Whether you know her from her hit holiday song, “Santa Baby,” or as the rich woman who seduced a much younger Eddie Murphy in “Boomerang,” it’s hard to think of Eartha Kitt as anything short of a legendary Black entertainer.
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One of the OG triple threats in the entertainment industry, Kitt captivated audiences with her voice, her dance moves, and her sexy on-screen persona. It also didn’t hurt that she spoke four languages and sang in seven.
But Kitt was more than a purring seductress: She was outspoken in opposition of the Vietnam War – a fact that took its toll on her career. She continued to perform into her 80s, until she lost her battle with colon cancer on Christmas Day in 2008. With the 17th anniversary of her passing and what would have been her 99th birthday this month, we decided to take a deep dive into the life of this amazing and legendary icon.
Born in South Carolina
Before she was a performer on stage on screen, Eartha Mae Keith was born on Jan. 17, 1927 in North, S.C. Born to a white father and a mother who was African American and Cherokee, she was raised by family members in New York City after her mother abandoned her. Kitt has been open about how her mother leaving took a toll on her self-esteem.
“My mother gave me away at the age of five, and if my mother gives me away, she doesn’t want me. So why should anybody want me?’” she once said in an interview.
A Passion For Dance
Although Kitt lived with family in New York City, she endured physical abuse at the hands of her relatives and found dance as an escape from the pain she suffered at home. As a teenager, she earned a spot performing with the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the first Black modern dance company in the country.
Finding Acceptance
Although Kitt never knew her white father, she acknowledged her mixed-race heritage. She refused to be identified as simply Black and believed that it was one of the reasons the Black community never fully embraced her as one of their own.
“I think of myself as being a person who belongs to everybody, but I think one should always feel this way. I think that, as long as you are feeling in terms of belonging only to one race, one nationality, one religion, that you have to be prejudiced,” she said in an interview with Last Call. “My blood is of yours and of anybody’s and therefore I’ve always thought of myself as this, and to be prejudiced against any of the other bloods is rather silly to me.”
Singing in Paris
Kitt put down roots in Paris in her twenties, when she performed in cabaret clubs around the city. While in Paris, she met actor and filmmaker Orson Welles, who cast her to play Helen of Troy in the play “Dr. Faustus.” Kitt came back to New York City to perform in the Broadway show, “New Faces of 1952.”
The “Most Exciting Woman in the World”
Kitt’s sultry voice and model good looks made her a certifiable sex symbol and the object of affection for many. Orson Welles called her the “most exciting woman in the world.” She was romantically linked to Revlon cosmetics founder Charles Revson, who created a lipstick shade, “Fire and Ice,” in honor of her.
“Santa Baby”
In 1953, Kitt released what would become one of her best-known songs, the sexy holiday hit, “Santa Baby.” Performed with Henri René and His Orchestra, Kitt sang about all of things she wants Santa to slip under her tree, including a car and a little something something from Tiffany’s.
Catwoman
In the 1960s, Kitt shared the screen with Adam West and Burt Ward, playing the super-sexy villain Catwoman in the television series “Batman.” Kitt only appeared in five episodes of the series that ran for three seasons, but for many who knew and loved the series, her performance was one of the most memorable.
“Eartha Kitt was great as Catwoman! It was groundbreaking 2see a Black woman in a starring role in 1967! She was bigger than life & commanded her role like no [other] of the Catwoman characters. She was powerful & mesmerizing,” wrote someone on X.
Speaking Out
By the late 1960s, Eartha Kitt was a major star, but after a 1968 visit to the White House, things took an unexpected turn. At a luncheon hosted by then-First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, Kitt spoke to then-President Lyndon B. Johnson about the issue of juvenile delinquency in America and spoke out against the Vietnam War in the process.
“Boys I know across the nation feel it doesn’t pay to be a good guy,” she said. “They figure with a record, they don’t have to go off to Vietnam. You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. They rebel in the street. They will take pot, and they will get high. They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.”
As the news of Kitt’s remarks made headlines, her career suffered.
Under Surveillance
One week after the White House incident, the CIA provided the Secret Service with a dossier of information they had been collecting on Kitt since 1956. Her time in Europe made her a target of government surveillance.
Although the report was full of gossip, there was no evidence that Kitt was in contact with any foreign agents while performing in Paris.
Family Life
Eartha Kitt was only married once – to businessman Bill McDonald from 1960 to 1965. The couple had one daughter, Kitt Shapiro, who Kitt kept close to make sure she didn’t feel the same sense of abandonment she felt from her own mother.
“Boomerang”
In 1992, Kitt shared the screen with Eddie Murphy, Halle Berry and Robin Givens in the hit romantic comedy “Boomerang,” playing Lady Eloise, a wealthy businesswoman who has a thing for younger men. Who could forget the classic scene where she seduces Eddie Murphy’s character?
Her Final Bow
In 2006, Kitt was diagnosed with colon cancer, but she continued to perform as she battled the disease. She took the stage for her final performance in September 2008 with the Virginia Symphony.
Kitt was admitted to the hospital on Nov. 24, 2008. She passed away at home just one month later on Dec. 25 at age 81.
Her daughter, Kitt Shapiro says she keeps her mother close to her heart, especially around the holidays.
“When ‘Santa Baby’ comes on at Christmas, it makes me smile. Hearing her voice always warms my heart and reminds me how blessed I was to have been loved so deeply,” she told PEOPLE in an interview.
Dirty Little Secret
While her mother leaves a legacy in the entertainment industry that makes her one of the GOATs, Shapiro wishes she had been able to learn the identity of her father before her passing. Kitt fought into her 70s to learn more about him, but was unable to get courts to release any information about his identity after she discovered his name was blacked out on her birth certificate.
“They were protecting the white man because they would not have gone to that trouble to protect a Black man. The courts still held it as legal to withhold the documentation. We were amazed. My mother assumed it was their dirty little secret,” Shapiro said in an interview.
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