Eartha Kitt dies on Christmas Day 2008
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American actress, singer, and cabaret star perhaps best known for her 1953 Christmas song “Santa Baby”, taking over the role of Catwoman for the 3rd and final season of the 1960s Batman TV series, replacing Julie Newmar, who was unavailable and for the role of oversexed Lady Eloise in Eddie Murphy’s Boomerang. Miss Kitt died December 25 (Christmas Day) 2008 at the age of 81 after a long battle against colon cancer.
Her outspoken 1968 criticism of the Vietnam War at a White House lunch hosted by then first lady Lady Bird Johnson led to her being blacklisted and seeking work in Europe and Asia.
“You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed,” she told the group of about 50 women. “They rebel in the street. They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.”
For four years afterward, Kitt performed almost exclusively overseas. She was investigated by the FBI and CIA, which allegedly found her to be foul-mouthed and promiscuous.
I knew there was a reason I liked her.
She was not only appreciative of her gay fan base, but was also quite progressive in her thoughts and words about our struggles.
“When I was in trouble with the government and Lady Bird Johnson, it was the gay guys who kept my name alive because they kept looking for my records and they were imitating me.”
Added Kitt, “I feel very close to the gay crowd because we know what it feels like to be rejected.”
Kitt’s sentiments in that interview are still topical now. Speaking on the subject of marriage equality for gay and lesbian families, Kitt said, “I support it because we’re asking for the same thing.
“If I have a partner and something happens to me, I want that partner to enjoy the benefits of what we have reaped together.”
Added the world-famous performer, “It’s a civil-rights thing, isn’t it?”
Though some Black Americans take umbrage at the suggestion that the civil rights struggle of gays and Blacks have close parallels, Kitt herself made that comparison, saying, “We were not allowed to go through certain doors because of our race, our color.
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images all the property of their respective owners.
via WickedGayBlog and Edge
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