Singer and actress Eartha Kitt, who was behind a string of soul hits, has died aged 81, according to a family friend.

Andrew Freedman said Miss Kitt died on Christmas Day of colon cancer after recently being treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

The self-proclaimed 'sex kitten' - who was famous for her catlike purr and once played Catwoman - was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and getting a third nomination.

Singer and actress Eartha Kitt, who has died of colon cancer at the age of 81

She was also nominated for three Tony Awards and two Grammy awards.

Miss Kitt had sold millions of records with hits including 'Let's Do It', 'Under the Bridges of Paris' and 'Santa Baby'.

Although best known for her music, she also appeared in several Hollywood films.

Despite her age, Miss Kitt was still performing and was scheduled to have appeared just two weeks ago with the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis.

According to her official website, she had US dates announced as far ahead as November next year.

Escaping a humble childhood in the cotton fields of North Carolina, the sultry singer rose to international fame for her sensuality, elegance and forthright views.

Eartha Kitt photographed last year

Born in the most inauspicious circumstances, Miss Kitt was conceived of rape to an unknown white father.

After the death of her mother, a poor black sharecropper, she suffered horrific abuse at the hand of a foster family to whom she said she had been 'given away for slavery' by an aunt.

Her showbusiness career began aged 16 when she auditioned for the Katherine Dunham peformance troupe, which gave her the chance to travel the world.

Eartha Kitt dances in a televised version of Oscar Wilde's play 'Salome' in 1955

While filling in for a cabaret singer in Paris her raw talent was spotted by Hollywood legend Orson Welles.

He called her 'the most exciting woman in the world' and cast her in the starring role of Helen of Troy  in his 1950 production of Dr Faustus. The pair allegedly later had a torrid affair.

By this time she was a major star, having released her debut album RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt which climbed to number five in the charts.

Eartha poses in leopard skin and furs for her London stage show 'Talk of the Town' in 1960

A string a hits followed in her distrinctive gravelly voice including 'Under the Bridges of Paris' and 'My Heart Belongs to Daddy' and she sealed her exotic reputation by releasing another hit album sung entirely in French.

After making her her feature film debut opposite Sidney Poitier in The Mark of the Hawkin 1958, she was regular face on the big screen as well as television and nightclub stages for the rest of the 1950s and 60s.

Miss Kitt arguably will be best remembered for her portrayal of Catwoman in the 1960s television series of Batman, after Julie Newmae vacated the role.

Eartha Kitt hugs Nat King Cole in a scene from the 1958 movie 'St. Louis Blues'

But in 1968, she was to suffer a ten-year blacklisting from the US, after delivering a sharp critique of the Vietnam War during a White House luncheon hosted by President Lyndon Johnson, which was said to have left the first lady in tears.

The public reaction was hostile and she began performing almost exclusively in Europe. It  was later revealed Miss Kitt was made the subject of a secret federal investigation; her house was bugged and she was tailed by Secret Service agents.

In 1974, she courted controversy once again by touring South Africa; although she performed for white-only audiences, her show was racially integrated, and she raised money for black schools by selling autographs.

Miss Kitt with her eight week old daughter and husband William McDonald in 1962

She finally returned to the U.S. for good in 1978 as a cast member of the Broadway show Timbuktu where audience greeted her with a standing ovation, and President Carter even welcomed her back personally.

Reviving her film career in the 1980s and 90s, she was a regular fixture on the Manhattan cabaret scene well into her seventies.

After romances with the cosmetics magnate Charles Revson and banking heir John Barry Ryan III, she married Bill McDonald in 1960 and they had one child,  daughter Kitt Shapiro, before divorcing five years later.

More recently, Miss Kitt voiced the villain YZMA in Disney's 2001 animated feature The Emperor's New Groove and its sequel, as well as the animated series The  Emperor's New School, for which she received two Emmy awards.

Miss Kitt performs at the 2006 Christmas Pageant of Peace in Washington DC








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