Kitt, with her warm beauty and her husky voice, was my favorite Catwoman, even though Michelle Pfeiffer's in Batman Returns was more prevalent when I was a child. Kitt also recorded some of my favorite music ('tis the season for “Santa Baby,” as it happens-- all the more ironic that she died on Christmas Day, since it was her biggest music hit) and even voiced one of my favorite recent Disney villains, Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove.
Eartha Kitt continued working up to her death, voicing Yzma in the TV series The Emperor's New School, and her last stage role was as recent as 2005 (in The Junfan Project). Not that we would have expected any less from the woman Orson Welles once described as “most exciting woman in the world.” May you catnap in peace, Ms. Kitt.
