Eartha Kitt (Eartha Mae Keith) was born on January 17, 1927, is an American actress, singer, and cabaret star.

She is best known for her role as Catwoman in the 1960s TV series Batman, and for her 1953 Christmas song "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her "the most exciting woman in the world."

In 1960, Kitt was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has also received three Tony nominations, two Grammy nominations, and an Emmy nomination.

Her hits include "Let's Do It," "C'est Si Bon," "Just an Old Fashioned Girl," "Monotonous," "Love for Sale," "I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch," "Uska Dara," "Mink, Schmink," "Under the Bridges of Paris," and her most recognizable hit, "Santa Baby."

Kitt got her start as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company and made her film debut with them in Casbah (1948). In 1950, Orson Welles gave her her first starring role: as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus.

In 1958, Kitt made her feature film debut opposite Sidney Poitier in The Mark of the Hawk. Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, Kitt would work on and off in film, television and on nightclub stages

In the late 1990s she appeared as the Wicked Witch of the West in the North American national touring company of The Wizard of Oz.

In 2000, Kitt again returned to Broadway in the short-lived run of Michael John LaChiusa's The Wild Party opposite Mandy Patinkin and Toni Collette. In 2003, she replaced Chita Rivera in Nine.

From October to early December, 2006, Kitt co-starred in the Off-Broadway musical Mimi Le Duck. She also appeared in the 2007 independent film And Then Came Love opposite Vanessa Williams, and is voicing the character of Fossa in the animated movie Madagascar 2, due out in 2008.