Eartha Kitt in a class of her own
The inimitable singer and actress Eartha Kitt was contributing to debates about race and cultural identity long before her death at the age of 81.
Born into poverty on a cotton plantation in South Carolina, Kitt was given away by her mother to be raised by an aunt in Harlem, New York.
She played on her public persona of “sex kitten”, immortalised by the role of Catwoman in the 1960s television series Batman, and her feline purr was copied the world over. She was blacklisted as a performer in the United States for her outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War. Her CIA file reportedly described her as “a sadistic nymphomaniac with a vile tongueâ€.
She was 16 when she landed a job in an all-African American dance troupe and toured Europe, later torchsinging in Paris nightclubs and appearing in several films in the 1950s. She was described as “the most exciting woman in the world” by movie director Orson Welles, who cast her as Helen of Troy in his production Dr Faustus.
Commentators categorise her as neither black nor white, and she was ostracised as a child for her mixed-race origins, yet Kitt was as much a black American as Barack Obama. However she is defined, it can be said that she never allowed her fame to exceed the success that came from her great talent and personality.
Nat king Cole et Eartha Kitt
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Tags: blues, Catwoman, Eartha Kitt, jazz, obituary
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