si bon" (which Stan Freberg famously burlesqued), "Just an Old Fashioned Girl", "Monotonous", "Je cherche un homme", "Love for Sale", "I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch", "Kâtibim" (a Turkish 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 during her years performing in Europe. Kitt spoke four languages and sang in 11, which she demonstrated in many of the live recordings of her cabaret performances.<ref name="seducer">Template:Cite news</ref>
Career peaks
In 1950, Orson Welles gave Kitt her first starring role as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus. Two years later, Kitt was cast in the revue New Faces of 1952, introducing "Monotonous" and "Bal, Petit Bal", two songs with which she is still identified. In 1954, 20th Century-Fox distributed an independently filmed version of the revue entitled New Faces, in which Kitt performed "Monotonous", "Uska Dara", "C'est si bon",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and "Santa Baby". Though it is often alleged that Welles and Kitt had an 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 told Vanity Fair: "It was a working situation and nothing else."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Her other films in the 1950s included The Mark of the Hawk (1957), St. Louis Blues (1958) and Anna Lucasta (1958).
Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, 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).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1964, Kitt helped open the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California. In the late 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 name of the 1999 David Bowie song "Thursday's Child".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The "White House Incident"
On January 18, 1968,<ref name="wapo/kitt-lady-bird-vietnam">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> during Lyndon B. Johnson's administration, Kitt encountered a substantial professional setback after she made anti-war statements during a White House luncheon.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Kitt was asked by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson about the Vietnam War. She replied: "You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. No wonder the kids rebel and take pot."<ref name="seducer"/> During a question-and-answer session, Kitt stated:
Kitt's remarks reportedly caused Mrs. Johnson to burst into tears.<ref name=indiancountry /> It is widely believed<ref name="twitter/1343319513769660416">Template:Cite web</ref> that Kitt's career in the United States was ended following her comments about the Vietnam War,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="mpr/2006/01/27_kerre_kitt">Template:Cite web</ref> after which she was branded "a sadistic nymphomaniac" by the CIA.<ref name=Luck /> A CIA dossier about Kitt was discovered by Seymour Hersh in 1975. Hersh published an article about the dossier in The New York Times.<ref name=Hersh>Template:Cite news</ref> The dossier contained comments about Kitt's sex life and family history, along with negative opinions of her that were held by former colleagues. Kitt's response to the dossier was to say: "I don't understand what this is about. I think it's disgusting."<ref name=Hersh /> Following the incident, Kitt devoted her energies to performances in Europe and Asia.<ref name="britannica/Eartha-Kit">Template:Cite web</ref>
In February 2022, Catwoman vs. the White House,<ref name="scottcalonico/catwoman">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="youtube=KSOu3okhTgc">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The New Yorker short documentary, directed by Scott Calonico used photos, clippings and footage to show how Kitt disrupted the White House luncheon, taking Lyndon B. Johnson to task.<ref name="openculture/kitt-truth-power-1968">Template:Cite web</ref>
Kitt would later return to the White House on 29 January 1978 after accepting an invitation from U.S. President Jimmy Carter to attend a reception honoring the 10th anniversary of the reopening of Ford's Theatre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Broadway
In the 1970s, Kitt appeared on television several times on BBC's long-running variety show The Good Old Days, and in 1987 took over from fellow American Dolores Gray in the London West End production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies and returned at the end of that run to star in a one-woman-show at the same Shaftesbury Theatre, both to tremendous acclaim. In both those shows, Kitt performed the show-stopping theatrical anthem "I'm Still Here". Kitt returned to New York City 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.Template:Citation needed Kitt was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. In the late 1990s, Kitt appeared as the Wicked Witch of the West in the North American national touring company of The Wizard of Oz.