Meow! LEE MERIWETHER Picks the Greatest Catwoman

A purr-fectly good reason…

UPDATED 1/17/21: The late Eartha Kitt was born 94 years ago! Enjoy this morsel from 2017’s LEE MERIWETHER INTERVIEWS! — Dan

One of the best gags in the recent animated film Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders was when Batman gets whacked in the head and starts seeing triple:

Three Catwomen!

Of course, it’s Julie Newmar who lent her voice to Catwoman in the movie but this was a great way of acknowledging Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt’s contributions to Batman ’66, as well.

Everyone, it seems, has their favorite Catwoman: Newmar, the most famous, who originated the role on TV; Meriwether, who stepped in when Newmar was unavailable for the 1966 movie; and Kitt, who slinked her way onto the small screen in Season 3.

Well, I got to ask Meriwether who she thought was the best. More on that in a second.

I spoke to Meriwether recently and she shared her memories of being Catwoman, as well as her time on the show itself as Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend Lisa Carson. Not only that, we discussed her appearance on Star Trek and regular turns on shows like The Time Tunnel and her most famous series, Barnaby Jones.

You can look forward to recurring installments in the weeks to come but I wanted to start you off with this little tease, when I asked her which of the three Catwomen from Batman ’66 was her favorite: Newmar, herself, or Eartha Kitt…

Her pick?

Eartha Kitt.

“Oh, absolutely. She had the voice and that purr. She could purr while talking. I could never really get that. She had that from years of singing, I think, and being a sultry woman herself. She was wonderful. I just flipped when I saw her do it. I thought she was great.”

NEXT: Lee Meriwether discusses working with Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero and Frank Gorshin. Click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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14 Comments

  1. No matter what,Julie was the best,I don’t care if she didn’t pur as Eartha did..and she was the sexiest. Just one guys opinion

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  2. Julie is Catwoman imho. Michelle is a close second ❤️

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  3. It makes you wonder, though, if Batman is so smart, why didn’t he seem to notice that Catwoman went from being a tall, white woman (Newmar/Meriwether) to a petite, black woman (Kitt)? I must say, however, that even though I thought Eartha Kitt was the most feline of the three, Julie Newmar is still my favorite Catwoman of the sixties.

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    • You should check out the comic book, “Batman 66 Meets Wonder Woman 77,” which has the Adam West Batman and Lynda Carter Wonder Woman teaming up. All three Catwomans/Catwomen(?) make an appearance but are the same character. The artists/writers wanted to pay homage to all three and felt the readers would get the “Darrin-Bewitched” switching.

      Hey, why didn’t Samantha notice when her husbands changed???

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    • They could have explained Eartha Kitt as really being Talia al Ghul.

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  4. What?? Kitt was OK, but she was easily the worst of the three. Newmar and Pfeiffer have been the best, hands-down.

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    • I don’t care what anyone says, Eartha Kitt was the greatest Catwoman of all time!

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  5. I’ve always thought Julie Newmar was the best Catwoman from the TV show & Michelle Pfeiffer in the movies. Anne Hathaway did a good job in The Dark Knight Rises too. She did have chemistry with Christian Bale.

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