Kitty Carlisle was a versatile and talented performer who had a long and successful career in Broadway, opera, television and film. She was best known for her role as Rosa Castaldi in the Marx Brothers comedy A Night at the Opera (1935) and as a regular panelist on the game show To Tell the Truth (1956-1978). She was also a passionate advocate for the arts and received the National Medal of Arts from President George H. W. Bush in 1991. She died on April 17, 2007, at the age of 96, after a battle with pneumonia and heart failure. Here is a brief overview of her life and death.
Early Life and Education
Kitty Carlisle was born Catherine Conn on September 3, 1910, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a Jewish family of German descent. Her grandfather, Ben Holzman, was a mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, and a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War. Her father, Joseph Conn, was a gynecologist who died when she was ten years old. Her mother, Hortense Holzman Conn, was ambitious for her daughter to marry European royalty and took her to Europe in 1921. They traveled around Europe and often lived in what Carlisle recalled as “the worst room of the best hotel”. Kitty was educated at the Château Mont-Choisi in Lausanne, Switzerland, then at the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics. She studied acting in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and singing in New York with Estelle Liebling, the teacher of Beverly Sills.
Acting Career
Carlisle made her Broadway debut in 1932 in Champagne Sec and went on to appear in many other musicals and operettas, such as White Horse Inn (1936), Three Waltzes (1937), Walk with Music (1940), On Your Toes (1984 revival) and The Merry Widow (1989). She also starred in several movies, such as Murder at the Vanities (1934), She Loves Me Not (1934) and Here Is My Heart (1934), both with Bing Crosby, and Radio Days (1987) and Six Degrees of Separation (1993). Her most famous film role was as Rosa Castaldi, the opera singer who falls in love with Allan Jones’s character in A Night at the Opera (1935), which featured the Marx Brothers’ hilarious antics. She sang several songs in the movie, including “Alone” and “Cosi-Cosa”.
Carlisle also had a distinguished career in opera. She made her operatic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1967 in Die Fledermaus and created the role of Lucretia in the American premiere of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. She also sang the title role in Carmen in Salt Lake City and performed with various opera companies across the country.
Carlisle was probably most recognized by the public as one of the celebrity panelists on To Tell the Truth, a game show where three contestants claimed to be the same person and the panelists had to guess which one was telling the truth. She appeared on the show from 1956 to 1967 with host Bud Collyer and fellow panelists such as Polly Bergen, Johnny Carson, Bill Cullen and Don Ameche. She later appeared in daytime and syndicated versions of the show until 2002.
Arts Advocacy
Carlisle was a staunch supporter of the arts and culture in America. She served 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts, from 1971 to 1996, where she helped allocate funds for various artistic projects and organizations. She also served on the boards of several cultural institutions, such as the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall Corporation and American Film Institute. She received many honors and awards for her contributions to the arts, such as an honorary doctorate from The Juilliard School, a Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre, a Kennedy Center Honor and a National Medal of Arts.
Personal Life and Death
Carlisle married playwright and director Moss Hart in 1946. They had two children: Christopher Hart, a director-writer-producer who was with her when she died; and Catherine Hart, an actress who died of cancer in 2001. Moss Hart died of a heart attack in 1961. Carlisle never remarried but had several romantic relationships with notable men such as George Gershwin , Cary Grant , Adlai Stevenson , Aly Khan , Mossadegh , Marlon Brando , Frank Sinatra , Rex Harrison , Kurt Weill , Leonard Bernstein , Isaac Stern , Yul Brynner , David Susskind , Robert F. Kennedy , Henry Kissinger , Alan Jay Lerner , Richard Rodgers , and Arthur Miller . She was discreet about her love life and said, “I’ve had a very full life, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
Carlisle continued to perform and tour until the end of her life. She had a one-woman show called Here’s to Life, where she sang songs and told stories from her career and personal life. She also appeared in several documentaries, such as Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) and The Last Mogul: The Life and Times of Lew Wasserman (2005).
Carlisle developed pneumonia soon after her tour folded toward the end of 2006 and passed away of congestive heart failure on April 17, 2007, in her Upper East Side, Manhattan apartment. She was 96 years old. She was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, next to her husband Moss Hart. She left behind a legacy of artistic excellence, elegance and grace.
According to Wikipedia, Carlisle died on April 17, 2007, from congestive heart failure resulting from a prolonged bout of pneumonia. She had been in and out of the hospital since she contracted pneumonia some time prior to November 2006. She died in her Upper East Side, Manhattan apartment, with her son, Christopher Hart, at her bedside.
According to TODAY, Hart’s last gig was a December performance of her show in Atlanta. David Lewis, Hart’s longtime musical director, said she would be remembered “as the grande dame not only of show business but also in her philanthropy and her support for the American musical theater.”
According to Dead or Kicking, Kitty passed away on April 17, 2007 at the age of 96 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. Kitty’s cause of death was heart failure.
According to IMDb, she developed pneumonia soon after her tour folded toward the end of 2006 and passed away of congestive heart failure in April of 2007.