German postcard by ISV, Sort. VI/6.
German postcard by ISV, Sort VI/6.
Tell me I'm funny
Julie Newmar was born Julia Chalene Newmeyer in Los Angeles, in 1933. She is the eldest of three children of Donald Charles and Helen Newmeyer. Her brothers are Peter Bruce Newmeyer and John A. Newmeyer.
Chalene was her mother's maiden name. Her father was a one-time professional football player (LA Buccaneers, 1926). Her mother was a star of the Follies of 1920 and later became a real estate investor.
From an early age, Julie studied piano, dance, and classical ballet. She graduated from high school at the age of 15 and spent a year touring Europe with her mother and brother. Julie became prima ballerina for the Los Angeles Opera. She attended UCLA studying classical piano, philosophy, and French.
She played several bit parts in films as a dancer, including a part as the "dancer-assassin" in Slaves of Babylon (William Castle, 1953) and the "gilded girl" in Serpent of the Nile (William Castle, 1953), in which she was clad in gold paint. The following year, she played Dorcas, one of the seven sisters in the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Stanley Donen, 1954) with Jane Powell and Howard Keel.
Julie went to New York and tried out for Broadway musicals. In 1955, she made her Broadway debut as the ballerina in 'Silk Stockings' starring Hildegard Knef and Don Ameche. She won acclaim for her role as Stupefyin' Jones in 'Li'l Abner'. She repeated the part in the film version Li'l Abner (Melvin Frank, 1959).
She won the 1959 Tony Award (New York City) for Supporting or Features Actress in a Drama for her role as Katrin Sveg in the Broadway production of 'The Marriage-Go-Round'. She later appeared on stage with Joel Grey in the national tour of 'Stop the World – I Want to Get Off and as Lola in 'Damn Yankees!' and Irma in 'Irma La Douce'.
Promoting her various Broadway and off-Broadway show appearances, Julie often posed as a pin-up girl. Though audiences and critics alike were stupefied by her good looks, that is not the compliment Julie wanted. She wanted to be known for her comedy, as she told the New York Times: "Tell me I'm funny, and it's the greatest compliment in the world." She had beauty, brains and a fantastic sense of humor.
Small Dutch collectors card.
The first actress to portray Catwoman
In 1959, Julie Newmar made the transition to television in Rod Serling's Science-Fiction series The Twilight Zone (1959), playing Miss Devlin (devil). As physical perfection, Julie was perfect to play Rhoda the Robot in the sitcom My Living Doll (1964), which had an enthusiastic cult following.
In 1966, urged on by her friends, she would try out for and be cast as Catwoman in the wildly popular television series Batman (1966). It made her the first actress to portray the DC comics character in a live-action adaptation of the Batman series.
Due to a film commitment, Newmar was unavailable to play Catwoman in the third season and her part was taken by Eartha Kitt. The film, Monsieur Lecoq (Seth Holt, 1967), was a troubled production and stayed unfinished. The abandoned film spoofs the 1868 detective novel. Stills of Newmar from the film appeared in Playboy in September 1969.
Julie also played Princess Eleen in the second-season episode of the original Star Trek series, Star Trek: Friday's Child (1967). She was very busy in the 1960s and 1970s, making guest appearances in many television series and several television movies.
Julie Newmar also appeared in such feature films as the Western Mackenna's Gold (J. Lee Thompson, 1969) with Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif.
Because of her love of the stage and live performances, Julie toured the country in stage productions of 'Damn Yankees' and 'Dames at Sea' and others. Becoming an entrepreneur, in 1977, Julie turned up in People Magazine wearing her new invention Nudemar pantyhose.
From 1977 till 1983 she was married to J. Hoit Smith and at age 47 she had her only child. Their son, John Jewl Smith (1981), has a hearing impairment and Down's Syndrome.
In the 1980s, Newmar appeared in nine B-films of which none gets a 6+ by the IMDb voters. In the meanwhile, she was busy raising her son and working in the real estate business. Julie went back to UCLA to take a few real estate courses. Still very active, and beautiful, she also appeared at fan conventions occasionally.
In 1991, Julie toured in a stage production of 'The Women'. Newmar also appeared in the music video for George Michael's 1992 single 'Too Funky', and had a cameo as herself in the film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (Beeban Kidron, 1995), starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo as three New York City drag queens who embark on a road trip. The film's title refers to an iconic autographed photo of Newmar that they carry with them on their journey.
In 2003, Julie Newmar appeared as herself in the television movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt alongside former Batman co-stars Adam West, Burt Ward, Frank Gorshin, and Lee Meriwether. Newmar's voice can be heard in the animated films Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (Rick Morales, 2016) and Batman vs. Two-Face (Rick Morales, 2017), of course as Catwoman. In 2019, Newmar played the role of Dr. Julia Hoffman (replacing the late Grayson Hall) in the audio drama miniseries, Dark Shadows: Bloodline.
Julie Newmar has been a vocal supporter of LGBT rights. Her brother, John Newmeyer, is gay. In 2013, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing (GLEH) organization in Los Angeles.
Italian postcard, no. 455.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 206/70. Julie Newmar and Omar Sharif in Mackenna's Gold (J. Lee Thompson, 1969).
Sources: K.Haisch (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
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