The sultry star of Batman and The Emperor's New Groove was given away by her mother and never knew her father.

numerous TV variety show performances and a few appearances as Catwoman on the popular Batman series, most of the country knew Eartha Kitt as that comical temptress with the purring voice.

But Eartha Kitt, who was born on 17 January 1927 ... to become a star of stage and screen – and the first black Catwoman. Born Eartha Mae Keith on a South Carolina cotton plantation on 17 ...