#orangey

Eartha Kitt in costume as Catwoman with well-known animal actor Orangey the cat during production of the Batman episode entitled The Funny Feline Felonies, originally broadcast by ABC on December 28th, 1967.

To commemorate international cat day (8 August), let’s celebrate the memory of Orangey (1950 - 1967). The late, great trained showbiz cat / animal actor boasted a prestigious and prolific résumé on film and TV that any thespian would envy. (And according to IMdB, Orangey was “the only feline double-winner of the Patsy Award, the animal kingdom's equivalent of the Oscar”). Orangey’s best-known work includes The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), The Diary of Ann Frank (1959) and the scene-stealing role of “Cat” ("the poor slob without a name”) opposite Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)! Best of all, Orangey’s final television credit (aged 17) is appearing as the feline companion of Eartha Kitt’s Catwoman in two consecutive episodes of TV’s Batman in 1967 (pictured). Appropriately for a celebrity of his stature, he is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood.

quartz