Eartha Kitt passes away at 81

London (ANI): Sultry singer and actress Eartha Kitt, well known for portraying Catwoman in the Batman television series, has passed away. She was 81. Eartha, famous for her cat-like purr, was undergoing treatment for colon cancer. Her former lover Charles Revson, pioneer of the Revlon cosmetic company, made a flaming red lipstick for her called Fire and Ice.

She gave many hit songs, including the 1953 Christmas song. She became well known in Britain when she scored a Top 40 hit in 1980 with the disco classic 'Where Is My Man?' that found her new audiences in nightclubs. It was after her association with the Batman series in the 1960s that she became a household name.

Kitt was effectively exiled from the United States after her anti-war statements during a White House lunch upset the First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. That incident put a hold on her career. She made a comeback in the 1970s by doing New York?s Broadway plays, and later appeared regularly in theatre shows and concert halls.

One of her more unusual roles was as Kaa the python in a 1994 BBC Radio adaptation of The Jungle Book. Kitt was born to a 14-year-old girl who was raped on a cotton plantation and was handed over to another family before being sent to live with an aunt in New York. The resident of Connecticut was being treated for colon cancer in New York.