Eartha Kitt Biography (1927-)

Full name, Eartha Mae Kitt; born January 17, 1927, in St. Matthews (some sources cite Columbia), SC; daughter of Anna Mae (maiden name, Riley) Kitt; stepdaughter of William Kitt (a sharecropper); foster daughter of Mamie Lue Riley;married William McDonald (in real estate), June, 1960 (divorced, c. 1965); children: Kitt McDonald Shapiro. Addresses: Office: Eartha Kitt Productions, 888 Seventh Ave., Floor 37, New York, NY 10106-3799.

Nationality: American
Gender: Female
Occupation: Singer, dancer, actress, writer
Birth Details: January 17, 1927; St. Matthews, South Carolina, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Stage Appearances
Dancer with Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe, Blue Holiday, Belasco Theatre, New York City, 1945
Member of Village Friends, Carib Song, Adelphi Theatre, New York City, 1945
Dancer with Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe, Bal Negre, Belasco Theatre, 1946
Time Runs, 1950
Dr. Faustus, Paris, 1951
New Faces of 1952 (revue), Royale Theatre, New York City, 1952
Teddy Hicks, Mrs. Patterson, National Theatre, New York City, 1954
Mehitabel, the cat, Archie and Mehitabel, Broadway Theatre, New York City, 1957
Shinbone Alley, New York City, 1957
Jolly, Jolly's Progress, Longacre Theatre, New York City, 1959
Mrs. Gracedew, The High Bid, Guildford, England, then Criterion Theatre, London, 1970
Bunny Novak, Bunny, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, England, then Criterion Theatre, 1972
Princess Sahleem-La-Lume, Timbuktu, John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts, Washington, DC, then Mark Hellinger Theatre, New York City,both 1978
New Faces of 1952 (revival), Equity Library Theatre, New York City, 1982
Eartha Kitt in Concert, London Theatre, 1989
Yes (solo show), Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland,1994
Homeless woman, Sam's Song (benefit performance), All Souls Unitarian Church, New York City, 1995
Billie Holiday, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, New AthenaeumTheatre, Chicago, IL, 1996
Dolores, The Wild Party (musical), New York Shakespeare Festival,Virginia Theatre, New York City, 2000
Fairy godmother, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Theatre at Madison Square Garden, New York City, 2001
Appeared as Carlotta Campion, Follies (musical), London production.
Major Tours
Dancer, Bal Negre, Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe, European cities,1946-1947
Helen of Troy, Orson Welles' Faust, French, German, and Belgian cities, 1951
Doris W., The Owl and the Pussycat, U.S. cities, 1965-1966
A Musical Jubilee, U.S. cities, 1976
Princess Sahleem-La-Lume, Timbuktu, 1979-1980
Woman of the world, Blues in the Night, southern U.S. cities, 1985
The wicked witch of the west, The Wizard of Oz, U.S. cities, 1998
Fairy godmother, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, U.S. cities, 2000-2001
Film Appearances
Herself, Casbah, Universal, 1948
New Faces of 1952 (revue; also known as New Faces), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1954
Renee, The Mark of the Hawk (also known as Accused and Mark of the Hawk), Universal, 1958
Gogo Germaine, St. Louis Blues, Paramount, 1958
Title role, Anna Lucasta, United Artists, 1959
The Saint of Devil's Island (also known as Saint of Devil's Island and Seventy Times Seven), Film Productions International, 1961
Betty Coleman, Synanon (also known as Get off My Back), Columbia, 1965
(Uncredited) Singer, Uncle Tom's Cabin (also known as Cry SweetRevenge, La capanna dello Zio Tom, La case de l'Oncle Tom, Cento dollari d'odio, Cica Tomina Koliba, and Onkel Tom's Huette), Kroger Babb and Associates, 1965
Scherazade, Up the Chastity Belt (also known as Naughty Knights), EMI Films, 1971
Madame Rena, Friday Foster, American International Pictures, 1975
All by Myself (documentary), 1981
Snake princess, Serpent Warriors (also known as The Serpent Warriors), 1986
Voice of Meteorite Betty, The Pink Chiquitas, 1986
Naomi, Dragonard (also known as Master of Dragonard Hill),1987
Living Doll, 1990
Freya, Erik the Viking (also known as Erik viking), Orion,1991
Old Lady Hackmore, Ernest Scared Stupid, Buena Vista, 1991
Lady Eloise, Boomerang, Paramount, 1992
First trial judge, Fatal Instinct, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1993
(Uncredited) Herself, Unzipped, Miramax, Buena Vista, 1995
Agatha K. Plummer, Harriet the Spy, Paramount, 1996
Herself, M and M Smith: For Posterity's Sake (documentary), New Day Films, 1997
Voice of the spirit in the wood, Ill Gotten Gains, Spats Films, 1997
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (also known as Ed Wood's I WokeUp Early the Day I Died and I Awoke Early the Day I Died), Cinequanon Pictures International, 1998
Voice of Yzma/Yzma Kitty, The Emperor's New Groove (animated), Buena Vista/Walt Disney Pictures, 2000
Voice of Bagheera for the film The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story; also appeared in Last Resort and two French films.
Television Appearances
Series
Kaskade, Swedish television, 1962
Movies
Lady, Lieutenant Schuster's Wife, ABC, 1972
Paula, To Kill a Cop, NBC, 1978

