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Eartha Kitt

She born in small town South Carolina to a mother of Cherokee and African descent. After her mother's death, she was sent to live with an aunt (who might have been her mother) in New York City. There, she thrived as a singer in a traveling theatrical troupe.

Soon her career took off like lightning, fist with Cole Porter and later such hits as C'est si bon, Snuff Out the Light, Love For Sale, and Santa Baby. Getting bored, her friend Orson Welles reached out to her to appear in his adaptation of Faust. This led to other acting opportunities, including Catwoman in Batman.

Yet, her career in America came to a screeching halt when she made made anti-war comments to President and Lady Bird Johnson. President Johnson soon had the CIA investigate her and she traveled to Asia and later settled in Paris to have "the time of her life."

Later in her career, she once again enjoyed huge success on Broadway, television, and later films, most famously as the voice of sinister Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove.

Let's discuss the truly international "mut" Eartha Kitt.

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by Anonymousreply 45June 16, 2023 1:02 AM

On April 8th 1955 Eartha Kitt and Dean Martin both reached the Top 20 with the same song, ‘Under The Bridges of Paris’. Coincidentally April 8th is also the birthday of Eric Porter (1928).

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by Anonymousreply 1June 5, 2023 1:13 AM

She was spectacularly stunning: the cheekbones, the voice, the international mysteriousness.

She spoke French and Italian, was a support of civil, women, and LGBT rights, worked with underprivileged kids, told a president what she honestly thought of his policies, fought with the CIA, and did it all with class and dignity.

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by Anonymousreply 2June 5, 2023 1:13 AM

Eartha Kitt on Desert Island Discs

The episode is unavailable, but her choices are great: Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Burl Ives, Ottorino Respighi, and Felix Mendelssohn.

by Anonymousreply 3June 5, 2023 1:17 AM

I wonder how she came about her accent. Skimmed Wiki and she doesn't seem to have spent a lot of time overseas.

Love the dress in the OP.

by Anonymousreply 4June 5, 2023 1:20 AM

She didn’t have an accent. She purred.

by Anonymousreply 5June 5, 2023 1:21 AM

R4 I don't know either. I always thought she was Creole, because of her accent and being a Francophile.

by Anonymousreply 6June 5, 2023 1:22 AM

A cute song very early in her career. Utterly charming,

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by Anonymousreply 7June 5, 2023 1:27 AM

Totally missed this in Wikipedia. I can see how the influence leaked into her English.

[QUOTE]Kitt's unique style was enhanced as she became fluent in French during her years performing in Europe. She spoke four languages (she is thought to have learned German and Dutch from her stepfather, English from her mother, and French from the European cabaret circuit)

by Anonymousreply 8June 5, 2023 1:30 AM

She shaded Madonna most deliciously .

When asked what she thought of Madonna's version of "Santa Baby", Kitt purred:

"Nothing. What. Is. There. To. Think. About.?"

by Anonymousreply 9June 5, 2023 1:30 AM

One of the best lyrics in a song- ‘the only bar I’ve been near is in ballet class’

by Anonymousreply 10June 5, 2023 1:30 AM

Getting down and having fun with Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 - especially with José Soares.

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by Anonymousreply 11June 5, 2023 1:37 AM

Eartha Kitt on Dick Cavett

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by Anonymousreply 12June 5, 2023 1:57 AM

What is a "mut"?

by Anonymousreply 13June 5, 2023 2:00 AM

R13 Mixed breed, unknown origin, eclectic

by Anonymousreply 14June 5, 2023 2:02 AM

Her hilarious voice work in Emperor's New Groove was fantastic. One of my favorite childhood movies.

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by Anonymousreply 15June 5, 2023 2:06 AM

R13 / R14 I'm guessing OP intended to use the word "mutt."

by Anonymousreply 16June 5, 2023 2:08 AM

Beautiful voice

by Anonymousreply 17June 5, 2023 3:59 AM

She looked like a beautiful voodoo queen.

by Anonymousreply 18June 5, 2023 4:10 AM

Loved her 1984 disco album "I Love Men". I got it on vinyl, cassette and 20 years later, found it on CD at a bargain price. My favorite song which should have been released as a single was "La Grande Vie".

Her daughter, Kitt McDonald, described her last days with her mother:

I was with her when she died. She left this world literally screaming at the top of her lungs. I was with her constantly, she lived not even 3 miles from my house, we were together practically every day. She was home for the last few weeks when the doctor told us there was nothing they could do any more. Up until the last two days, she was still moving around. 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.

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by Anonymousreply 19June 5, 2023 4:21 AM

R19 beautiful!

by Anonymousreply 20June 5, 2023 1:19 PM

Eartha Kitt was not a fucking mutt.

by Anonymousreply 21June 5, 2023 1:47 PM

Was that bio generated by AI, OP? "Snuff Out the Light" was her character's discarded song from The Emperor's New Groove, hardly an early career hit.

by Anonymousreply 22June 5, 2023 2:20 PM

R11 thanks for posting this. I had only ever seen theIr Mas Que Nada performance on her show. Jose Soares could dance like a sexy boy. Gay? Or just Brazilian?

by Anonymousreply 23June 5, 2023 3:08 PM

[quote] Getting bored, her friend Orson Welles reached out to her to appear in his adaptation of Faust.

