Julie Newmar is an American actress, dancer and singer, known for a variety of stage, screen, and television roles. She won a Tony Award in 1959 and played Catwoman in the 1960s Batman television series. Newmar began her career as a dancer in films including The Band Wagon, ...
Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, Laurel Awards (1961), Lifetime Achievement Award (California Independent Film Festival, 2014)
Nominations
Golden Globes, USA (1965, 1961), Razzie Awards
Movies
“Slaves Of Babylon” (1953), “Li`l Abner” (1959), “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” (1954), “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” (1954), “Mackenna`s Gold” (1969), “Ghosts Can`t Do It” (1989), “High School U.S.A (1984), “Evils Of The Night” (1985), “Deep Space” (1988), ...
TV Shows
“Silk Stockings” (1955), “Li`l Abner” (1956), “The Marriage-Go-Round” (1958), “My Living Doll” (1964-1965)
Star Sign
Leo
#
Trademark
1
Seductive deep voice
2
Voluptuous figure
3
Large brown eyes
4
Natural brunette hair
#
Quote
1
I've had a curious relationship with my doctors. On one hand, they haven't made much money off of me over the past few decades. But then they tell me to "keep up the good work", and so I do.
2
Whenever I'm stopped on the street, men tell, "Ms. Newmar, did you know that you were my first turn-on?... How old were you?".
3
On seeing a Catwoman tattoo: I've seen some interesting flesh... It wasn't just the Catwoman. It was me.
4
On Catwoman fans: It's an honor -- it really is -- that something stays for so long with people in the sweet depths of their feelings.
5
(July 2008) Today, I walk - but very slowly. My balance is also affected. People might think I've had too much to drink, but I never drank, smoked or took drugs my entire life. If I'm out in public, I grab on to some charming, darling fellow who can steady me. I've been encouraged by the many men who have offered me their shoulders.
6
[interview in Star Trek Magazine, #1, September/October 2006] Star Trek (1966) -- oh my goodness, what a following that show has! I get asked about it all the time, and I receive lots of fan mail from it, even though I only did one episode.
7
It was so wonderful being on Batman (1966) because you could be nasty and mean, and in the '50s, women could never -- unless you were some 'B' picture actress -- be mean, bad and nasty. It was so satisfying; I can't tell you how satisfying it was.
8
[on how she got her most famous role, Catwoman on Batman (1966)] 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 this agent or someone in Hollywood, who said, "Miss Newmar, would you like to play 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 they are doing until yesterday. Well, my brother leaped off the sofa. I mean he physically levitated and said, "Batman! That's the favorite show at Harvard. We all quit our classes and quit our studies and run into the TV room and watch this show." I said, "They want me to play Catwoman." He said, "Do it!" So I said, "Okay, I'll do it.".
9
Tell me I'm beautiful, it's nothing. Tell me I'm intellectual - I know it. Tell me I'm funny and it's the greatest compliment in the world anyone could give me.
10
I'm magnificent! I'm 5' 11" and I weigh 135 pounds, and I look like a racehorse.
#
Fact
1
Has two younger brothers: Peter Bruce Newmeyer and John A. Newmeyer.
2
Is the eldest of three children of Donald Charles and Helen Newmeyer.
3
Gave birth to her only child at age 47, a son John Jewl Smith in February 1981. Child's father is her ex-husband J. Holt Smith.
Best known by the public for her role as Catwoman on the television series Batman (1966).
6
Having originated the character on the 1960s television series Batman (1966), Newmar accepted the Worst Picture award at the 25th Annual Razzie Awards on behalf of the Halle Berry remake of Catwoman (2004).
7
Newmar was visiting her brother at his college in New York when she was first contacted with the offer to play Catwoman on Batman (1966). A group of her brother's friends were regular watchers of the series and after consultation convinced her to take the role.
Won the 1959 Tony Award (New York City) for Supporting or Features Actress in a Drama for "The Marriage-Go-Round".
12
Was the first actress to portray the DC comics character Catwoman in a live-action adaptation of the Batman series.
13
Was friends with New York Mets pitcher Tracy Stallard, the man who as a member of the Boston Red Sox gave up Roger Maris' record-breaking 61st home run in 1961.
14
Her son, John Jewl Smith, has a hearing impairment and Down's Syndrome.
15
In November 2004, the former "Catwoman" had a different type of catfight on her hands. Her next-door neighbor, actor Jim Belushi, sued her for $4 million alleging harassment and defamation of character. Their openly hostile neighborhood feud has been supposedly going on for years. Newmar, an avid community advocate who once fought restrictions against noisy leaf-blowers, once threw an egg at Belushi's house in retaliation for a noisy air conditioner. The suit includes vandalism and spying.
16
Has her name mentioned in the title of the comedy To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995), while the plot revolves, partly, around an autographed publicity photograph of her.
17
Has 37" legs (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
18
Holds three U.S patents: 3,914,799 and 4,003,094 for "Pantyhose with shaping band for Cheeky derriere relief" and 3,935,865 for "Brassiere".
19
Invented and marketed her own brand of pantyhose in the 1970s and 1980s.
20
I.Q. of 135. Graduated from John Marshall High School in Los Angeles at age 15.
$5 Million
