Eartha Mae Kitt (néeKeith; 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 theChristmasnovelty song "Santa Baby".
In 1968, Kitt's career in the U.S. deteriorated after she madeanti-Vietnam War statements at aWhite House luncheon withLady Bird Johnson, the wife ofPresident Lyndon B. Johnson.[5] Ten years later, Kitt made a successful return to Broadway in the 1978 original production of the musicalTimbuktu!, for which she received the first of her twoTony Award nominations. Kitt's second was for the 2000 original production of the musicalThe Wild Party. She wrote three autobiographies.[6]
Kitt found a new generation of fans through her various voice acting roles in the last decade of her life. She was the voice of the villains in two children's movies- Yzma inThe Emperor's New Groove franchise and Vexus inMy Life As A Teenage Robot, with the former earning her twoDaytime Emmy Awards. Kitt posthumously won a third Emmy in 2010 for her guest performance onWonder Pets!.
Eartha Mae Keith was born in the small town ofNorth, South Carolina,[7][8] on January 17, 1927.[7][9] Her mother, Annie Mae Keith (later Annie Mae Riley), was ofCherokee andAfrican descent.[5] 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.[9][10][11] In a 2013 biography, British journalist John Williams claimed that Kitt's father was a white man, a local doctor named Daniel Sturkie.[12] Kitt's daughter, Kitt McDonald Shapiro, has questioned the accuracy of the claim.[13]
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 onBBC 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.[5]
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) inHarlem, New York City,[9] where Eartha attended the Metropolitan Vocational High School (later renamed theHigh School of Performing Arts).[14]
Kitt began her career as a member of theKatherine 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" (whichStan 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.[15]
In 1950,Orson Welles gave Kitt her first starring role asHelen of Troy in his staging ofDr. Faustus. Two years later, Kitt was cast in the revueNew 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 entitledNew Faces, in which Kitt performed "Monotonous", "Uska Dara", "C'est si bon",[16] and "Santa Baby". Though it is often alleged that Welles and Kitt had an affair during her 1957 run inShinbone Alley, Kitt categorically denied this in a June 2001 interview withGeorge Wayne ofVanity Fair. "I never had sex with Orson Welles," Kitt toldVanity Fair: "It was a working situation and nothing else."[17] Her other films in the 1950s includedThe Mark of the Hawk (1957),St. Louis Blues (1958) andAnna 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, inMrs. Patterson (during the 1954–1955 season),Shinbone Alley (in 1957), and the short-livedJolly's Progress (in 1959).[18] In 1964, Kitt helped open theCircle Star Theater inSan Carlos, California. In the late 1960s,Batman featured Kitt asCatwoman afterJulie Newmar had left the show in 1967. She appeared in a 1967Mission: Impossible episode "The Traitor", as Tina Mara, a contortionist.
In 1956, Kitt published an autobiography calledThursday's Child, which would later serve as inspiration for the name of the 1999David Bowie song "Thursday's Child".[19][20]
On January 18, 1968,[21][22] duringLyndon B. Johnson's administration, Kitt encountered a substantial professional setback after she madeanti-war statements during aWhite Houseluncheon.[23][24] Kitt was asked byFirst LadyLady Bird Johnson about theVietnam War. She replied: "You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. No wonder the kids rebel and takepot."[15]During a question-and-answer session, Kitt stated:
The children of America are not rebelling for no reason. They are nothippies for no reason at all. We don't have what we have onSunset Blvd. for no reason. They are rebelling against something. There are so many things burning the people of this country, particularly mothers. They feel they are going to raise sons—and I know what it's like, and you have children of your own, Mrs. Johnson—we raise children and send them to war.[25][26]
Kitt's remarks reportedly caused Mrs. Johnson to burst into tears.[10] It is widely believed[27] that Kitt's career in the United States was ended following her comments about the Vietnam War,[28][29] after which she was branded "a sadisticnymphomaniac" by theCIA.[13] A CIA dossier about Kitt was discovered bySeymour Hersh in 1975. Hersh published an article about the dossier inThe New York Times.[30] 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."[30] Following the incident, Kitt devoted her energies to performances in Europe and Asia.[31]
In February 2022,Catwoman vs. the White House,[32][33]The New Yorker short documentary, directed byScott Calonico used photos, clippings and footage to show how Kitt disrupted the White House luncheon, taking Lyndon B. Johnson to task.[34]