<ref>Viagas, Robert and Lefkowitz, David. "Mickey Rooney/Eartha Kitt Oz Opens in NY, May 6". Playbill, May 6, 1998</ref> In 2000, she again returned to Broadway in the short-lived run of Michael John LaChiusa's The Wild Party. Beginning in late 2000, Kitt starred as the Fairy Godmother in the U.S. national tour of Cinderella.<ref>Jones, Kenneth. The Shoe Fits: R&H's Cinderella Begins Tour Nov. 28 in FL Playbill, November 28, 2000</ref> In 2003, she replaced Chita Rivera in Nine. Kitt reprised her role as the Fairy Godmother at a special engagement of Cinderella, which took place at Lincoln Center during the holiday season of 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 television commercial for the album Aja by the rock group Steely Dan. In 1988, she voiced Vietnam After The Fire, a British documentary which looked at the legacy left to the Vietnamese people after the devastation of the war and showed the effects of bombings and defoliants on farmland and forests 13 years after the war ended.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> One of Kitt's more unusual roles was as Kaa in a 1994 BBC Radio adaptation of The Jungle Book. In 1998, she voiced Bagheera in the live-action direct-to-video Disney film The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story. Kitt also lent her distinctive 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, two more Annie Awards for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production. From 2002 to 2006, she also voiced the villain Vexus in the Nickelodeon 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 My Man", the first certified gold record of her career. "Where Is My Man" reached the Top 40 on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at No. 36;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the song became a standard in discos and dance clubs of the time and made the Top 10 on the US Billboard dance chart, where it reached No. 7.<ref>Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco 1974–2003. Record Research Inc.</ref> The single was followed by the album I Love Men on the Record Shack label. Kitt found new audiences in nightclubs across the UK and the United States, including a whole new generation of gay male fans, and she responded by frequently 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 recorded by Divine, received a positive response from UK dance clubs, reaching No. 32 in the charts in that country. In 1988, Kitt replaced Dolores Gray in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies as Carlotta, receiving standing ovations every night for her rendition of "I'm Still Here" at the beginning of act 2. Kitt went on to perform her own one-woman show at the Shaftesbury Theatre to sold-out houses for three weeks in early 1989 after Follies.
1990s
Kitt appeared with Jimmy James and George Burns at a fundraiser in 1990 produced by Scott Sherman, an agent from the Atlantic Entertainment Group. It was arranged that James would impersonate Kitt and then Kitt would walk out to take the microphone. This was met with a standing ovation.<ref name="Baltimore">Scott Duncan, "George Burns, Eartha Kitt are delightful at 'Lifesongs 1990'", [1] The Baltimore Sun, September 17, 1990.</ref> In 1991, Kitt returned to the screen in Ernest Scared Stupid as Old Lady Hackmore. In 1992, she had a supporting role as Lady Eloise in Boomerang. In 1995, Kitt appeared as herself in an episode of The Nanny, where she performed a song in French and flirted with Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). In November 1996, Kitt appeared in an episode of Celebrity Jeopardy!. She also did a series of commercials for Old Navy. In 1996, she had a supporting role as Agatha K. Plummer in Harriet the Spy.
2000s
In 2000, Kitt won an Annie Award for her starring voice role as Yzma in the Disney feature film The Emperor's New Groove, later reprising the role in 2005 in Disney's Kronk's New Groove. Kitt returned once again to the silver screen in 2003 with the charming role of Madame Zeroni in the film Holes based on the book by the same name, by author Louis Sachar. In August 2007, Kitt was the spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics' Smoke Signals collection. She re-recorded "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" for the occasion, was showcased on the MAC website, 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 her later years, Kitt made annual appearances in the New York Manhattan cabaret scene at venues such as the Ballroom and the Café Carlyle.<ref name="seducer" /> As noted, Kitt did voice work for the animated projects The Emperor's New Groove and its spinoffs, as well as for My Life as a Teenage Robot. In April 2008, just months before her death, Kitt appeared at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival; the performance was recorded.Template:Citation needed Kitt voiced herself in The Simpsons episode "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", where she is depicted as a former lover of Krusty the Clown.
