6. Adam West and Eartha Kitt
When Julie Newmar was unable to return as Catwoman in season 3 of the 1966 Batman TV series, the role was recast a second time. This time, legendary singer and actress Eartha Kitt stepped into the role, and to say she was a force on-screen would be an understatement.
She also had a great dynamic with Adam West, who played the Caped Crusader on the show, as the pair engaged in quite a few back-and-forths. The only downside here is that they shared far less screen-time than you might think. That’s partly due to the fact that Kitt only played the role in three episodes, but whenever she did appear, the show opted against leaning into the character’s history with Batman.
As a result, she spent most of her screentime teaming up with Cesar Romero’s Joker or launching an attack on Batgirl. That meant that we never truly got to see West and Kitt portray anywhere near as much of that legendary relationship as we would have liked.
Nevertheless, Eartha Kitt earned herself a place among the greatest Catwomen of all time – perhaps as the greatest. She was fiercer in the role than her counterparts and was the only one who could pull off that iconic purr. We just wish the show made more of her chemistry and dynamic with Batman.