81, successful and single: Eartha Kitt leaves inspring legacy
Rejuvenate is Eartha Kitt's guide to staying fit. The late Kitt is an inspiration to single women. (Image from Simon & Schuster Inc.)
Single at age 81 looks damn good if you follow the life and times of multi-faceted performer Eartha Kitt.
Kitt, one of the original triple-threats, died on December 25 in Connecticut. Her career spanned six decades on stage, screen, and audio. Catwoman wasn’t Catwoman until Kitt purred her way into the role during the Batman television series in 1967. And nobody’s looked at Santa the same after she dropped the hit “Santa Baby” in 1954.
Her career accomplishments include winning two Emmys and scoring nominations for Tonys and Grammys. She found her niche in performing after auditioning for an international dance troupe as a teen, and she didn’t stop. Ever. Weeks before she died, she concluded taping for a PBS special that will air in February 2009. She penned three autobiographies and, in 2001, a guide to staying physically fit, Rejuvenate.
She stood up and spoke out for what she believed in: being blacklisted in the U.S. for speaking out against the Vietnam War and standing up for an end to racism by performing in South Africa.
Kitt, who was married for five years, remained single for most of her life, having high-profile relationships including renown writer Orson Welles, and Revlon founder Charles Revson. She was abused as a child in South Carolina, shipped off to live with an aunt in New York, then abused some more.
Her life should inspire single women. She triumphed over a troubled past. She had the relationships that she wanted, how she wanted. While it’s nice to think marriage is forever, the reality is that sometimes it doesn’t work out like that and it’s nicer when we are enlightened enough to accept that it doesn’t have to.
Your happiness and legacy should not depend on being Ms. Right.
Like Kitt’s, it should depend on doing what you love, standing up for what you believe in and speaking out for what’s right in your heart.