Legendary Earth Kitt dies at 81

Legendary singer, dancer and actress Eartha Kitt has died. She passed away on Christmas Day.

Kitt was famous for her "catlike purr" and was considered "one of America's most versatile performers," according to the Associated Press.

She was one of only a handful of performers to be nominated for a Tony (three times), the Grammy (twice), and Emmy Award (twice), the latter of which she won each time.

Kitt made a musical splash with her hit single "Santa Baby" in 1953 and gained new fans when she took over the role of Catwoman in 1967 during the Batman TV series, replacing Julie Newmar. Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world."

Writing in the Washington Post on Friday, author Wil Haywood describes a lunch he had with Kitt while interviewing her at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan. She showed up 20 minutes late, and then she appeared. "I noticed heads swiveling toward the entrance -- and there stood Eartha Kitt, wearing a short, bone-white fur coat, white slacks and a canary yellow turban atop her head. She had a white poodle cupped in each arm. I gave a wave, and she strode over, the poodles twisting in her arms."

Kitt died of colon cancer, for which she was treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, according to Reuters news service. Kitt was 81 years old.

In this old video below, she performs her popular Christmas hit "Santa Baby."

In this next video below, she is shown performing "Santa Baby" in 2006 at 79 years old.