There was never a dull moment with Eartha Kitt, who was a singer, actress, dancer, comedian, activist, author and songwriter.
Her lithe, feline movements, the bewitchingly provocative glances from her wide-set eyes earned her admirers.
Hits such as “Just An Old-Fashioned Girl”, “Santa Baby” , “I Want to Be Evil”, “Jonny”, “Dinner for One Please, James”, “The Heel” and “The Day That the Circus Left Town” left no one in doubt about her skill, gift and abilities.
Aside music, she also had a film, theatre and television career, delighting a new generation when she played Catwoman in the series Batman.
Kitt was born out of wedlock in 1927 to a white father and a mother who was African American and Cherokee in a small town called North in South Carolina. Her parents worked on a cotton farm, and named her Eartha because the harvest was good that year.
Life, however, was tough when her father abandoned her while her mother sent her to foster parents so she could remarry.
Despite the odds, Kitt would excel at her craft but it was her love life and a particular episode which was to break her heart.
She was romantically linked to folk singer Josh White, Orson Welles and other stars on both sides of the racial divide.
Considered a traitor by some in the Black community for going out with white guys, she was also rejected by whites when their mothers objected to her African heritage.
Kitt was also involved with Arthur Loew Jr. the wealthy heir to the MGM movie empire. Although Loew didn’t care that Kitt was black, his family objected to their union.
When Loew told his father he wanted to marry Kitt, his father threatened to disown him, adding the shareholders will never accept a black heir.
When Loew suggested that he will keep Kitt as a mistress, she was gutted. She never fully recovered from that incident. She might have gone to the grave feeling that he was the one that got away.
“The mother would have Arthur marry thrash than someone of color no matter how wonderful that person was,” Kitt noted bringing into sharp focus her observation that “I had reddish hair and I was too light. Everyone called me ‘that yellow girl’ and nobody wanted me, Negro or white.”
Kitt eventually was married to the estate agent Bill McDonald from 1960 to 1965 and had a daughter.
Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has said that his little brother was subjected to racial abuse,…
Reggie Bush has regained his place as the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner after over a…
Since 2012, actor Nick Cannon has openly shared his struggle with lupus to support others…
Former USC superstar Caleb Williams has been drafted by the Chicago Bears as the No.…
Stephen A. Smith is an ESPN analyst. People widely regard him as the face of…
Lil Durk is an American rapper and one of the most influential voices in the…
In 2022, Kevin Hart added a new title to his impressive resume: a tequila entrepreneur.…
AEW's latest pay-per-view, Dynasty 2024 on Sunday night saw Swerve Strickland defeat Samoa Joe to…
Renowned civil rights activist Opal Lee, known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," will be awarded…
Violet Horne lost her two sons to gun violence within the space of a month.…
An Ohio man said a K-9 bit him seven times after he was pulled over…
Three male foreign tourists who were spotted posing naked in a popular dune in Namibia…
Will.i.am is partnering with other prominent figures to revolutionize the digital media scene by forming…
Sabelle Beraki's childhood was inundated with the lack of representation when it came to a…
Benjamin Harvey is the founder of AI Squared, a third-party software company that helps organizations…