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Movies
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Home>Movie
and TV
Characters>Catwoman
in Movies and TV The
many costumes of the comic-book
Catwoman through the
years. The
character of Catwoman, which is
being reprised by the talented
Anne
Hathaway in
the 2012 Christopher Nolan film,
The
Dark Knight
Rises,
is a complex character first introduced
in the comic books in 1940. Catwoman
first appeared in the 1940 comic book
Batman #1. The character of
Selina Kyle was introduced first as a
non-costumed jewel thief called "The
Cat," but she later returned in a
cat-themed costume in Batman #2,
this time teamed up with the insane
Clown Prince of Crime, The Joker. In
all versions of Catwoman, she is
portrayed as a flawed personality (as
are nearly all Batman-related
characters, especially Batman's
Rogues Gallery of
villains),
who, despite her larcenous ways, has a
heart of gold. In her team-up with the
Joker, she ends her partnership with
Joker when he attempts to kill Batman's
teen sidekick, Robin. In the
Batman movies and the television
series, as in the comic books, there
exists a strange romantic and sexual
relationship between Catwoman and
Batman. In the 1960s Batman television
show, this was a chaste and
never-consummated affair, while in the
comics, especially those published in
the 21st century, including DC Comics's
"New 52" reboot, the sexual nature of
their dalliances becomes quite evident.
It remains to be seen what happens
between Christain Bale's Batman and
Anne Hathaway's Catwoman in the new
Dark Knight Rises film. Below
is a listing of the actresses who
portray Catwoman from the 1960s, to
today. Catwoman
Actresses: Julie
Newmar played the first television
version of Catwoman for the Batman
television show of the 1960s. Julie
Newmar portayed Catwoman in twelve
episodes in the classic Catwoman
costume which she designed herself. The
costume is on display at the
Smithsonian. Julie Newmar was living in
New York at the time that she was
called upon to audition for the role of
Catwoman. According
to Julie Newmar, ""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 the 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 the are doing until
yesterday. My brother leapt off the
sofa. I mean he physically levitated
and said BATMAN! that's our favorite
show at Harvard. We all quit our
classes and quit our studies and run
into the TV room and watch the show. I
said , They want me to play Catwoman.
He said DO IT ! so I said O.K. I'll do
it." Source: http://www.bat-mania.co.uk/main/villains/catwoman_julienewmar.php Julie
Newmar: Catwoman: Julie
Newmar, the Original TV
Catwoman Adam
West as Batman and Julie Newmar as
Catwoman Eartha
Kitt replaced Julie Newmar for the
third season of the Batman show. Julie
Newmar was unable to reprise her
Catwoman role due to her work on the
movie, "Mackenna's
Gold." While
the Newmar Catwoman pursued a sort of
romance/mutual attraction with Batman,
which is similar to the comic lore, the
replacement of Newmar by Eartha Kitt
spelled the end to any sexual
attraction between the now-black
Catwoman and the lily-white Batman.
This was the 1960s, and very few
television shows were willing to risk
alienating viewers with an inter-racial
relationship. Eartha
Kitt as Catwoman Eartha
Kitt as
Catwoman Lee
Meriwether played Catwoman in the
1966 Batman movie, replacing
Julie Newmar, who was unavailable due
to other filming commitments. Prior to
her turn as Catwoman, Lee Meriwether
was best known as the Miss America of
1955. Catwoman
took a live-action hiatus from the
movies until 1992's Batman
Returns brought Michelle
Pfeiffer to the role as Batman's
sexually alluring (and leather-clad)
nemesis. Movie lore has the role
originally given to Annette
Bening, but when Bening became
pregnant by her husband, Warren
Beatty, she had to drop out of the
film. Critics and fans alike applauded
the portryal of Selina Kyle/Catwoman by
Michelle Pfeiffer, who brought a sultry
sexuality to the role. Michelle
Pfeiffer as Catwoman Halle
Berry portrayed a version of
Catwoman in the 2004 film called,
simply, Catwoman. This edition
of the famed villainous almost should
not count, as this film had nothing to
do with the comic book Catwoman, had
nothing to do with Batman or Gotham,
and contained a Catwoman backstory that
used a different name from Selina Kyle,
and completely changed the origin
story. Critics and fans alike consider
this iteration of Catwoman to be hands
down the worst. Halle
Berry as a very alternate version of
Catwoman Anne
Hathaway
will play the latest iteration of
Catwoman in the upcoming Batman film
Dark
Knight Rises,
which hits theaters on July 20, 2012.
Hathaway is the star of such films as
The Princess Diaries (2001),
Brokeback Mountain (2005),
The Devil Wears Prada (2006),
Get Smart (2008), Rachel
Getting Married (2008), and
Alice in Wonderland
(2010) Catwoman
as portrayed by Anne Hathaway
2012 Anne
Hathaway as Catwoman
Sources
and Links on Catwoman: The
Dark Knight Rises (2012): Exclusive
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