Eartha Kitt
| Eartha Kitt | |
 Eartha Kitt | |
| Background information | |
| Born as: | Eartha Mae Keith |
| Born | Jan 17, 1927 North, South Carolina |
| Died | Dec 25, 2008 - at age 80 Weston, Connecticut Colon cancer |
| Spouse(s): | John W. McDonald (1960 - 1964) div. |
| Children: | 1 |
| Occupation: | Singer, actress, comedian, dancer, songwriter, activist |
| Label(s): | RCA Victor, Kapp, MGM, EMI, GNP Crescendo, Decca, Spark, Can't Stop, Ariola, ITM, DRG, Strike Force, His Master's Voice |
| Website: | earthakitt.com |
| Genre(s): | Vocal jazz, cabaret, Dance music, Country music, disco |
Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style, particularly 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 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." Kitt starred as "Catwoman" in the third and final season of the television series "Batman" in 1967.
In 1968, Kitt's career in the U.S. declined after she made anti-Vietnam War statements at a White House luncheon with Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. 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 nomination was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Party. Kitt wrote three autobiographies.
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 and Vexus in The Emperor's New Groove franchise and 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, on January 17, 1927. Her mother, Annie Mae Keith (later Annie Mae Riley), was of Cherokee and African descent. Although she had little knowledge of her father, it was reported that he was the son of the owner of the plantation where she was born, and that Kitt was conceived by rape. In a 2013 biography, British journalist John Williams claimed that Kitt's father was a white man, a local doctor named Daniel Sturkie. Kitt's daughter, Kitt McDonald Shapiro, has questioned the accuracy of this claim.
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 times when we didn't have anything to eat for what seemed like an insurmountable duration. We had to rely on the forest and whatever we could dig out of the ground, such as weeds or grass. I recall that there was a kind of onion growing at the bottom of it. When we could find things like that to eat, 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.
After the death of Annie Mae, Eartha was sent to live with another close relative named Mamie Kitt, who Eartha later came to believe was her biological mother, in Harlem, New York City, where Eartha attended the Metropolitan Vocational High School, later renamed the High School of Performing Arts.
Activism
Kitt was active in numerous social causes during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966, she established the Kittsville Youth Foundation, a chartered non-profit organization for underprivileged youth in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Kitt was also involved with a group of young people in Anacostia, Washington, D.C., who called themselves "Rebels with a Cause." She supported the group's efforts to clean up the streets and establish recreation areas to help keep them out of trouble, testifying before the House General Subcommittee on Education of the Committee on Education and Labor alongside them. 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." "Rebels with a Cause" subsequently received the necessary funding. 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. 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."
Eartha Kitt later emerged as a prominent advocate for LGBT rights, publicly endorsing same-sex marriage, which she regarded as a fundamental civil right. She was quoted as stating: "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?"[51] Kitt notably participated in numerous LGBT fundraisers, including a significant event in Baltimore, Maryland, alongside George Burns and Jimmy James. Scott Sherman, an agent at Atlantic Entertainment Group, remarked: "Eartha Kitt is fantastic... appears at so many LGBT events in support of civil rights." In a 1992 interview with Dr. Anthony Clare, Kitt discussed the support she received from the gay community, stating:
- 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 heterosexual.
Personal life
Kitt married John William McDonald, an associate of a real estate investment company, on June 9, 1960. Their daughter, Kitt McDonald, was born on November 26, 1961, and was baptized as a Catholic at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Eartha Kitt and McDonald separated on July 1, 1963, and divorced on March 26, 1964.
A longtime resident of Connecticut, 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 to be near her daughter Kitt and family. Her daughter, Kitt, married Charles Lawrence Shapiro in 1987.
Death
Kitt died of colon cancer on Christmas Day 2008 at her home in Weston, Connecticut; she was 81 years old. 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 constantly by her side; she lived not even three miles from my house, and we were together practically every day. She had been home for the last few weeks when the doctor informed us there was nothing more they could do. Up until the last two days, she was still moving around. The doctor told us she would leave very quickly, and her body would just start to shut down. But when she left, she exited the world with a bang, just as she lived. She screamed her way out of here, literally. I truly believe her survival instincts were so embedded in her DNA that she was not going to go quietly or willingly. It was just the two of us hanging out during her last days; she was very funny. We didn't need to talk because I always knew how she felt about me. I was the love of her life, so during the final part of her life, we didn't have to have these heart-to-heart talks. She started to see people who weren't there. She thought I could see them too, but of course, I couldn't. I would make fun of her, saying, "I'm going to go in the other room, and you stay here and talk to your friends."
Career
- Wikipedia article: Eartha Kitt Career
Discography
- Wikipedia article: Eartha Kitt Discography
Filmography
- Wikipedia article: Eartha Kitt Filmography
External links
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Eartha_Kitt ]
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