What? Welles got bored and reached out to Kitt? Was this written by a bot?

[quote]What is a "mut"?

[quote][R13] Mixed breed, unknown origin, eclectic

That is not an accurate description of "mutt" at all. "Mutt" in no way has ever meant "eclectic", OP/r14.

[quote]Eartha Kitt was not a fucking mutt.

Thanks, r21. It is an extremely offensive way to speak of a human being.

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by Anonymousreply 24June 5, 2023 3:37 PM

Was she that unusual colored woman that dressed like a cat in that TV show with those two homosexuals that wore tights?

by Anonymousreply 25June 5, 2023 4:06 PM

I doubt she'd ever heard of "LGBT rights", r2.

by Anonymousreply 26June 5, 2023 4:40 PM

I always liked her. She was such an original talent, and I was always sorry the entertainment world didn't figure out better ways to highlight her.

I feel sad she had that long hiatus in her career for making Lady Bird cry in the White House. Eartha's anti-war sentiments were right on the money, but she should have expressed them on a different occasion--it was just bad luck that they upset Lady Bird (whom everyone at the time liked) so much.

by Anonymousreply 27June 5, 2023 4:46 PM

[quote]"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. There are so many things burning the people of this country, particularly mothers. They feel they are going to raise sons – and I know what it's like, and you have children of your own, Mrs. Johnson – we raise children and send them to war."

She wasn't wrong!

by Anonymousreply 28June 5, 2023 4:47 PM

She wasn't wrong, but it was undeniably a tactical error to make it sound like she was personally attacking Mrs. Johnson in that era after having been invited into her home (which is how older people would have seen it in the late 1960s). Today it would not have been that big of a problem, but in those days, the elder generation were still big on decorum.

Still, I give Eartha lots of credit for having spoken out on a sensitive and important topic at that time.

by Anonymousreply 29June 5, 2023 4:51 PM

[quote]Soon her career took off like lightning, fist with Cole Porter

Cole was into fisting? Why didn't anyone tell me?

by Anonymousreply 30June 5, 2023 4:55 PM

One of my cars has satellite radio, and near a Christmas I set the radio on classic Christmas hits. I had only heard Madonna’s bootleg rendition of Santa Baby. I heard Kitt’s version and thought “wow that’s way better”. Then I learned after that it was Kitt’s voice. It’s a really cool old song.

by Anonymousreply 31June 5, 2023 4:56 PM

She born? Who does OP think he is, Zora Neale Hurston.

by Anonymousreply 32June 5, 2023 5:05 PM

[quote] Eartha Kitt was not a fucking mutt.

I thought that was a particularly insulting term when OP had many race-neutral, less degrading descriptors. If you wouldn't have called her that to her face it is an insult.

by Anonymousreply 33June 5, 2023 6:49 PM

bump

by Anonymousreply 34June 6, 2023 12:21 AM

R7 It sounds a bit Piaf

by Anonymousreply 35June 6, 2023 8:43 AM

She certainly knew her audience.

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by Anonymousreply 36June 6, 2023 8:55 AM

Did she and Toni Collette get along? They were both fabulous in The Wild Party.

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by Anonymousreply 37June 6, 2023 9:02 AM

EK's accent was faux, performance art. Nothing wrong with that.

EK did not speak French. All of her interviews on French TV were in English. And she most certainly didn't speak any of the other languages listed on her wiki page..

There's no need to attempt to pad her history like tjis. It's embarrassing and unecesarry since she was fabulous just as she was.

by Anonymousreply 38June 15, 2023 10:26 PM

I sat next to Eartha once at a Bway show. It was a TDF seat.

by Anonymousreply 39June 15, 2023 10:40 PM

Great performance of CSB mid 60s. Loved her as Lady Eloise in Boomerang. 😂

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by Anonymousreply 40June 15, 2023 11:08 PM

A professional victim. Reagan supporter and also South Africa supporter. She reveled that she was considered an "honorary white" until she and her daughter got kicked off a ride there. By the end of her life, she didn't even try to hide her extreme Anti Asian hatred.

by Anonymousreply 41June 15, 2023 11:16 PM

R38 what I want to know is how do you know she didn’t speak French.

by Anonymousreply 42June 15, 2023 11:18 PM

Saw her on Broadway in the Wild Patty

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by Anonymousreply 43June 15, 2023 11:27 PM

Lovely voice!

by Anonymousreply 44June 16, 2023 12:43 AM

One of the few black performers who was really hated by the American Black community. They even coined an expression "Eartha Kitt-ism" in the '70s suggesting Uncle Tom while hiding behind your race.

by Anonymousreply 45June 16, 2023 1:02 AM
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