Specials
Show Biz, NBC, 1955
The Eartha Kitt Show, syndicated, 1969
The Unforgettable Nat "King" Cole, 1989
A Broadway Christmas, 1990
The 27th Annual NAACP Image Awards (also known as the NAACP Image Awards), Fox, 1996
(In archive footage) It's Black Entertainment, Showtime, 2000
Episodic
Your Show of Shows, 1954
Title role, "Salome," Omnibus, CBS, 1955
Omnibus, ABC, 1956
"Heart of Darkness," Playhouse 90, CBS, 1958
"The Loser," I Spy, NBC, 1965
"Who Killed the Rest?," Burke's Law, 1965
Second Catwoman, "Catwoman's Dressed to Kill," Batman, ABC, 1967
Tina Mara, "The Traitor," Mission: Impossible, CBS, 1967
Second Catwoman, "The Funny Feline Felonies," Batman, ABC, 1967
Second Catwoman, "The Joke's on Catwoman," Batman, ABC, 1968
Narrator, "Is This a House for a Hermit Crab?" Reading Rainbow, PBS, 1983
"Whatever Works," Miami Vice, NBC, 1985
Sister Rowena, "Moths to a Flame," Matrix, USA Network, 1993
Voice of Mrs. Franklin, Keesha's grandmother, "Going Batty," The MagicSchool Bus, PBS, 1993
Herself, "Batmantis," Space Ghost Coast to Coast, The Cartoon Network, 1994
Mrs. Stubbs, "Student Affairs," New York Undercover, Fox, 1995
Jacqueline Richards, "He Works Hard for the Money," Living Single,Fox, 1996
"Pup in Paris," The Nanny, 1996
(Uncredited) "The Tart with Heart," The Nanny, 1996
Herself, The Pat Bullard Show, syndicated, 1996
Herself, The RuPaul Show, VH1, 1996
Voice of first lioness, "Flood Warning," The Wild Thornberrys (animated), Nickelodeon, 1998
The Roseanne Show, syndicated, 1998
Albertine Whethers, "Field of Dweebs," The Famous Jett Jackson, The Disney Channel, 1999
June, "Jim Gets an Apartment," Welcome to New York, CBS, 2000
June, "The Car," Welcome to New York, CBS, 2000
"Medium Rare," Oz, HBO, 2001
Guest panelist for The Celebrity Game; also appeared in episodes of Ben Casey, The Charles Grodin Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Ed Sullivan Hour, Person to Person, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, and Toast of the Town.
Other
A Night on the Town, 1983
Lola Dede, Feast of All Saints (miniseries; also known as AnneRice's The Feast of All Saints), ABC, 2001
Television Work
Episodic
Provided additional voices for the animated series The Wild Thornberrys, Nickelodeon.
RECORDINGS
Albums
(With others) To Wish You a Merry Christmas, RCA Victor, 1954
That Bad Eartha, RCA, 1956
Thursday's Child, RCA Victor, 1956
Eartha Kitt, Singer, 1956
(With others) St. Louis Blues, RCA Victor, 1958
In Person at the Plaza (also known as At the Plaza), 1965
Bad but Beautiful, 1976
At Her Best, 1982
The Best of Eartha Kitt, 1983
I Love Men, Sunnyviews, 1984
Swing, 1986
My Way: A Musical Tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1987
I'm a Funny Dame (also known as A Funny Dame), [Copenhagen,Denmark], 1988
Eartha Kitt in Person at the Plaza, 1988
Diamond Series (compilation), 1988
I'm Still Here, 1989
Live in London, 1990
The Best of Eartha Kitt (compilation), MCA, 1990
Primitive Man, 1992
Thinking Jazz, ITM, 1992
"Miss Kitt" to You, RCA, 1992
Songs, two volumes, 1993
Where Is My Man (Special Remix), Unidisc, 1993
Eartha Quake, Bear, 1994
Back in Business, DRG, 1994
The Best of Eartha Kitt: Where Is My Man?, Hot Productions, 1995
That Seductive Eartha, re-issued, 1996
My Greatest Songs, BMG International, 1998
Purr-fect: Greatest Hits, 7-N Music, 1999
Other albums include Down to Eartha, Mrs. Patterson (original cast recording), and New Faces of 1952 (original cast recording), all RCA Victor; Eartha Kitt Revisited and The Fabulous Eartha Kitt, both Kapp; Love for Sale and The Romantic Eartha Kitt, bothCapitol; Eartha Kitt, Eartha Kitt: Greatest Hits, Eartha Kitt with the Doc Cheatham Trio, Standards/Live; appeared with others in The Fifties Collection (Disc 1), Hi Energy, Hipsters' Holiday, Home for Christmas (Disc A), Lounging at the Nick at Niteclub, and the soundtrack for Mixed Nuts.
Singles include "C'est Si Bon," Polydor, and "Santa Baby."
Videos
Herself, Eartha Kitt: The Most Exciting Woman in the World, Kubicek and Associates, 1994
Audio Books
Folk Tales of the Tribes of Africa, Caedmon, 1968
Black Pioneers in American History: Nineteenth Century, Caedmon, 1968
Reader, Young Brer Rabbit: And Other Trickster Tales of the Americas, Stemmer House Publishers, 1987
Young Brer Rabbit, Stemmer House Publishers, 1991
Narrator, Shells of North American Shores: East Coast Seashells from Canada to the Florida Keys, by Katherine Shelley Orr, Stemmer House Publishers, 1991
Kaa, The Jungle Book, BBC, 1996
Taped Interviews
Eartha Kitt Interview, 1957
Radio Documentaries
Eartha Kitt, Struggle for Stardom, National Public Radio (Washington, DC), 1980
WRITINGS
Memoirs
Thursday's Child, Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1956
Alone with Me: A New Autobiography, H. Regnery Co. (Chicago, IL),1976
I'm Still Here, Sidgwick & Jackson (London), 1989 published asConfessions of a Sex Kitten, Barricade Books (New York City), 1991
Other
Young Brer Rabbit (juvenile), Stemmer House Publishers, 1987
(With Tonya Bolden) Rejuvenate! (It's Never Too Late), Scribner (New York City), 2001

