Eartha Kitt

A luminous and inspiring portrait of a Black pioneer and artistic force—Eartha Kitt—and one of the most moving mother/daughter stories in Hollywood history. In this unique combination of memoir and cultural history, we come to know one of the greatest stars the world has ever seen—Eartha Kitt—as revealed by the person who knew her best: her daughter. Eartha, who was a mix of Black, Cherokee, and white, is viewed by the world as Black. Kitt, her biological daughter, is blonde and light skinned. This is the story of a young girl being raised by her mother, who happened to be one of the most famous celebrities in the world. For three decades, they traveled the world together as mother and daughter. Even after Kitt got married and started a family of her own, she and Eartha were never far from each other’s sides Eartha had a very difficult childhood growing up in extreme poverty in South Carolina. She described herself as being “just a poor cotton picker from the South.” She did not have her own familial ties to lean on after being abandoned by her own mother as a toddler and having never known who her father was. She and Kitt were each other’s whole world. Eartha’s legacy is still felt today. Not only do we still listen to “Santa Baby” every Christmas, but many of today’s most influential artists con­sistently mention Eartha, paying tribute to her groundbreaking stances on social issues such as racial equality and women’s and LGBTQ rights. And she is still widely remembered for her defin­itive portrayal of Catwoman in the classic Batman television series, voicing the character Yzma in Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove, and her many other movie and Broadway roles. In these pages, Kitt brings her mother to life so vividly, you will feel as if you'd met her. You’ll embrace her love of nature, exercise, simple food, and independence, along with her lessons on the importance of treating people kindly and always being true to yourself. Filled with love, life lessons, and poignant laughter, Eartha & Kitt captures the passion and energy of two remarkable women.

The purr-fect guide to staying mentally and physically healthy and vital from the legendary star who defines longevity. From her hit songs in the 1950s and television stardom as Catwoman on Batman in the 1960s to her sold-out shows at New York's Café Carlyle in the 1990s, her Tony-nominated role on Broadway in 1999, and her hilarious performance as Yzma, the villainess in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove in 2000, Eartha Kitt is one of America's most versatile and enduring performers. Now, at seventy-four and still going strong, Kitt reveals her secrets of vitality in Rejuvenate!, an elegant and inspiring book. Seductive, provocative, amusing, and calming, she combines the lessons of her life -- from a difficult childhood in the South and in Harlem to the joys and challenges of her life in the public eye -- to offer this wise window into her incredible mental and physical vigor and an open invitation to the joys of aging in style. Rejuvenate! is a simple, user-friendly guide that doesn't require a gym, a personal trainer, or even exercise equipment. Each of the nine chapters, with titles such as "Bend," "Stretch," and "Rock-and-Roll," features one basic exercise for the body with easy-to-follow instructions and an entertaining, inspiring message for the mind.

This is the story of Eartha Kitt's incredible life--as told by Kitt herself--from her impoverished childhood to an international show businesss and recording career. A self-made Cinderella, Kitt takes readers on an unforgettable tour of her often harrowing life offset by tragedy, treacherous lovers, jealous rivals, crooked club owners, and even the CIA--who branded her a "sadistic nymphomanic". Orson Welles called Kitt, "The most exciting woman in the world".

The American entertainer recounts the personal and public scenes, setbacks, and triumphs of her life and uneven international career, assigning places to her vaiour villains and champions.

The dramatic life story of the entertainer-activist who captured Broadway in her debut in New Faces of 1952. She is still drawing crowds to her concerts and cabaret appearances. She is a familiar face on television and films and her voice is heard by taxi riders of N.Y.C. Ms. Kitt is forthright in talking about her relationships with the great and near-great personalities of the past half century.

Strait-laced, pre-civil rights America wasn't ready for Eartha Kitt. Waiting for others to be ready was never her style. in America's Mistress John L. Williams captures the person behind the myth in this engaging biography but also race relations in Twentieth-century America. From humble roots on a South Carolina cotton plantation, the multilingual, possibly multi-racial chanteuse emerged seemingly from nowhere to seduce the nation and redefine cosmopolitan glamour. Blending intellect, self-awareness and unprecedented sex appeal, she was a Technicolor presence in a black-and-white world. But the key to her allure was always her mystery, and her three not-entirely-consistent autobiographies raise more questions than they answer about who she really was--whether singing, dancing, acting or drawing headlines for her romantic dalliances and political activism. Drawing on extensive original research and interviews with the people who knew her best, Williams--whose previous biographical subjects include Shirley Bassey and English civil rights activist Michael X--delivers a comprehensive, compassionate and thought-provoking record of a life that defied stereotypes, shattered boundaries, yet seemed to fall short of its potential in the end. Beginning with Eartha's tumultuous childhood, Williams makes a bold claim about the identity of her true father--a question that has never been answered. From there Williams traces her escape to Harlem, where she came into contact with leading black entertainers and found quick success as a company dancer-which, in turn, enabled her to travel the world and segue into film, television and music stardom. Williams details her time at the top of the entertainment business--when Orson Welles famously called her "the most exciting woman in the world"--with candor and striking revelations. America's Mistress focuses on how, as Eartha's social consciousness developed, she found herself awkwardly torn between the realities of Jim Crow oppression and her lucrative role as white America's ultimate sex kitten. Whether or not her decline began with her 1968 infamous public confrontation with Lady Bird Johnson (that left the First Lady in tears), the later decades of Eartha's life were marked by America's growing indifference to the woman who once captured its attention like no one before or since. But America's Mistress is ultimately a celebration of a remarkable American life that paved the way for black entertainers from Belafonte to Beyoncé. With objectivity and thoroughness, John L. Williams provides sought-after answers to tantalizing and elusive questions.

Dancing on the White Page examines the popular autobiographies of six well-known Black women entertainers—Diahann Carroll, Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt, Whoopi Goldberg, and Mary Wilson—and makes a case for adding Black celebrity autobiography to the African American literary canon. As she explores these women's fascinating stories, Kwakiutl L. Dreher reveals how each one improvises the choreography of her life to survive and thrive in the film, television, and music industries, as well as the politically charged environment of the Black community, most specifically represented by the NAACP. Reading each autobiography as a site of self-revelation, Dreher discovers stories of Black self-determination along with the fight for liberation from oppression and racial and gender discrimination. She explores each woman's full meaning in American culture at large and in American entertainment culture in particular.