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Eartha Kitt

Highest Rated: 86% The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

Lowest Rated: 0% Kronk's New Groove (2005)

Birthday: Jan 17, 1927

Birthplace: North, South Carolina, USA

Eartha Kitt was a glamor figure of Hollywood's golden age, with a career that extended into the 2000s. She was born on a South Carolina cotton plantation and was apparently a mixed-race child; it was rumored that her father was the son of the plantation's owner and had conceived her by rape. She entered the Katherine Dunham Company of singer/dancers in her late teens, her elegant beauty standing out from the start. She became an accomplished cabaret singer and scored her first hit with the Cole Porter song, "Let's Do It." She was discovered in 1950 by Orson Welles who cast her as Helen of Troy in his staging of Doctor Faustus; this began a long string of film, television and nightclub work. The 1954 film "New Faces" was her first screen success, and spawned a vinyl EP that included her two signature songs: "C'est Si Bon" (the first U.S. hit version of the French pop standard) and "Santa Baby," the playfully vampish Christmas song that remained a seasonal fixture decades later. Her fame grew in the '60s with a recurring roles in "Batman" (ABC 1966-68) (where she took over the Catwoman role from Julie Newmar) and guest-starring roles in other popular series and her own TV variety special in 1967. However she stirred controversy in 1968 for speaking out against the Vietnam War when invited to a White House lunch by President Lyndon Johnson. She was investigated by the CIA and effectively blackballed from U.S. film and TV work for years afterward, though she had success in London's West End where she starred both in the musical Follies and a later one-women show. In 1976 she made a triumphant Broadway return in the musical Timbuktu!, which earned her a Tony nomination. Her next comeback came in the disco era, when she had a hit with "Where Is My Man" and a Bronski Beat collaboration, "Cha-Cha Heels," both of which led to her being embraced as an icon by the gay community. She later became an advocate for LGBT rights and a regular at fundraisers. She continued to tread the boards in the next two decades, returning to London for a Follies revival in the late '80s and touring America as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz during the '90s while also making annual cabaret appearances in New York. A performer to the end, she returned to the UK for the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 2008, releasing a DVD of the performance. She died on colon cancer on Christmas of that year, in her Connecticut home.

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Highest rated movies

86% 84% The Emperor's New Groove
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78% 76% Holes
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56% 81% St. Louis Blues
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50% 58% Erik the Viking
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49% 59% Boomerang Watchlist
47% 50% Harriet the Spy
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44% 82% Anna Lucasta
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36% 73% Preaching to the Choir
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35% 69% Anything but Love
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27% 48% I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
17% 32% And Then Came Love Mona (Character) - 2007
36% 73% Preaching to the Choir Sister Nettie (Character) $397.9K 2005
0% 44% Kronk's New Groove Yzma (Voice) - 2005
78% 76% Holes Madame Zeroni (Character) $67.3M 2003
35% 69% Anything but Love Self $80.8K 2002
No Score Yet No Score Yet Santa, Baby! Emerald (Voice) - 2001
86% 84% The Emperor's New Groove Yzma (Voice) $89.6M 2000
No Score Yet No Score Yet Ill Gotten Gains The Wood (Voice) - 1998
27% 48% I Woke Up Early the Day I Died Cult Leader (Character) $863 1998
47% 50% Harriet the Spy Agatha K. Plummer (Character) $26.6M 1996
17% 40% Fatal Instinct First Trial Judge (Character) $7.6M 1993
49% 59% Boomerang Lady Eloise (Character) $66.7M 1992
22% 51% Ernest Scared Stupid Old Lady Hackmore (Character) $14.1M 1991
No Score Yet 43% Living Doll Mrs. Swartz (Character) - 1990
50% 58% Erik the Viking Freya (Character) $656.7K 1989
No Score Yet 20% Master of Dragonard Hill Naomi (Character) - 1988
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dragonard Naomi (Character) - 1988
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Pink Chiquitas Betty/The Meteor (Character) - 1986
No Score Yet No Score Yet Serpent Warriors Snake Priestess (Character) - 1986
No Score Yet No Score Yet Butterflies in Heat Lola (Character) - 1979
No Score Yet 41% Friday Foster Madame Rena (Character) - 1975
No Score Yet No Score Yet Lieutenant Schuster's Wife Lady (Character) - 1972
No Score Yet 47% Up the Chastity Belt Scheherazade (Character) - 1971
No Score Yet No Score Yet Synanon Betty Coleman (Character) - 1965
56% 81% St. Louis Blues Gogo Germaine (Character) - 1958
No Score Yet 73% The Mark of the Hawk Renee (Character) - 1958
44% 82% Anna Lucasta Anna Lucasta (Character) - 1958
No Score Yet No Score Yet New Faces Self - 1954

TV

Credit
85% 76% The Simpsons Herself (Guest Voice) 2010
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Wonder Pets! Unknown (Guest Voice) 2009
No Score Yet 60% The Emperor's New School Unknown (Voice) 2006-2008
No Score Yet 90% American Dad! Fortune Teller (Guest Voice) 2007
54% No Score Yet Welcome to New York Unknown (Guest Star) 2000
No Score Yet No Score Yet Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Unknown (Voice) 2000
No Score Yet 97% The Wild Thornberrys Unknown (Guest Voice) 1998
No Score Yet 73% The Nanny Unknown (Guest Star) 1996
No Score Yet No Score Yet Living Single Unknown (Guest Star) 1995
No Score Yet No Score Yet New York Undercover Unknown (Guest Star) 1995
No Score Yet No Score Yet Space Ghost: Coast to Coast Guest 1994
71% 89% Miami Vice Priestess Chata (Guest Star) 1985
No Score Yet No Score Yet Police Woman Black Amelia (Guest Star) 1978
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Protectors Carrie Blaine (Character) 1974
72% 79% Batman Unknown (Guest Star) 1967-1968
No Score Yet No Score Yet I Spy Unknown (Guest Star) 1965
No Score Yet No Score Yet Ben Casey Danielle Taylor (Guest Star) 1965
No Score Yet No Score Yet What's My Line? Guest 1954 1959 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet Toast of the Town Guest 1960