Legendary and versatile actress, singer and songwriter, Eartha Kitt died today "on a holiday she turned into something both naughty and nice." (New York Daily News) She was 81, and is said to have died of colon cancer while in the company of her daughter, Kitt Shapiro, in New York. Best known for her sultry "Santa, Baby" (1953) and role as "Catwoman" in the 1960s Batman series, Kitt began her career at 18 with the Katherine Dunham Company, which landed her roles both on Broadway and debuted on the silver screen in Casbah (1948) In 1950, she won her first leading role as "Helen of Troy" in Orson Welles' Dr. Faustus, which sparked an affair; Welles called her the "most exciting woman in the world" and I believe it. 
After her anti-Vietnam remarks supposedly making Lady Bird Johnson cry at a White House luncheon, Kitt's popularity took a major blow so she escaped to Europe for several years, where her reputation was still intact. She returned to the US in 1978, cast in the Broadway hit, Timbuktu!, where she sings about a recipe for preparing cannabis. Right. She went on to record several Gold albums, reaching the UK's top 40 and Top 10 Dance Hits in the US, but her most famous songs remain "Santa Baby" and "C'est si bon" (1954). Most recently, she employed her unique voice as "Yzma" in The Emperor's New Groove (2001)where she won the Annie Award for 'Best Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Featured Film'. Kitt's last performance was for a PBS series just six weeks ago, set to air in February.
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