Personal life
Kitt married John William McDonald, an associate of a real estate investment company, on June 9, 1960.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> Their daughter, Kitt McDonald, was born on November 26, 1961, and was baptized Catholic at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Eartha Kitt and McDonald separated on July 1, 1963, and divorced on March 26, 1964.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
A longtime Connecticut resident, Kitt lived in a converted barn on a sprawling farm in the Merryall section of New Milford for many years and was active in local charities and causes throughout Litchfield County. She later moved to Pound Ridge, New York, but returned in 2002 to the southern Fairfield County, Connecticut town of Weston, in order to be near her daughter Kitt and family. Her daughter, Kitt, married Charles Lawrence Shapiro in 1987.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Activism
Kitt was active in numerous social causes in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966, she established the Kittsville Youth Foundation, a chartered and non-profit organization for underprivileged youths in the Watts area of Los Angeles.<ref>Johnson, Robert E. (June 14, 1973). "Eartha Kitt Observes Seventh Year With Black Ghetto School". Jet 44: 56.</ref> 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 to keep them out of trouble by testifying with them before the House General Subcommittee on Education of the Committee on Education and Labor. In her testimony, in May 1967, Kitt stated that the Rebels' "achievements and accomplishments should certainly make the adult 'do-gooders' realize that these young men and women have performed in 1 short year – with limited finances – that which was not achieved by the same people who might object to turning over some of the duties of planning, rehabilitation, and prevention of juvenile delinquents and juvenile delinquency to those who understand it and are living it". Kitt added that "the Rebels could act as a model for all urban areas throughout the United States with similar problems".<ref>Hearings, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 558 (1967). pp. 559–60.</ref> "Rebels with a Cause" subsequently received the needed funding.<ref>Kitt, Eartha (1976). Alone With Me. H. Regnery Co. p. 239. Template:ISBN.</ref> Kitt was also a member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; her criticism of the Vietnam War and its connection to poverty and racial unrest in 1968 can be seen as part of a larger commitment to peace activism.<ref>Blackwell, Joyce (2004). No Peace Without Freedom: Race and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Southern Illinois University Press. Template:ISBN.</ref> Like many politically active public figures of her time, Kitt was under surveillance by the CIA, beginning in 1956. After The New York Times discovered the CIA file on Kitt in 1975, she granted the paper permission to print portions of the report, stating: "I have nothing to be afraid of and I have nothing to hide."<ref name=Hersh />
Kitt later became a vocal advocate for LGBT rights and publicly supported same-sex marriage, which she considered a civil right. She had been quoted as saying: "I support it [gay marriage] because we're asking for the same thing. If I have a partner and something happens to me, I want that partner to enjoy the benefits of what we have reaped together. It's a civil-rights thing, isn't it?"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Kitt famously appeared at many LGBT fundraisers, including a mega event in Baltimore, Maryland, with George Burns and Jimmy James.<ref name=Baltimore /> Scott Sherman, an agent at Atlantic Entertainment Group, stated: "Eartha Kitt is fantastic... appears at so many LGBT events in support of civil rights." In a 1992 interview with Dr. Anthony Clare, Kitt spoke about her gay following, saying: Template:Blockquote
Death
Kitt died of colon cancer on Christmas Day 2008 at her home in Weston, Connecticut; she was 81 years old.<ref name="death-ap">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="death">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her daughter, Kitt McDonald, described her last days with her mother:
Discography
- Studio albums
- RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt (1953)
- That Bad Eartha (1954)
- Down to Eartha (1955)
- That Bad Eartha (1956)
- Thursday's Child (1957)
- St. Louis Blues (1958)
- The Fabulous Eartha (1959)
- Revisited (1960)
- Bad But Beautiful (1962)
- The Romantic Eartha (1962)
- Love for Sale (1965)
- Canta en Castellano (1965)
- Sentimental Eartha (1970)
- I Love Men (1984)
- I'm Still Here (1989)
- Thinking Jazz (1991)
- Back in Business (1994)
