Famous for playing Catwoman, singing "Santa Baby," and appearing on Broadway, Eartha Kitt
was a phenomenal performer.
[meow, laughter]
However, Kitt's career was full of ups and downs, and her life was quite tragic.
Here's a few things you might not know about the late, legendary star.
Eartha Mae Keith was born in South Carolina in the 1920s and raised in poverty, and her
earliest days are shrouded in mystery.
"I don't have a family.
I'm an orphan, so I know nothing about my blood relations.
I only know what I was told."
As The Telegraph reports, her mother Anna Mae raised Kitt in her first few years, but
she never told her daughter when she was born, or who her father was.
This fact tormented Kitt throughout her life.
She didn't live with Anna Mae for long.
"My mother gave me away because I was not the right color."
Eartha Kitt wouldn't lay eyes on her own birth certificate until 1998, when she was 71 years
old.
"I was not able to find it myself because it's under another name."
Finding her birth certificate involved a massive, protracted legal battle - and even then, the
authorities chose to black out the name of her father, leaving him forever unknown.
As Eartha's daughter Kitt Shapiro later wrote, the South Carolina authorities were "protecting"
the name of a white plantation owner even at the dawn of the 21st century, at the cost
of the mixed-race daughter that he sired.
When Anna Mae settled with a new romantic partner, she abandoned Kitt.
"So she gave me away to a family that would accept me as a working mule, but I was given
away several times."
The young girl was sent to live with her Aunt Rosa, and unfortunately, this extended family
was no less abusive.
Kitt wasn't even seven years old when she was forced to pick cotton for them.
Anna Mae fell ill around that time - and Kitt later claimed her mother was probably poisoned.
Kitt was brought to her mom for a final visit, and watched her die.
After the death of her mom, the eight-year-old was sent to live with her New York City "aunt,"
Marnie Kitt.
As The New York Times reports, her new life involved piano lessons, dance lessons, and
enrollment in the New York School of Performing Arts.
But things weren't as rosy as they sound.
Marnie eventually became abusive, and Kitt often ran away from home after being beaten,
only to return.
She eventually left Marnie's home for good when she was a teenager, becoming homeless.
During this time, she reportedly worked in a New York factory, and she slept on rooftops
or in the subway.
"You have to find your own identity.
And you have to rely on your own strength in order to rise above all of that nonsense."
Between her theoretically naughty Christmas classic "Santa Baby'' and her various appearances
on Broadway, Eartha Kitt was a game changer - a black woman who commanded the stage, the
radio, and the TV screen whenever she appeared.
One of her most iconic roles was her unforgettable turn as Catwoman in the classic Batman series.
Her portrayal was smart, sleek, and intelligent, but it's important to remember that her legacy
runs far deeper than that.
She was a subversive role model when it came to feminism and civil rights, and looking
back, she can rightfully be considered an icon.
In 1968, Eartha Kitt was furious about Vietnam.
As The Telegraph reports, she was invited to a special White House luncheon thrown by
Lady Bird Johnson... and she decided to speak out then and there.
As Vice reports, Kitt was ignored until the very end of the event.
Finally, she stood on her chair, faced the 41 dinner guests, and said,
"I have lived in the gutters.
That's why I know what I'm talking about.
You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed.
They rebel in the street.
... They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their
mothers to be shot in Vietnam."
The speech reportedly caused Lady Bird Johnson to break down in tears, and after Kitt left
the White House, the CIA reportedly got to work.
At the request of the president, the agency assembled documents full of gossip and hearsay
regarding the celebrity, including accusations that she was a quote, "sadistic nymphomaniac."
The CIA used this dossier to sling mud at Kitt's reputation, which made it impossible
for her to find work.
Venues and contracts were lost, but it took her many years to connect the dots.
"1974.
I still didn't know what was happening."
This smear campaign forced her to leave the country in search of jobs in Europe.
As The New York Times reports, the late '70s saw Eartha Kitt make a huge U.S. comeback.
She returned to Broadway to star in Timbuktu!, which earned Kitt her first Tony Award nomination.
President Jimmy Carter personally invited her back to the White House as an apology
for her past treatment.
After that, she never slowed down.
She created dance music in the '80s and wrote three autobiographies, including I'm Still
Here: Confessions of a Sex Kitten.
She earned a second Tony nomination, a Grammy nomination for her cabaret collection Back
in Business, and let's please not forget her appearance in the 1992 comedy Boomerang.
In 2006, Kitt learned that she'd developed colon cancer.
Despite this diagnosis, she kept performing, at one point doing a victorious opening performance
for New York City's newly-improved Cafe Carlyle.
And she won two Daytime Emmys for her voice work as Yzma in The Emperor's New School,
reprising her role from the hit Disney film The Emperor's New Groove.
But as a woman in her early 80s, she could only outrun cancer for so long.
She died in 2008 in Connecticut at the age of 81 years old, ending a legendary career
that spanned six decades - and leaving a rich legacy of activism as well.
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