Biographic - Sunday September 18, 2011 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Anne Hathaway is the latest actress to take Catwoman from the printed page to the screen. Among those who have also portrayed the character are a former Miss America, Lee Meriwether, cabaret singing star Eartha Kitt, Golden Globe winner Michelle Pfeiffer and Oscar winner Halle Berry. The first actress to play Catwoman on-screen was Broadway star Julie Newmar, who was later immortalized in the 1995 movie "To Wrong Foo, thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar." Originally a burglar and jewel thief known as The Cat, the alter-ego of Selina Kyle, Catwoman made her debut in the first issue of the "Batman" comic in 1940. Her complex love/hate relationship with "The Caped Crusader" was a staple of the series until the character was put on extended hiatus in the mid-1950s. A decade later, poured into an iconic lurex costume that now resides in The Smithsonian, actress Julie Newmar breathed life back into Catwoman on the "Batman" TV show. Newmar played the character in a dozen episodes, but prior filming commitments saw her replaced by Lee Meriweather for the 1966 "Batman" movie. Singer Eartha Kitt donned the Catwoman costume for the TV show's third and final season. Various incarnations and interpretations of Catwoman have appeared in print in subsequent years. The 1992 movie "Batman Returns" cast Michelle Pheiffer in the role, and twelve years later, the widely panned "Catwoman" saw Halle Berry portray patience Phillips, a woman with super cat-like powers, in a storyline that strayed far from its predecessors. The likes of Gina Gershon and Adrienne Barbeau have given voice to Catwoman in video games and animation, and 2012 will see Anne Hathaway bring Selina Kyle back to the big screen in the fervently anticipated Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises."

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