NEW YORK (Dec. 25) - Eartha Kitt, the sultry-voiced songstress, actress and dancer who went from the South Carolina cotton fields to international award-winning stardom, has died at the age of 81. Kitt died on Thursday of colon cancer, according to family spokesman Andrew Freedman.

 

Known to the world as a self-proclaimed "sex kitten" famous for her catlike purr, Kitt was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and nabbing a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.

 

Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television. She persevered through an unhappy childhood as a mixed-race daughter of the South and made headlines in the 1960s for denouncing the Vietnam War during a visit to the White House.

 

Through the years, Kitt remained a picture of vitality and attracted fans less than half her age even as she neared 80. When her book "Rejuvenate," a guide to staying physically fit, was published in 2001, Kitt was featured on the cover in a long, curve-hugging black dress with a figure that some 20-year-old women would envy. Kitt also wrote three autobiographies.

 

Once dubbed the "most exciting woman in the world" by Orson Welles, she spent much of her life single, though brief romances with the rich and famous peppered her younger years.

 

After becoming a hit singing "Monotonous" in the Broadway revue "New Faces of 1952," Kitt appeared in "Mrs. Patterson" in 1954-55. (Some references say she earned a Tony nomination for "Mrs. Patterson," but only winners were publicly announced at that time.) She also made appearances in "Shinbone Alley" and "The Owl and the [kitty]cat."

 

Her first album, "RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt," came out in 1954, featuring such songs as "I Want to Be Evil," "C'est Si Bon" and the saucy gold digger's theme song "Santa Baby," which is revived on radio each Christmas.

 

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Eh, never heard of her, sounds pretty successful though. You a big fan of hers? I tend to not like old movies/shows. I also tend to not be phased or care about the death of people I don't know, whether it be the death of my favorite actor to a kid in my city that I didn't know.

Very sad to see her go, she was very successful

meh, goodbye i guess. the worst thing is that she died on one of the biggest holidays.

Found her picture on Google. Wasn't she Catwoman?

I remember her from that stupid Ernest movie with the trolls. I watched that endlessly as a kid.

Found her picture on Google. Wasn't she Catwoman?

 

She was Catwoman.

Found her picture on Google. Wasn't she Catwoman?

 

 

 

Yes, she played Catwoman on the old Batman TV show.

 

 

 

 

 

And she's ugly.

 

 

 

Yeah, no kidding.

I thought she was hot. Still do. And she's as old as my great grandmother.

 

 

 

That sucks.

I thought she was hot. Still do. And she's as old as my great grandmother.

 

 

 

That sucks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you on drugs or something

Lent doesnt need to be on drugs. :)