Holy nine lives, Batman! The original live action Catwoman, Julie Newmar is one of only a few regular cast members from the 1960s ‘Batman’ TV series still alive, but she had a close call last week. She suffered a heart attack. She was whisked to St. Johns Hospital in Santa Monica, CA and had a stent implant put in. The star took to Facebook to update fans and let them know that she was now “OK.”
You can read her entire post below:
Newmar’s career has spanned decades. Before ‘Batman’ she starred on the sitcom ‘My Living Doll’ for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Awards. Among genre fans, her performance as Eleen in the classic ‘Star Trek’ episode ‘Friday’s Child’ is fondly remembered. Around the time of her ‘Batman’ hey day, she also popped up on almost every major TV series including ‘Bewitched’, ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’, ‘The Twilight Zone’, ‘F Troop’, ‘The Monkees’, ‘Get Smart’ and ‘Love American Style’. During the seventies and eighties, she popped up on every show that every other celebrity appeared on, like ‘The Love Boat’, ‘Fantasy Island’ and ‘Chips’.
Because of her Catwoman role, she was also tapped to appear in a number of other science fiction series like ‘Buck Rogers in the 25th Century’, ‘The Bionic Woman’, ‘Monster Squad’, ‘Jason of Star Command’ (starring Jimmy Dohan) and ‘The Powers of Matthew Star’.
In 1995, she was paid tribute to in the drag queen comedy ‘To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar’, which starred Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo, Stockard Channing, Blythe Danner and Chris Penn. Newmar made a brief cameo.
But Catwoman will always be her most fondly remembered role. Lee Meriwether assumed the role for the feature film spinoff filmed between seasons one and two, while Newmar was filming ‘Mackenna’s Gold’. Then when Newmar departed the series after season two, she was succeeded by Eartha Kitt.
Newmar recently provided the character’s voice in two retro animated movies ‘Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders’ and ‘Batman vs. Two-Face’. Both movies also featured the voices of Adam West and Burt Ward, with the second movie being West’s final performance.
Here’s hoping we get a few more performances from Newmar after her recovery! Best of luck, Ms. Newmar!