Kitt would later return to the White House on 29 January 1978 after accepting an invitation from U.S. PresidentJimmy Carter to attend a reception honoring the 10th anniversary of the reopening ofFord's Theatre.[35]
In the 1970s, Kitt appeared on television several times onBBC's long-running variety showThe Good Old Days, and in 1987 took over from fellow AmericanDolores Gray in the LondonWest End production of Stephen Sondheim'sFollies and returned at the end of that run to star in a one-woman show at the sameShaftesbury 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 theBroadway spectacleTimbuktu! (a version of the perennialKismet, set in Africa) in 1978. In the musical, one song gives a "recipe" formahoun, a preparation ofcannabis, in which her sultry purring rendition of the refrain "constantly stirring with a long wooden spoon" was distinctive.[citation needed] Kitt was nominated for theTony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. In the late 1990s, Kitt appeared as theWicked Witch of the West in the North American national touring company ofThe Wizard of Oz.[36] In 2000, she again returned to Broadway in the short-lived run ofMichael John LaChiusa'sThe Wild Party. Beginning in late 2000, Kitt starred as theFairy Godmother in the U.S. national tour ofCinderella.[37] In 2003, she replacedChita Rivera inNine. Kitt reprised her role as the Fairy Godmother at a special engagement ofCinderella, which took place atLincoln Center during the holiday season of 2004.[38] From October to early December 2006, Kitt co-starred in theoff-Broadway musicalMimi le Duck.
In 1978, Kitt did the voice-over in a television commercial for the albumAja by the rock groupSteely Dan. In 1988, she voicedVietnam 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.[39] One of Kitt's more unusual roles was asKaa in a 1994BBC Radio adaptation ofThe Jungle Book. In 1998, she voicedBagheera in the live-action direct-to-video Disney filmThe Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story. Kitt also lent her distinctive voice toYzma inThe Emperor's New Groove (for which she won her firstAnnie Award) and reprised her role inKronk's New Groove andThe Emperor's New School, for which Kitt won twoEmmy Awards and, in 2007–08, two moreAnnie Awards for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production. From 2002 to 2006, she also voiced the villain Vexus in theNickelodeon seriesMy Life as a Teenage Robot.
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 theTop 40 on theUK singles chart, where it peaked at No. 36;[40] the song became a standard in discos and dance clubs of the time and made the Top 10 on the U.S.Billboarddance chart, where it reached No. 7.[41] The single was followed by the albumI 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 ofHIV/AIDS organizations. Kitt's 1989 follow-up hit "Cha-Cha Heels" (featuringBronski Beat), which was originally intended to be recorded byDivine, received a positive response from UK dance clubs, reaching No. 32 in the charts in that country. In 1988, Kitt replacedDolores Gray in the West End production ofStephen Sondheim'sFollies 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 theShaftesbury Theatre to sold-out houses for three weeks in early 1989 afterFollies.
Kitt appeared with Jimmy James andGeorge 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.[42] In 1991, Kitt returned to the screen inErnest Scared Stupid as Old Lady Hackmore. In 1992, she had a supporting role as Lady Eloise inBoomerang. In 1995, Kitt appeared as herself in an episode ofThe Nanny, where she performed a song in French and flirted withMaxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). In November 1996, Kitt appeared in an episode ofCelebrity Jeopardy!. She also did a series of commercials forOld Navy. In 1996, she had a supporting role as Agatha K. Plummer inHarriet the Spy.
In 2000, Kitt won anAnnie Award for her starring voice role as Yzma in the Disney feature filmThe Emperor's New Groove, later reprising the role in 2005 in Disney'sKronk's New Groove. Kitt returned once again to the silver screen in 2003 with the charming role of Madame Zeroni in the filmHoles based on the book by the same name, by authorLouis Sachar. In December 2004 and 2005, Kitt was a guest narrator atDisney's Candlelight Processional atWalt Disney World.[43] In August 2007, Kitt was the spokesperson forMAC 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 filmAnd Then Came Love oppositeVanessa Williams. In her later years, Kitt made annual appearances in the New York Manhattancabaret scene at venues such as the Ballroom and theCafé Carlyle.[15] As noted, Kitt did voice work for the animated projectsThe Emperor's New Groove and its spinoffs, as well as forMy Life as a Teenage Robot. In April 2008, just months before her death, Kitt appeared at theCheltenham Jazz Festival; the performance was recorded.[citation needed] Kitt voiced herself inThe Simpsons episode "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", where she is depicted as a former lover ofKrusty the Clown.
