BBC NEWS | Americas | US singer Eartha Kitt dies at 81

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</object>  <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ var empId = 'emp_7800448', settings, settings = bbc.fmtj.av.emp.getPlayerSettings(empId); bbc.fmtj.av.emp.registerPlayer(empId, settings); //]]> </script> </div> <p class="caption">Eartha Kitt on herself: 'They said; she's too strange, too weird'</p> </div>   <p class="first"><b>American singer, dancer and actress Eartha Kitt has died at the age 81, her friend and publicist has said.</b> <p>Kitt died of colon cancer on Thursday, Andrew Freedman said. <p>She was one of the few artists to be nominated in the Tony, Grammy and Emmy award categories and was a stalwart of the Manhattan cabaret scene. <p>She famously played Catwoman in the Batman television series in the 1960s and was known for her distinctive, feline drawl. <p>She also had a number of hit songs, including Old Fashioned Girl, C'est Si Bon and Santa Baby. <p>Kitt was blacklisted in the US in the late 1960s after speaking out against the Vietnam War at a White House function. <p>She also caused controversy when she toured apartheid South Africa in 1974, arguing that she had helped weaken the regime by raising awareness of racism. <p>However, she returned triumphantly to New York's Broadway in a 1978 production, Timbuktu!, and continued to perform regularly in theatre shows and concert halls. <p>From the 1980s onwards she appeared in numerous films, and her 1984 hit Where Is My Man found her another generation of night club fans. <p><b>Big break</b> <p>Kitt rose to the top of the entertainment world from humble origins. <p>Her mother worked on a cotton plantation in South Carolina and was just 14 when she gave birth. <p> <div class="qboxflr"> <a class="lp" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/default.stm">HAVE YOUR SAY</a> <div class="qbox"> <blockquote>An actress, a temptress, a dancer and a songbird</blockquote> <div class="info">Joy Pattinson, Switzerland</div> <div class="links"><a class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5852"><B>Send us your comments</B></a></div> </div> </div> <p>Kitt was then given away at the age of eight and sent to live with an aunt in New York. <p>Her break came at 16 when she got a job as a dancer with a professional troupe touring Europe. She later sang in Paris nightclubs and appeared in several films in the 1950s. <p>Kitt, who had one daughter from a brief marriage in the 1960s, lived in the US state of Connecticut. <p><div class="arr"><a class="bodl" href="/2/hi/americas/7799913.stm">Eartha Kitt: Your tributes</a></div> <br /><br clear="all" /> <div id="socialBookMarks" class="sharesb"> <h3>Bookmark with:</h3> <ul> <li class="delicious"> <a id="delicious" title="Post this story to Delicious" href="http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7799852.stm&title=US singer Eartha Kitt dies at 81">Delicious</a> </li> <li class="digg"> <a id="digg" title="Post this story to Digg" href="http://digg.com/submit?url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7799852.stm&title=US singer Eartha Kitt dies at 81">Digg</a> </li> <li class="reddit"> <a id="reddit" title="Post this story to reddit" href="http://reddit.com/submit?url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7799852.stm&title=US singer Eartha Kitt dies at 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BBC NEWS | Americas | US singer Eartha Kitt dies at 81