LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION paying grateful tribute to the distinguished and
remarkable life of Eartha Kitt, noted singer, entertainer and anti-war
activist

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to honor the memory of
cherished citizens of the State of New York who distinguished themselves
in their profession and whose talent, charm, intellect and unique
personality permeated all they did; and
WHEREAS, It is with great sorrow and deep regret that this Legislative
Body records the passing of Eartha Kitt on Thursday, December 25, 2008,
at the age of 81; and
WHEREAS, Born on January 17, 1927, in South Carolina, as Eartha Mae
Keith, she danced, sang, and acted her way into the hearts of millions;
and
WHEREAS, For generations, the name Eartha Kitt was synonymous with
sexy, sultry, and outspoken; since the tender age of 14, she worked the
stage, and for nearly seven decades, she left her indelible imprint by
her work on the big screen, television and recordings; and
WHEREAS, Eartha Kitt's career-long persona, that of the seen-it-all
sybarite, was set when she performed in Paris cabarets in her early 20s,
singing songs that became her signatures, like "C'est Si Bon" and "Love
for Sale"; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Kitt, who began performing in the late 1940s as a dancer
in New York, went on to achieve success and acclaim in a variety of
mediums long before other entertainment multi-taskers like Julie
Andrews, Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler; and
WHEREAS, An international star who gave new meaning to the word versa-
tile, she was one of only a handful of performers to be nominated for a
Tony three times; and both a Grammy and an Emmy Award two times; she
regularly enthralled New York nightclub audiences during her extended
stays at The Cafe Carlyle; and
WHEREAS, Those who want to see her as a seductive chanteuse should
watch the 1958 film "St. Louis Blues," starring Nat King Cole, Ruby Dee,
Pearl Bailey and the gospel great, Mahalia Jackson; for a slightly comic
turn, one can see Eartha Kitt as an amorous entrepreneurial cougar on
the hunt for a young Eddie Murphy in the 1992 film "Boomerang" starring
Halle Berry as the principal love interest; and
WHEREAS, Although she was known as the quintessential sex kitten for
her acting, Eartha Kitt's public outspokenness came at quite a cost; her
comings, goings, doings and sayings were tracked by both the FBI and the
CIA; and
WHEREAS, On January 18, 1968, she dared speak out at a luncheon held
at the White House by the then First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson against the
Vietnam War and was both blacklisted and harassed for doing so; for
daring to speak her mind at the heart of the empire, and for denouncing
an Imperial war, the media and the state tried to disappear her; she had
to go abroad to find her freedom of speech, where she remained for near-
ly a decade; and
WHEREAS, President Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
were all slain by 1968; with Robert Kennedy's assassination mere month's
away, his candidacy, much like Barack Obama's, was seen as a beacon of
hope in a sea of troubles; and
WHEREAS, Eartha Kitt moved through life with an intelligence, wit and
nerve that made her distinctive and unforgettable; in addition, her role
as an anti-war activist won her a place in the history of American civil
rights; and

WHEREAS, In 1978, then President Jimmy Carter invited Eartha Kitt back
to the White House, and that year she earned her first Tony nomination
for her work in "Timbuktu!," an all-black remake of "Kismet"; by now a
diva and legend, Ms. Kitt dabbled in dance music, scoring her biggest
hit in 30 years with "Where Is My Man" in 1984, the same year she was
roundly criticized for touring South Africa; and
WHEREAS, The third of her three autobiographies, I'M STILL HERE:
CONFESSIONS OF A SEX KITTEN, was published in 1989, and she earned a
Grammy nomination for BACK IN BUSINESS, a collection of cabaret songs
released in 1994; and
WHEREAS, As Eartha Kitt began the sixth decade of her career, she was
still active; in 2000, she received her second Tony nomination for best
featured actress in a musical in "The Wild Party"; branching out into
children's programming, she won two Daytime Emmy Awards, in 2007 and
2008, as outstanding performer in an animated program for her role as
the scheming empress-wannabe Yzma in "The Emperor's New School"; and
WHEREAS, All the while, she remained a fixture on the cabaret circuit,
having maintained her voice and shapely figure; in September of 2007,
she opened the newly renovated Cafe Carlyle in New York; and
WHEREAS, Eartha Kitt was married to her one husband, Bill McDonald, a
real-estate developer, from 1960 to 1965; their daughter, Kitt Shapiro,
survives her, as do two grandchildren; and
WHEREAS, Armed with a humanistic spirit, imbued with a sense of
compassion, and comforted by numerous admirers, Eartha Kitt leaves
behind a legacy which will long endure the passage of time, and will
remain as a comforting memory to all she befriended; now, therefore, be
it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to pay
grateful tribute to the distinguished and remarkable life of Eartha
Kitt, noted singer, entertainer and anti-war activist; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the family of Eartha Kitt.