Eartha Kitt, Batman’s Catwoman and sweetheart of Santa (baby), was a barrier-breaking actress with a song-and-dance background who audiences were obsessed with in the ’60s and ’70s. Everyone has a favorite Eartha Kitt performance, what’s yours? Was it when she squeezed into the black leather suit and curled up as Catwoman on Batman? Or was it a decade earlier when she coaxed a series of gifts out of Saint Nick in the still hot “Santa Baby?” Kitt spent her life speaking her mind and living her life unapologetically. Even when she faced a Hollywood blacklist and harassment by the CIA she never stopped being herself.
Born Eartha Mae Keith, the girl who would be Catwoman came to be on January 17, 1927, on a cotton plantation outside of North, South Carolina. Her mother, Annie Mae Keith, was a mix of Cherokee and African descent, but the identity of her father was a mystery. One thought is that her father was the son of the owner of the farm, but no one knows for sure.
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After leaving the farm, Kitt’s stepfather refused to accept her as his own because of her complexion so she left her mother to live with her Aunt before moving to Harlem, New York to live with a relative and attend Metropolitan Vocational High School. It’s here that she decided that she was meant for the stage.
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It didn’t take long for Kitt to become a mainstay on the New York scene. She was only in her 20s when she became a part of New Faces, a Broadway review. Her raspy voice, exotic look, and amazing timing made her a quick standout among the rest of the performers and she quickly earned a recording contract.
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In 1954 she released her first album with the singles “I Want To Be Evil” and “C’est si bon.” While those singles showcased Kitt’s sultry swagger, she was also onstage in the Broadway show Mrs. Patterson. The role garnered her a Tony nomination for best actress in ’54.
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When it came to the writing of “Santa Baby,” Phil Springer didn’t understand the appeal. While speaking about the song in 2017 he told the LA Times that he’s written plenty of better songs but none of them have endured like Kitt’s sultry take on his track. He said, “I ask myself, ‘How come? I’ve written so many songs that, to me, musically are much better than ‘Santa Baby,’ and they’re not popular. The answer has to be that ‘Santa Baby’ has a magic that goes beyond a composer’s plans.” Even though he didn’t get it, Springer penned the sexy song about Santa’s mistress asking him for gifts and when it made its way to Kitt in the recording studio she recorded a track that turned the holiday on its head.
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Kitt was never one to stay in a relationship. She was briefly married to real estate mogul William McDonald in 1960, they had a daughter but divorced shortly afterwards. From then on Kitt remained single. Rather than wallow in her solitary life, Kitt explained that she liked to flirt, saying, “In the old days they called it IT. It’s something you’re born with, there’s nothing you can do about it. I play with my sensuality because of who I am. I love teasing men. We don’t have much of the teasing factor any more because of feminism. God, it drives me nuts. Men don’t flirt with us anymore.”
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In 1967 the role of Catwoman passed from Julie Newmar to Kitt on the Batman TV show, something that surprised viewers as the last two Catwomen were white. As shocking as that was in 1967, Kitt quickly showed that she was the perfect actress to take over the role of the sultry and slinky Selina Kyle. Producer Charles Fitzsimons explained her casting as a “very provocative idea.”
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Batgirl actress Yvonne Craig said that her favorite part about working with Kitt was the fact that she was able to act with someone who wasn’t towering over her. Craig said, “I liked that she was my size. I could beat her up. I came up to Julie [Newmar] bellybutton. Not good in a fight.”
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Kitt wasn’t just a mid-century hottie who lounged around all day trying to seduce men. She was a staunch supporter of human rights and opposed to the Vietnam War. Her political views landed her on the CIA’s naughty list, and they did everything they could to ruin her reputation. While speaking at a White House luncheon party given by Lady Bird Johnson in 1968 Kitt said, “The children of America are not rebelling for no reason. They are not hippies for no reason at all. We don’t have what we have on Sunset Blvd. for no reason. They are rebelling against something.” Kitt’s comments allegedly brought the First Lady to tears and landed her on the blacklist. The CIA investigated Kitt and in their files they referred to her as “a sadistic nymphomaniac whose escapades and loose morals were the talk of Paris.” This effectively made it so Kitt had to work mostly in Europe.
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Even after Kitt was out of the spotlight by her 40s thanks to being blacklisted following her comments at the White House she continued to advocate for underprivileged people. She appeared at LGBTQIA conferences and fundraisers to raise money for civil rights and to put a spotlight on the need for gay rights. Speaking with Dr. Anthony Clare in 1992, Kitt noted, “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.”
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Throughout the last decades of her life, Kitt still appeared in films and performed in cabarets across the world. Long after her blacklist, Kitt appeared at the White House in 2006 to light the Christmas decorations with President George W. Bush.
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Kitt’s daughter said that her mother didn’t stop being herself in her final days, even though she was wasting away from colon cancer. She explained, “I was with her when she died. She left this world literally screaming at the top of her lungs… 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.” Kitt’s final moments took place on December 25, 2008 at her home in Weston, Connecticut.
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