Divas are hard to come by

That purr! That growl! Sorry Madonna but no one sang “Santa Baby” quite like Eartha Kitt, who died on Christmas day at the age of 81. She left behind a legacy of vampy, campy sexiness that even the stoic Batman couldn’t resist:

Love that nelly Rudy! And so did Kitt, whose later career arc saw her become a gay dance diva. She adored us and the feeling was mutual — after all, we all agreed on this:

As we lose an icon like Kitt, we’re left hoping that unstable celebs like Courtney Love can stand up for us against the likes of Kim Kardashian. I weep for the future!

Great performers are hard to come by. I wish I’d discovered this clip before the holidays but check out these two to see what I mean:

Can a straight guy be a diva? If so, New York Times columnist Frank Rich would be one of mine. On Friday, he delivered the last, best word on the Barack Obama/Rick Warren fiasco: “It’s bizarre that Obama, of all people, would allow himself to be on the wrong side of this history.”

 

No, for me, if we’re talking great female performers, I think Sigourney Weaver would be my diva. Comedy, drama, action — she’s an actress who can do anything and now, as producer and star, she’s turned the heartbreaking biography “Prayers for Bobby” into a TV-movie I will try my best not to cry through:

Damn! Too late!

A former editor of the late, lamented fab magazine, Scott has been writing for Xtra since 2007 on a variety of topics in news pieces, interviews, blogs, reviews and humour pieces. He lives on the Danforth with his boyfriend of 12 years, a manic Jack Russell Terrier, a well-stocked mini-bar and a shelf of toy Daleks.

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