Sophisticated, highly accomplished African-American performer with a husky, purring voice, once dubbed "the most exciting woman alive" by no less than Orson Welles. Kitt began her career as a Katherine Dunham dancer and as a chanteuse and actor in Europe before returning to the US as a cabaret singer with an international, indeed multilingual, repertoire. A self-styled "sex kitten", Kitt created a world-weary feline femme fatale image onstage, performing songs in over a dozen languages. She made her mark in film in the 1950s, beginning with her dazzling quartet of songs in the otherwise dreary