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(Julia Newmeyer 1935– ). American actress.
After a cameo as Stupefyin' Jones in the musical L'il Abner,
Newmar made for an intriguing Devil in an episode of The Twilight
Zone before playing an experimental robot in the short-lived situation
comedy My Living Doll. While not unreasonably derided as an
abysmal failure, that series might someday be worth digging out of
the vaults, because the actress proved slightly better than her lame
material; and one reason for the celebrated tension between Newmar
and co-star Bob Cummings—which soon led to his abrupt departure
just prior to cancellation—may have been that this Hollywood veteran
unhappily realized he was being regularly upstaged by the deadpan
delivery of this striking novice. But any doubts about her skills
were decisively erased by her masterful performances as Catwoman in
the Adam WEST Batman series. Better
than any other guest villain (except, perhaps, Victor BUONO), Newmar
knew precisely how much to overplay her role, and she threw herself
into the part with such triumphant energy and panache that she became
a dominating presence in the series' second season. When she unaccountably
abandoned the role to co-star with Gregory PECK in the western MacKenna's
Gold (1969), Eartha Kitt in the third season, like Lee MERIWETHER
in the film Batman (1966), could not begin to match Newmar's
sexy chutzpah.
As she neared
the age when Hollywood begins casting actresses as mothers, Newmar had
convincingly demonstrated, in an episode of Star Trek set on a primitive
planet that incongruously presented her as the widow of a tribal leader and
mother of his heir, that conveying saintly maternal warmth was not going to be
her strong suit. Her subsequent decline into minor roles in silly television
series and unworthy films was therefore predictable; only an appearance as an
alien warrior in an episode of Buck Rogers in the Twenty-Fifth Century
briefly recalled her glory days. Today, however, when the other pretty faces of
her era have long been forgotten, she has left enough of an impression to serve
as the titular focus of the campy movie To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything!
Julie Newmar (1995), still fondly remembered by the adolescent males who
enjoyed watching her in her prime.
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