Filmography
Film
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Casbah | Uncredited | |
| 1951 | Parigi è sempre Parigi | Herself | |
| 1954 | New Faces | ||
| 1957 | The Mark of the Hawk | Renee | |
| 1958 | St. Louis Blues | Gogo Germaine | |
| 1958 | Anna Lucasta | Anna Lucasta | |
| 1961 | Saint of Devil's Island | Annette | |
| 1965 | Uncle Tom's Cabin | Singer | Uncredited role |
| Synanon | Betty | ||
| 1971 | Up the Chastity Belt | Scheherazade | |
| 1975 | Friday Foster | Madame Rena | |
| 1979 | Butterflies in Heat | Lola | |
| 1985 | The Serpent Warriors | Snake Priestess | |
| 1987 | Master of Dragonard Hill | Naomi | |
| Dragonard | Naomi | ||
| The Pink Chiquitas | Betty / The Meteor | Voice role | |
| 1989 | Erik the Viking | Freya | |
| 1990 | Living Doll | Mrs. Swartz | |
| 1991 | Ernest Scared Stupid | Old Lady Hackmore | |
| 1992 | Boomerang | Lady Eloise | |
| 1993 | Fatal Instinct | First Trial Judge | |
| 1996 | Harriet the Spy | Agatha K. Plummer | |
| 1997 | Ill Gotten Gains | The Wood | Voice role |
| 1998 | I Woke Up Early the Day I Died | Cult Leader | |
| The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story | Bagheera | Voice role<ref name="btva">Template:Cite web A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.</ref> | |
| 2000 | The Emperor's New Groove | Yzma | Voice role<ref name="btva" /> |
| 2002 | Anything But Love | Herself | |
| 2003 | Holes | Madame Zeroni | |
| 2005 | Preaching to the Choir | Ms. Nettie | |
| Kronk's New Groove | Yzma | Voice role; Direct-to-video<ref name="btva" /> | |
| 2007 | And Then Came Love | Mona |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952–1963 | The Ed Sullivan Show | Herself | 15 episodes |
| 1963–1978 | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | 8 episodes | |
| 1964–1979 | The Mike Douglas Show | 16 episodes | |
| 1965 | I Spy | Angel | Episode: "The Loser" |
| 1965 | Ben Casey | Danielle Taylor | Episode: "A Horse Named Stravinsky" (4.31; 5/17/1965) |
| 1965 | The Eartha Kitt Show | Herself | |
| 1967 | Mission: Impossible | Tina Mara | Episode: "The Traitor" |
| 1967–1968 | Batman | Selina Kyle / Catwoman | 5 episodes |
| 1969 | The Dick Cavett Show | Herself | 1 episode |
| 1972 | Lieutenant Schuster's Wife | Lady | Television film |
| 1973–1978 | The Merv Griffin Show | Herself | 3 episodes |
| 1974 | The Protectors | Carrie Blaine | Episode: "A Pocketful of Posies" |
| 1978 | Police Woman | Amelia | Episode: "Tigress" |
| To Kill a Cop | Paula | Television film | |
| 1983 | A Night on the Town | Unknown role | |
| 1985 | Miami Vice | Santería Priestess Chata | Episode: "Whatever Works" |
| 1989 | After Dark | Herself | Episode: "Rock Bottom?"; Template:Efn |
| 1993 | Jack's Place | Isabel Lang | Episode: "The Seventh Meal" |
| Matrix | Sister Rowena | Episode: "Moths to a Flame" | |
| 1994 | Space Ghost Coast to Coast | Herself | Episode: "Batmantis" |
| 1995 | The Magic School Bus | Mrs. Franklin | Voice role; Episode: "Going Batty"<ref name="btva" /> |
| New York Undercover | Mrs. Stubbs | Episode: "Student Affairs" | |
| Living Single | Jacqueline Richards | Episode: "He Works Hard for the Money" | |
| 1996 | The Nanny | Herself | Episode: "A Pup in Paris" |
| 1997 | The Chris Rock Show | 1 episode | |
| 1997–2000 | The Rosie O'Donnell Show | 2 episodes | |
| 1998 | The Wild Thornberrys | Lioness #1 | Voice role; Episode: "Flood Warning"<ref name="btva" /> |
| 1999 | The Famous Jett Jackson | Albertine Whethers | Episode: "Field of Dweebs" |
| 2000 | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | The Snow Queen | Voice role; Episode: "The Snow Queen" |
| Welcome to New York | June | 2 episodes | |
| 2001 | The Feast of All Saints | Lola Dede | Television film |
| Santa, Baby! | Emerald | Voice role; Television film<ref name="btva" /> | |
| 2002–2006 | My Life as a Teenage Robot | Queen Vexus | Voice role; 7 episodes<ref name="btva" /> |
| 2003 | Hollywood Squares | Herself | 5 episodes |
| 2005 | Larry King Live | 2 episodes | |
| 2006–2008 | The Emperor's New School | Yzma | Main cast; Voice role |
| 2007 | American Dad! | Fortune Teller | Voice role; Episode: "Dope and Faith" |
| 2008 | An Evening with Eartha Kitt | Herself | Hosted by Gwen Ifill for PBS |
| 2009 | Wonder Pets! | Cool Cat | Voice role; Episode: "Save the Cool Cat and the Hip Hippo"; Aired posthumously |
| 2010 | The Simpsons | Herself | Voice role; "Once Upon a Time in Springfield"; Aired posthumously |
Documentary
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | All by Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story | Herself |
| 1995 | Unzipped | |
| 2002 | The Making and Meaning of We Are Family | |
| The Sweatbox (unreleased) |
Stage work
