Eartha Kitt, 81

Another one of my icons died Christmas Day, so soon after a Nobel laureate, the playwright Harold Pinter, had his last curtain call. The luminous Catwoman, whom Orson Welles called "the most exciting woman alive" in the early 1950s, finally hurried down the chimney last night.



Eartha Kitt's naughty rendition of "Santa Baby" was a purr of a Christmas come-on, and when I first heard her sing it, I was hooked. She was the original Material Girl, and influenced the stylings of the singing icons after her, including Diana Ross, Janet Jackson, and Madonna. She will be missed.