Julie Newmar, the actress who played the original Catwoman in the 1960s television series Batman, was seen using a mobility scooter during a rare outing in Los Angeles earlier this month.
The screen star made the public appearance just days before she turned 93 on August 16. She navigated a parking lot wearing a chic blue button-up shirt tied at the waist, a black top, black pants, a straw hat and black UGG slippers.
The Daily Mail reached out to her representatives for comment on the outing.
Newmar secured her status as a television sex symbol when she debuted as Catwoman opposite Adam West. The superhero series, which was known for its campy fun rather than brooding justice, ran from 1966 until 1967. The vigilante superhero referred to her as the feline devil with both disdain and affection.
Her performance solidified future renditions of the character as witty, sultry and smart. She brought her background as a dancer and choreographer to the role, adopting two cats to study their movements. She was the brain behind the famous shimmering black leather catsuit, sewing an S-curve seam into the waistline to improve how it lay on the body. The modified costume was later donated to the Smithsonian Institution.
Newmar personally choreographed a famous sequence where she turned her derriere to the camera and slid down a railing. She took inspiration from choreography titans Bob Fosse and Jack Cole for the scene, in which she told Batman she wanted to marry him to get between him and Boy Wonder Robin.
She also created a memorable moment by sipping milk from a saucer to tempt Robin. She later told Emmys.com she deliberately chose not to lap the milk like a cat because 1960s actresses did not stick their tongues out on camera for propriety.
Hollywood career and comments
The actress attracted attention earlier this year when she stated that male executives should run the film industry because they do it best. She reflected on her Hollywood experiences decades before the #MeToo movement and the conviction of movie moguls like Harvey Weinstein, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault.
"I love men too much. I understand them," she told The Guardian. "And the heads of studios, yes, they break a door down and they do this or they do that.. that's how they act. You think you're gonna change things? Not a whole lot."
She added: "And you know what? It works. It works beautifully because men are very good to women."
Newmar began her career as a ballerina with the Los Angeles Opera at age 15. She worked as a Universal Studios dancer and choreographer at 19 before securing her first major film role as Dorcus in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
Standing at 5 feet 11 inches, the screen goddess was frequently type-cast as an Amazonian beauty due to her height and dancer's body. She moved to Broadway and won the 1961 Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance as Swedish vixen Katrin Sveg in The Marriage-Go-Round, following roles in Silk Stockings and Li'l Abner.
Before Batman, her first main television role was Rhoda the Robot in My Living Doll. She also made guest appearances in Star Trek, Route 66, The Twilight Zone, Bewitched and The Monkees. She spent two decades appearing in low-budget films as her roles dwindled.
Business ventures and personal life
Off screen, Newmar dipped her toes into being an entrepreneur. She patented her own pantyhose design, invested in lingerie, and appeared in a George Michael music video.
She experienced several torrid love affairs with prominent figures, including an engagement to novelist Louis L'Amour and romantic links to actor Ken Scott and comedian Mort Sahl. She married lawyer J Holt Smith in 1977.
The couple had a son, John Jewel Smith, who was born with Down Syndrome and a hearing impairment. They divorced in 1984, and Newmar never stopped advocating for her son, whom she called her greatest love. She also advocates for LGBT rights, a cause she has a strong connection to because her brother John is gay.
In 2010, the Tony winner revealed she lives with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The inherited neurological disorder, also known as hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy, affects peripheral nerves that transmit signals between the brain, spinal cord and the rest of the body.
"CMT has helped me learn to focus," she told ABC7. "It's made everything I do more important."
Neighborhood dispute
Newmar faced one of her only public scandals in 2004 when her next-door neighbor, actor Jim Belushi, sued her for 4 million dollars. He accused the then 71-year-old of a campaign of harassment designed to drive him from his home.
Belushi claimed in his filing that Newmar destroyed a fence and landscaping, spied on his family, egged his house and played loud music aimed at his backyard. They resolved the feud two years later when she made a guest appearance on his ABC sitcom According to Jim, where they poked fun at their infamous disagreement.
Today, Newmar has retreated from the limelight to care for her son and her garden, which features more than 80 varieties of roses. The plants form towering walls and beautiful arcs around her residence that are meant to be walked through.
"Some people love dogs. I love plants," she told Better Homes and Gardens in 2023. "I think I fell in love with gardens because that's where I felt safest as a kid out in the yard with my father."