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Contemporary Authors, Volumes 77-80, Gale, 1979
Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 16, Gale, 1997
Contemporary Musicians, Volume 9, Gale, 1993
Kitt, Eartha, Alone with Me: A New Autobiography, H. Regnery Co. (Chicago, IL), 1976
Kitt, Eartha, I'm Still Here, Sidgwick & Jackson (London), 1989, published as Confessions of a Sex Kitten, Barricade Books (New YorkCity), 1991
Kitt, Eartha, Thursday's Child, Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1956
Notable Black American Women, Book 1, Gale, 1992

Periodicals

Ebony, October, 1993, pp. 112-114
Entertainment Weekly, March 25, 1994, p. 61
Essence, January, 1993, pp. 56-58
Forbes, December 2, 1996, pp. 270-271
Independent, October 3, 1992, p. 6
Jet, May 27, 1996, pp. 54-55
Library Journal, June 15, 1997, p. 110
New York Times Magazine, March 9, 1997, p. 66
People Weekly, January 30, 1995, pp. 6-8; November 4, 1996, p. 51;December 23, 1996, p. 30; July 21, 1997, p. 106; October 25, 1999, p. 131
Starlog Yearbook, 1993, p. 74

Electronic

Blacklines, http://www.subacom, January 27, 1998

Other

All by Myself (documentary film), 1981

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