Eartha Mae Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style. Her mother, Annie Mae Keith (later Annie Mae Riley), was of Cherokee and African descent. 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. 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 the claim.
Kitt began her career in 1942 and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway theatre 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. deteriorated after she made anti-Vietnam War statements at a White House luncheon. In the 1970s, Kitt appeared on television several times on BBC’s long-running variety show The Good Old Days, and in 1987 took over from fellow American Dolores Gray in the London West End production of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies and returned at the end of that run to star in a one-woman-show at the same Shaftesbury Theatre, both to tremendous acclaim.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 was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Party. Kitt wrote three autobiographies.
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 the Top 40 on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at No. 36; the song became a standard in discos and dance clubs of the time and made the Top 10 on the US Billboard Dance Chart, where it reached No. 7. The single was followed by the album I Love Men on the Record Shack label.
Kitt found a new generation of fans through her various voice acting roles in the last decade of her life. Such as the being voice actress of Vexus, the main villain of the Nickelodeon animated series My Life As a Teenage Robot (2003–2005). But most famously appearing in the Disney films The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), in which she voiced the villainous Yzma, and Holes (2003). Kitt reprised the role as Yzma in the direct-to-video sequel Kronk’s New Groove (2005), as well as the animated series The Emperor’s New School (2006–2008). Her work on the latter earned her two Daytime Emmy Awards. Kitt posthumously won a third Emmy in 2010 for her guest performance on Wonder Pets!