| Year | Title | Location | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | Blue Holiday | Broadway | Performer | Template:Efn<ref name="KathyDunhamCongress">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Carib Song | Broadway | Company | Template:Efn<ref name="KathyDunhamCongress"/> | |
| 1946 | Bal Nègre | Broadway, and Europe | Performer | Template:Efn<ref name="KathyDunhamCongress"/> |
| unknown | Mexico | Performer | Template:Efn<ref name="KathyDunhamCongress"/> | |
| 1948 | Caribbean Rhapsody | West End, and Paris | Chorus girl | Template:Efn<ref name="ThatBadEarthaCredits">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref><ref name="KathyDunhamCongress"/> |
| 1949–1950 | unknown | Paris | Herself, Performer |
Template:Efn<ref name="ThatBadEarthaCredits" /><ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1950 | Time Runs | Paris<ref name=telegraph /> | Helen of Troy | Template:Efn<ref name="ThatBadEarthaCredits" /> |
| An Evening With Orson Welles | Frankfurt<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |||
| 1951 | Dr. Faustus | Paris | with Orson Welles | |
| 1952 | New Faces of 1952 | Broadway | Polynesian girl, Featured dancer, Featured singer |
|
| 1954 | Mrs. Patterson | Broadway | Theodora (Teddy) Hicks | Original Broadway production |
| 1957 | Shinbone Alley | Broadway | Mehitabel | Original Broadway production |
| 1959 | Jolly's Progress | Broadway | Jolly Rivers | |
| 1965 | The Owl and the Pussycat | U.S. National tour | Performer | |
| 1967 | Peg | Regional (US) | ||
| 1970 | The High Bid | London | Performer | |
| 1972 | Bunny | London | Performer | |
| 1974 | Bread and Beans and Things | Aquarius Theater<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> | Performer | |
| 1976 | A Musical Jubilee | U.S. National tour | Performer | |
| 1978 | Timbuktu! | Broadway | Shaleem-La-Lume | |
| 1980 | Cowboy and the Legend | Regional (US) | Performer | |
| 1982 | New Faces of 1952 (Revival) | Off-off-Broadway | Polynesian girl Featured dancer Featured singer |
|
| 1985 | Blues in the Night | U.S. National tour | Performer | |
| 1987 | Follies (London Revival) | London | Carlotta Campion | Replacement for Dolores Gray |
| 1989 | Aladdin | Palace Theatre, Manchester | Slave of the Ring | |
| 1989 | Eartha Kitt in Concert | London | Performer | |
| 1994 | Yes | Edinburgh | Performer | |
| 1995 | Sam's Song | Unitarian Church of All Souls | Performer | Benefit concert |
| 1996 | Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill | Chicago | Billie Holiday | |
| 1998 | The Wizard of Oz (return engagement) | Madison Square Garden, and U.S. National tour | Miss Gulch/The Wicked Witch | |
| 2000 | The Wild Party | Broadway | Delores | Original Broadway production |
| Cinderella | Madison Square Garden, and U.S. National tour | Fairy Godmother | ||
| 2003 | Nine | Broadway | Liliane La Fleur | Replacement for Chita Rivera |
| 2004 | Cinderella (New York City Opera revival) | David H. Koch Theater | Fairy Godmother | |
| 2006 | Mimi le Duck | Off-off-Broadway | Madame Vallet | |
| 2007 | All About Us | Westport Country Playhouse | Performer |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | The Emperor's New Groove | Yzma | voice role |
Notes Template:Notelist
Bibliography
- Thursday's Child (1956)
- Alone with Me: A New Autobiography (1976)
- I'm Still Here: Confessions of a Sex Kitten (1989)
- Rejuvenate!: It's Never Too Late (2001)
Awards and nominations
- In 1960, the Hollywood Walk of Fame honored her with a star, which can be found on 6656 Hollywood Boulevard.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
- In 2016, January 17 was announced as Eartha Kitt Day in Kitt's home state of South Carolina. In 2022 the day was enshrined into state law in SC Code § 53-3-75 (2022).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> South Carolinian Sheldon Rice is credited for beginning the push for legislation declaring her birthday as a state holiday since the time of her death in 2008. State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter first introduced the legislation to create the State holiday in 2011.<ref name=":0" />
References
Further reading
- Gent, Helen (May 4, 2009). "Eartha Kitt: The Feline Femme Fatale". Marie Claire (Australia).
- Template:Cite book
- Walsh, David (December 27, 2008). "Harold Pinter and Eartha Kitt, artists and opponents of imperialist war". World Socialist Web Site.
External links
- Template:Official website
- Template:IMDb name
- Template:Tcmdb name
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- Image of Eartha Kitt with her fiance Bill McDonald recovering stolen items at a pawnshop in Los Angeles, California, 1960. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
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