Selina Kyle (Batman 1966 TV Series)

{{DC Database:Character Template
 * Image                  = Catwoman 1966 001.jpg
 * RealName               = Unknown
 * CurrentAlias           = Catwoman
 * Distinguish1           =
 * Distinguish2           =
 * Aliases                = Kitka Karenska
 * Identity               = Secret
 * Alignment              = Bad
 * Affiliation             = United Underworld
 * Relatives              =
 * Universe               = Batman (1966 TV Series)
 * BaseOfOperations       = Gato & Chat Fur Company


 * Gender                 = Female
 * Height                 =
 * Weight                 =
 * Eyes                   =
 * Hair                   =
 * UnusualFeatures        =


 * Citizenship            = American
 * MaritalStatus          = Single
 * Occupation             = Professional criminal
 * Education              =


 * Origin                 =
 * PlaceOfBirth           =
 * Creators               =
 * First                  = {{ed|Batman (1966 TV Series) Episode: The Purr-fect Crime}}


 * HistoryText            =

Overview
Catwoman was an infamous arch-criminal hailing from Gotham City, a constant enemy of Batman and Robin.

Early Life
Little is known of Catwoman's early life. One one occasion, it was stated that she was a high school dropout.

Criminal Career
Catwoman planned and attempted a large number of crimes throughout her career, most of them driven by pure greed. True to her namesake, a large number of these crimes also involved some sort of feline motif.

Treasure of Captain Manx
On one occasion, Catwoman assumed the role of a treasure hunter, searching for the lost riches of the legendary pirate Captain Manx. To this end, she pursued a pair of golden cat statues alleged to be the only clues leading to the treasure's location. One of the statues, on display at Gotham Museum, was soon stolen by the thief - an act that Batman and Robin quickly noticed. The Dynamic Duo predicted that Catwoman would next pursue the second statue, and prepared to ambush the thief at the exhibition where it was being displayed; Batman even took precautions to spray the statue with a radioactive agent, in case the ambush failed. This precaution proved wise, as Catwoman and her men overcame the ambush and made off with the second statue; subsequently, the Dynamic Duo used the statue's radioactive trail to track the thief back to her hideout. Catwoman, however, had anticipated the Dynamic Duo's backup tactic, and prepared a trap of her own. Soon after entering the thief's lair, Batman and Robin were flung into its deepest levels, where Catwoman had prepared a baffling - and deadly - labyrinth.

While the Dynamic Duo struggled with the perils inside the labyrinth, Catwoman pieced together the clues on the two statues, and deduced that Captain Manx's treasure was located in a cave on Gotham City's outskirts. The thief then left for the cave in order to confirm her deductions; shortly afterward, Batman and Robin managed to outwit her labyrinth, beat her henchmen into submission, and recover both of the statues. Determining that the radioactive material on the statues had probably rubbed off onto Catwoman, Batman and Robin tracked Catwoman to the cave, and chased the thief through the cave's many tunnels. Eventually, a desperate Catwoman attempted and failed to jump across an extremely wide ravine, just barely managing to grab onto the opposing cliff wall. Despite Batman's pleas, the thief refused to let go of the sack of loot weighing her down; soon after, she lost her grip and fell to her apparent death.


 * Powers                 =
 * Abilities              =
 * Strength               =
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 * Equipment              =
 * Claws
 * Transportation         =
 * Weapons                =
 * Trained Cats
 * Whip
 * Explosives


 * Notes                  =

Behind the Scenes
During the first two seasons of the 1966 Batman series, the part of Catwoman was played by American actress and model [Julie Newmar]. Allegedly, the producers of the series had originally intended [Suzanne Pleshette] for the role; Newmar herself recounted her casting as a last-minute decision, stating:

"I had lived in New York at the time on Beekman Place. I remember it was a weekend, Friday or Saturday, and my brother had come down from Harvard with five or six of his friends, and we were all sitting around the sofa, just chatting away, when the phone rang. I got up and answered it, and it was this agent or someone in Hollywood, who said, ‘Miss Newmar, would you like to play the Catwoman on the “Batman” series? They are casting it out here.’ I was insulted because he said, ‘It starts Monday.’ I said, ‘What is this?’ That’s how television is done: they never know what they are doing until yesterday. My brother leaped off the sofa. I mean he physically levitated and said, ‘Batman! That’s the favorite show at Harvard. We all quit our classes and quit our studies and run into the TV room and watch this show.’ I said, ‘They want me to play Catwoman.’ He said, ‘Do it!’ So, I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’"

Despite the rushed casting, Newmar came to be fondly remembered by fans of the 1966 Batman. Most fans continue to regard her the most highly out of the three actresses to have played Catwoman during the series' run, and one of Newmar's Catwoman costumes is currently on display at the [National Museum of American History], part of the famed [Smithsonian].

For the 1966 feature film based off of the series, Catwoman was played by actress and former Miss America [Lee Meriwether], allegedly due to Newmar suffering a back injury shortly before shooting on the film began. Meriwether recalled of the audition:

"I had to read for the part, and there were five girls in the outer office when I got there to read. They gave me a scene, and I went into the office, and I thought, I really have to do something to make them remember me as those other girls were really gorgeous, so I decided I would do things like a cat. So, I curled myself up in the chair, and I licked my hand like a paw and did a little preening and purring and things like that. Luckily, I had a lot of cats, and in one of my lives I was a cat. I remember Les Martinson said to them, ‘I didn’t tell her to do that.’ So, it all kind of worked, and I had the part. To show you how far down to the wire they were, they were already filming while I was reading, because I went in for costumes and they shot around the character in the submarine. My first day was working in the submarine with a lot of things going wrong and steam coming out."

For the show's third and final season, actress and singer [Eartha Kitt] took over the role of Catwoman, due to Newmar being preoccupied with filming for [MacKenna's Gold]. According to the series' casting director, Larry Stewart, Kitt was chosen for the role because the script of a planned Catwoman episode required the character to understand French; Kitt, who at that point had already toured extensively in Europe, spoke fluent French.

Producer Charles FitzSimons recalls of Kitt as Catwoman:

"We felt it was a very provocative idea. She was a cat woman before we ever cast her as Catwoman. She had a cat-like style. Her eyes were cat-like and her singing was like a meow. This came as a wonderful off-beat idea to do it with a black woman."

References in Other Media

 * Eartha Kitt's portrayal of Catwoman was briefly referenced in the [Simpsons] episode ["Once Upon A Time in Springfield"], where Kitt (playing herself) is portrayed as one of Krusty's numerous ex-wives. Kitt, through a video recording, states that her marriage to Krusty had been a "CAT-astrophe!", and hisses at the camera while curling her hand into a claw shape.


 * Trivia                 =
 * Recommended            =
 * Wikipedia              = Catwoman
 * Links                  = * Bat-Mania UK's pages on [Newmar's], [Meriwether's], and [Kitt's] portrayals of Catwoman.

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