Julie Newmar

Early work and stage career

Newmar appeared in bit parts and uncredited roles in films as a dancer, including a part as the "dancer-assassin" in Slaves of Babylon (1953)^[4] and the "gilded girl" in Serpent of the Nile (1953), in which she was clad in gold paint. She danced in several other films, including The Band Wagon (also 1953) and Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954).^[4] She also worked as a choreographer and dancer for Universal Studios beginning at the age of 19.^[10][11] Her first major role, billed as Julie Newmeyer, was as Dorcas, one of the brides in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). She was also the female lead in a low-budget comedy, The Rookie (1959).^[12]

Newmar made her Broadway debut in 1955 as Vera in Silk Stockings, starring Hildegarde Neff and Don Ameche.^[13] In the following year she created the role of Stupefyin' Jones (a three-minute cameo) in the Broadway production of Li'l Abner. She stayed with the production for its entire run from November 1956 through July 1958,^[14] and also appeared in the film version, released in 1959. A few months later, The Marriage-Go-Round opened on Broadway, with Newmar in the role of Swedish vixen Katrin Sveg, for which Newmar won the 1959 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.^[15] She later re-created this role for the 1961 film adaptation, starring James Mason and Susan Hayward. In 1961, she appeared in the Sam Spewack play Once There Was a Russian, which lasted only one performance.^[16] She later starred opposite Joel Grey in the national tour of Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, staying with the tour from March to October 1963.^[17] In 1973, Newmar was slated to return to Broadway in the David Rabe play Boom Boom Room, opening on November 8, 1973, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. Director Julie Bovasso fired Newmar during rehearsals, and she was replaced by her understudy, Mary Woronov.^[18] Bovasso was then replaced as director during previews.^[19]

Television work

Newmar's fame stems mainly from her television appearances. Her statuesque form and height made her a larger-than-life sex symbol, most often cast as a temptress or Amazonian beauty, including an early appearance in a sexy maid costume in The Phil Silvers Show. She starred as Rhoda the Robot in the television series My Living Doll (1964–1965), and is known for her recurring role in the 1960s television series Batman as the villainess Catwoman. (Lee Meriwether played Catwoman in the 1966 feature film because Newmar was unaware that a film was going to be made, and had already signed onto an adaptation of Monsieur Lecoq that was never made; Eartha Kitt portrayed Catwoman in the series' final season. For the final season, Newmar was busy making the film Mackenna's Gold, shot during the filming of the final season, but not released until 1969.) Newmar modified her Catwoman costume—now in the Smithsonian Institution—and placed the belt at the hips instead of the waist to emphasize her hourglass figure.^[20]

In 1962, Newmar appeared twice as the motorcycle-riding, free-spirited heiress Vicki Russell in Route 66, filmed in Tucson ("How Much a Pound Is Albatross") and in Tennessee ("Give the Old Cat a Tender Mouse"). She guest-starred in The Twilight Zone as the devil in "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville", F Troop ("Yellow Bird" in 1966) as a girl kidnapped as a child and raised by Native Americans, Bewitched ("The Eight-Year Itch Witch" in 1971) as a cat named Ophelia given human form, The Beverly Hillbillies as a Swedish actress who stays with the Clampetts to learn their accents and mannerisms for a role, and Get Smart as a double agent, posing as a maid, assigned to Maxwell Smart's apartment. In 1967, she guest-starred as April Conquest in an episode of The Monkees ("Monkees Get Out More Dirt", season one, episode 29), in which the main characters all fall in love with her, and played the pregnant Capellan princess, Eleen, in the Star Trek episode "Friday's Child". In 1969, she played a hit woman in the It Takes a Thief episode "The Funeral is on Mundy" with Robert Wagner. In 1983, she reprised the hit-woman role in Hart to Hart, Wagner's later television series, in the episode "A Change of Hart". In the 1970s, she had guest roles in Columbo and The Bionic Woman.

Later roles

Newmar appeared in several low-budget films during the next two decades. She guest-starred on TV, appearing in The Love Boat, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, CHiPs, and Fantasy Island. She was featured in the music video for George Michael's "Too Funky" in 1992. She appeared as herself in the 1995 film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar and a 1996 episode of Melrose Place.

In 2003, Newmar appeared as herself in the television movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt alongside former Batman co-stars Adam West, Burt Ward, Frank Gorshin, and Lee Meriwether.^[21] Julia Rose played Newmar in flashbacks to the production of the television series.^[22] However, due to longstanding rights issues over footage from the Batman TV series, only footage of Meriwether taken from the feature film was allowed to be used in the television movie.^[23] In 2016, she provided the voice of Catwoman in the animated film Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders. In 2017, she reprised her role in the animated sequel Batman vs. Two-Face. Newmar also appeared on The Home and Family Show in May 2016, where she met Gotham actress Camren Bicondova who portrays a younger Selina Kyle.^[24]

In 2019, Newmar played the role of Dr. Julia Hoffman (replacing the late Grayson Hall) in the audio drama miniseries Dark Shadows: Bloodline.^[25]

Real estate entrepreneur

Newmar's parents invested in real estate in the 1940s and 1950s, purchasing buildings in the La Brea and Fairfax Avenue areas of Los Angeles. Her father owned property on Fairfax and Rosewood Avenue in the 1940s. As a young actress, she ran the real estate enterprise.^[31] In the 1970s, Newmar returned to UCLA to study real estate and expanded her continued management of her parents' real estate investments. She made notable investments in the La Brea and Melrose Avenue area. Melrose Avenue passes through the Fairfax District, where her parents had earlier been property owners, as shown on the adjacent map. She was considered to have significantly contributed to the area's development. Newmar was described as having contributed significant time in community advocacy as well.^[32][33]

Film

Television