Today in our History – January 17, 1927 - Eartha Kitt was born.
GM – LI– Today’s American Champion was an American singer, actress, dancer, comedian, activist, author, and songwriter known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby", both of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world".
Kitt began her career in 1942 and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway theatre production of the musical Carib Song. In the early 1950s, she had six US Top 30 hits, including "Uska Dara" and "I Want to Be Evil". Her other notable recordings include the UK Top 10 hit "Under the Bridges of Paris" (1954), "Just an Old Fashioned Girl" (1956) and "Where Is My Man" (1983). She starred in 1967 as Catwoman, in the third and final season of the television series Batman.In 1968, her career in the U.S. deteriorated after she made anti-Vietnam War statements at a White House luncheon. Ten years later, she 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. Her second was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Party. Kitt wrote three autobiographies – Thursday's Child
Kitt found a new generation of fans through her roles in the Disney films The Emperor's New Groove (2000), in which she voiced the villainous Yzma, and Holes (2003). She 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. She posthumously won a third Emmy in 2010 for her guest performance on Wonder Pets!. ENJOY!
Remember – "I support it [gay marriage] because we're asking for the same thing. If I have a partner and something happens to me, I want that partner to enjoy the benefits of what we have reaped together. It's a civil-rights thing, isn't it?" – Eartha Kitt
Today in our History – January 17, 1927 - Eartha Kitt was born.
Eartha Kitt was a singer and actress who recorded the hit holiday song “Santa Baby”. She was born on January 17, 1927, in South Carolina to an African American mother and a white father. She was raised by Anna Mae Riley, as her biological mother had abandoned her. It wasn’t until later that she realized that her mother was actually Mamie Kitt. She never got to know her biological father though. At the age of 8, she moved to New York City. There she enrolled at the New York School of Performing Arts where she won a scholarship to study with Katherine Dunham. She later joined the Katherine Dunham Company where she performed as a singer and dancer.
Between 1943 to 1948, she toured with the group before launching her solo career. She was particularly popular in Paris, where she performed at nightclubs. During her European tours, she became fluent in French and was known to sing in 7 different languages. In Paris, Kitt met Orson Welles, a movie director who cast her as Helen of Troy in the play Dr. Faustus in 1950. Two years later, she starred in the Broadway musical “New Faces of 1952” for which she sang the songs “Monotonous”, “Uska Dara” and “C’est Si Bon”.
Her other movies during the 1950s were “Mark of the Hawk” in 1957 and “St. Louis Blues” in 1958. Her 1959 film “Anna Lucasta” won her the first and only Academy Award nomination of her career. In the 1960s, Kitt played the role of Catwoman on the television series Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Her portrayal of her character was memorable and unique.
Her singing career was also very successful. Some of the biggest hits of her career include “Let’s Do It”, “Champagne Taste”, “Just an Old Fashioned Girl”, “Love for Sale”, “I’d Rather Be Burned as a Witch”, “Under the Bridges of Paris” and perhaps her most popular song, the Christmas holiday hit “Santa Baby”. She also performed on Broadway such as “Mrs. Patterson”, “Shinbone Alley” and “Jolly’s Progress”.
Kitt was known to be blunt, outspoken and short-tempered. In 1968, she attended a lunch at the White House, hosted by President Lyndon Johnson and his wife Claudia, more popularly known as Lady Bird Johnson. There she made a heated anti-war speech that angered the President as well as his wife, due to which her popularity nose-dived overnight. For several years after the incident, she mostly toured in Europe and Asia. It was a decade later, in 1978 that she regained her popularity with her Broadway performance in the musical “Timbuktu!” for which she was also nominated for a Tony Award.
In 1984, she recorded a song titled “Where Is My Man” which was her first to be certified gold. She had a huge fan following with homosexual men, and often performed at HIV/AIDS benefits. She made several television, movie and Broadway appearances; she also won Annie and Emmy Awards for voicing the character of Yzma in the animated films “The Emperor’s New Groove”, “Kronk’s New Groove” and “The Emperor’s New School”.
Kitt was married in 1960 and had a daughter named Kitt McDonald in 1961. She and her husband got divorced in 1965. She was a social activist and had established the “Kittsville Youth Foundation” to help underprivileged youth in Los Angeles.
She was a peace activist and a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She was also an active supporter of same-sex marriages and supports LGBT functions and parades. She died of colon cancer in 2008 at the age of 81. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!