With everything else going on this week, the news of Kitty Carlyle Hart’s passing is likely to pass unnoticed, and that’s a shame. She was the kind of woman the world needs much more of.
She was known for her grace and charm, but by her own account she was slightly eccentric, a trait she treasured because she believed it gave her a lot of leeway.
She practiced singing every day, exercised every morning (and was the first to tell anyone that she had beautiful legs, which she did) and believed that discipline was the key to life. In her last decades, she became a popular lecturer. She often told her audiences, “With a soupçon of courage and a dash of self-discipline, one can make a small talent go a long way.”
…
“I’m more optimistic, more enthusiastic and I have more energy than ever before,” she said just after her 79th birthday. Energy, she said, came from doing the things she wanted to do.
“You get so tired when you do what other people want you to do,” she said.
Kitty isn’t known because she isn’t famous.Shirley hemphil from the show “What Happening”,was more famous than she is. I never understood some of these fake hollywood stars.Where did they come from and how did they get there. R.I.P. kitty but your no Rachelle Ferrell or Wendy Williams.Stop playing.You play to much!!
I just learned this morning that Kitty Carlyle died this past week at age 96 years young. I agree it is a shame that the events of the past week so overshadowed her passing that most people won’t even hear about it. Kitty Carlyle was a fascinating person who led a fabulous life till the very end. I was interested in her quotes above about self-discipline and how far it can take you in life. She is an example of how to live for so many people.
Ann Christie
Kitty Carlyle was a breath of fresh air when I first saw her on TV in the early 50’s. Whenever I heard of her over the years, a picture of her would come to my mind and it brought a big smile to my face. I swear she has not aged at all, she just became more beautiful over the years.
At 82 years, she has taught me that I have a lot more living to do.
Thank you Kitty for being you.
Do you know if any one will do a story of her life on TV?
I just heard of the death of Kitty Carlisle Hart and am quite saddend by the fact, that the Tony’s and Broadway, a New York based institution, did not do more to honor the women that was in charge of the arts for Nelson Rockefellor.
With certain plugs for O’Neils and Sardi’s by an age disparity of 40 years, that is really not nice. After all, what is or was Broadway without Kaufman and Hart.
I heard Carlisle Hart, speak in 1996, at the anniversary of SUNY Purchase, she stated that Nelson used to like to turn the art work upside down, to get another view.
In honor of Kitty, i say cut Mattisse’s Japonaise women by the water 1905 in half and see the japonaise women talking to the women in a bonnet. make a color copy, of course.
Such is life and colleagues have strange ways of forgetting, those who may or may not have made their life’s easier. if the “young actors” of the cast of “Coast of Utopia” want a “regional theater, they should have said, Thank you Kitty, for your “style”, “your grace”, and your “elegance”.
I quote the Star magazine, when Actresses knew HOW to dress,” “to Tell The Truth”, star Kitty Carlisle Hart is a standout in her standup collar. At 81, she’d make most gals green with envy.
They, today just do not know how to Honor.
Miss Kirtsopoulos
I FIRST SEEN MS. CARLISLE IN THE NEW YORK STATE UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE LOCATED IN LONG ISLAND CITY WHERE SHE HAD WENT TO SEE IF SHE ELIGIABLE TO COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. AT THE TIME I WAS THE SECURITY GUARD IN THAT PARTICULAR OFFICE. SHE PULLED UP AT THE OFFICE WITH HER DRIVER, WALKED UP THE STAIRS TO THE OFFICE AND ASKED ME WHAT WERE THE PROCEDURES. SHE SAID I DON’T KNOW IF I’M INTITIL TO BENEFITS, BUT I DID WORK FOR THE STATE OF NEW YORK AND WAS LET GO. I KNOWING WHO SHE WAS, I TOLD HER WHY NOT YOU PAID YOUR TAXES. WHAT A LADY? SHE NEVER ASKED NON OF THE EMPLOYESS FOR SPEICAL TREATMENT. AGAIN WHAT A LADY-GOD YOU HAVE A HELL OF A LADY BY YOUR SIDE NOW. REST IN PEACE KITTY.