Hewitt and fiancé call it off
The TV star is splitting up with her Scottish actor beau, surprising her friends. » Wedding dress was bought
Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said.
She was 81.
Andrew Freedman said Kitt, who was recently treated at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, died in Connecticut of colon cancer.
She lived in Weston in recent years but it was uncertain if that was where she died.Kitt, a self-proclaimed "sex kitten" famous for her catlike purr, was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two "Emmy Awards" and nabbing a third nomination.
She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television.
She persevered through an unhappy childhood
as a mixed-race daughter of the South.