Kitt at theCarlton Tower hotel in London, 1973Kitt performing in concert, 2007
Kitt married John William McDonald, an associate of a real estate investment company, on June 9, 1960.[44] Their daughter, Kitt McDonald, was born on November 26, 1961, and was baptizedCatholic atBlessed Sacrament Catholic Church.[45] Eartha Kitt and McDonald separated on July 1, 1963, and divorced on March 26, 1964.[46]
A longtimeConnecticut resident, Kitt lived in a converted barn on a sprawling farm in theMerryall section ofNew Milford for many years and was active in local charities and causes throughoutLitchfield County. She later moved toPound Ridge, New York, but returned in 2002 to the southernFairfield County, Connecticut town ofWeston, in order to be near her daughter Kitt and family. Her daughter, Kitt, married Charles Lawrence Shapiro in 1987.[47]
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 theWatts area of Los Angeles.[48] Kitt was also involved with a group of youths in the area ofAnacostia 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 theCommittee 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".[49] "Rebels with a Cause" subsequently received the needed funding.[50] Kitt was also a member of theWomen's International League for Peace and Freedom; her criticism of theVietnam War and its connection to poverty and racial unrest in 1968 can be seen as part of a larger commitment to peace activism.[51] Like many politically active public figures of her time, Kitt was under surveillance by theCIA, beginning in 1956. AfterThe 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."[30]
Kitt later became a vocal advocate forLGBT rights and publicly supportedsame-sex marriage, which she considered acivil 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?"[52] Kitt famously appeared at many LGBT fundraisers, including a mega event inBaltimore, Maryland, withGeorge Burns andJimmy James.[42] Scott Sherman, an agent atAtlantic 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:
We're all rejected people, we know what it is to be refused, we know what it is to be oppressed, depressed, and then, accused, and I am very much cognizant of that feeling. Nothing in the world is more painful than rejection. I am a rejected, oppressed person, and so I understand them, as best as I can, even though I am a heterosexual.[53]
Kitt died ofcolon cancer on Christmas Day 2008 at her home inWeston, Connecticut; she was 81 years old.[8][54][55] Her daughter, Kitt McDonald, described her last days with her mother:
I was with her when she died. She left this world literally screaming at the top of her lungs. I was with her constantly, she lived not even 3 miles from my house, we were together practically every day. She was home for the last few weeks when the doctor told us there was nothing they could do any more. Up until the last two days, she was still moving around. The doctor told us she will leave very quickly and her body will just start to shut down. But when she left, she left the world with a bang, she left it how she lived it. She screamed her way out of here, literally. I truly believe her survival instincts were so part of her DNA that she was not going to go quietly or willingly. It was just the two of us hanging out [during the last days] she was very funny. We didn't have to [talk] because I always knew how she felt about me. I was the love of her life, so the last part of her life we didn't have to have these heart to heart talks. She started to see people that weren't there. She thought I could see them too, but, of course, I couldn't. I would make fun of her like, "I'm going to go in the other room and you stay here and talk to your friends."[56]
^as a member of the Katherine Dunham Troupe; performed at theAdelphi Theatre as an Original Broadway production
^as a member of the Katherine Dunham Troupe; widely acclaimed Concert at the Belasco Theatre
^performed successfully as a member of the Katherine Dunham Troupe which was under contract with Teatro Americano for more than two months at the request ofDoris Duke
In 2016, January 17 was announced as Eartha Kitt Day in Kitt's home state of South Carolina. In 2022 the day was enshrined intostate law in SC Code § 53-3-75 (2022).[78] 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.[78]
^Johnson, Robert E. (June 14, 1973). "Eartha Kitt Observes Seventh Year With Black Ghetto School".Jet44: 56.
^Hearings, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 558 (1967). pp. 559–60.
^Kitt, Eartha (1976).Alone With Me. H. Regnery Co. p. 239.ISBN9780809283514.
^Blackwell, Joyce (2004).No Peace Without Freedom: Race and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN9780809325641.
^abcdefg"Eartha Kitt (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. RetrievedNovember 8, 2024. 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.
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