Happy Birthday, Ms. Kitt!

Eartha Kit was born in poor circumstances in South Carolina, lived with a woman who was assumed to be her mother, and was later sent to New York City to live with Mamie Kitt, her biological mother.  Eartha was a talented singer and dancer who began her career with the Katherine Dunham Company in 1943.  She spoke four languages and sang in seven.  Orson Welles (who called her the ‘most exciting woman in the world’) gave Eartha Kitt her first starring film role.  It was rumored for years that they were lovers, but Kitt denied this in an interview in 2001.

Eartha Kitt is also well known for the Christmas classic, ‘Santa Baby,’ which she recorded in 1953.  She is possibly less well known for speaking her mind while at a White House luncheon.  Lady Bird Johnson asked her about the Vietnam war:  “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed.  No wonder the kids rebel and take pot,” she replied.  Though she was publicly ostracized in the US after bringing the First Lady to tears, she continued to perform in Europe and Asia.  She was also an advocate of same-sex marriage, and appeared at many fundraisers for the cause of homosexual rights.