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Kitty Carlisle

Kitty CarlisleAKA Catherine Conn

Born: 3-Sep-1910
Birthplace: New Orleans, LA
Died: 18-Apr-2007
Location of death: Manhattan, NY
Cause of death: Heart Failure
Remains: Buried, Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, NY

Gender: Female
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Singer, TV Personality, Socialite

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: A Night at the Opera

Through quirks of modern celebrity, singer Kitty Carlisle was probably most familiar to Americans as a panelist on the game show To Tell the Truth. She was a regular on the program in its original incarnation in the 1950s and '60s with host Bud Collyer, in the '70s with Garry Moore and later Joe Garagiola, in the '80s with Robin Ward, and in the early 1990s with Alex Trebek. Ancient and ghostly but still sharp, she even appeared on the John O'Hurley-hosted version in 2002, when she was 92.

Carlisle was raised in a well-to-do family. Her home was decorated with paintings by longtime friends Irving Berlin, Noel Coward, and George Gershwin. Her grandfather fought in the Civil War (for the Confederates), and Kitty Dukakis was named after Carlisle (their mothers were friends).

As a young girl, Carlisle studied drama in Europe. Her first professional job was in a touring company of Rio Rita, where she played several different roles in more than 1,000 performances. She was a regular on Broadway from the 1930s to the 1980s, and at the Metropolitan Opera, she sang as Count Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus and in the title role in Carmen. She made occasional appearances in film, singing a selection from Verdi's Il Travatore in the Marx Brothers' A Night At the Opera. She also sang in Woody Allen's Radio Days, and had a small role in Six Degrees of Separation.

In her later years, she served two decades as chair of the New York State Council of the Arts, under four governors.

Father: Joseph Conn
Mother: Hortense Holtzman
Boyfriend: George Gershwin
Boyfriend: Bennett Cerf
Husband: Moss Hart (playwright, m. 10-Aug-1946, d. 1961, heart attack)
Son: Christopher Hart (stage producer, b. 14-Jan-1948)
Daughter: Catherine Hart (physician, b. June-1950)
Boyfriend: Roy R. Neuberger

    University: Sorbonne
    University: London School of Economics
    University: Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London
    Trustee: Empire State College

    New York State Official New York State Council on the Arts (1971-96)
    Metropolitan Museum of Art Honorary Trustee
    Museum of Modern Art Honorary Trustee
    Hollywood Walk of Fame 6611 Hollywood Blvd.
    National Medal of Arts 1991
    German Ancestry
    Jewish Ancestry

    TELEVISION
    To Tell the Truth Panelist

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Broadway: The Golden Age (Apr-2003) · Herself
    Catch Me If You Can (16-Dec-2002) · Herself
    Six Degrees of Separation (8-Dec-1993) · Mrs. Bannister
    Radio Days (30-Jan-1987) · Radio Singer
    Hollywood Canteen (15-Dec-1944) · Herself
    A Night at the Opera (15-Nov-1935) · Rosa Castaldi
    She Loves Me Not (31-Aug-1934)
    Murder at the Vanities (18-May-1934)

Official Website:
http://www.kittycarlisle.com/


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