{"id":5366422,"date":"2021-07-15T19:43:42","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T19:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/?p=5366422"},"modified":"2021-08-16T17:16:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T17:16:29","slug":"before-she-was-catwoman-julie-newmar-in-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/before-she-was-catwoman-julie-newmar-in-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Before She Was Catwoman: Julie Newmar in LIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Julie Newmar gained her most enduring fame by playing Catwoman on the Batman television show<\/a> of the 1960s, but she had been a presence on the stage and screen long before she ever donned the catsuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newmar frequently played a role that was a staple in a certain kind of comedy: the attractive woman who leave men discombobulated simply by walking to a room. She was acting in such roles all three times she found herself in front of LIFE cameras. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1956 Gjon Mili<\/a> captured her performing in the Broadway musical version of the comic strip Li’l’ Abner<\/a>. Newmar had the small but memorable role of Stupefyin\u2019 Jones (she would reprise the role in the 1959 film version<\/a>), whose name embodied the effect she had on men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1958, LIFE’s Ralph Morse<\/a> took his turn shooting Newmar, this time for a role that would win her a Tony for Best Featured Actress. The show was a comedy called The Marriage-Go-Round<\/a>, and Newmar played Katrin Sveg, a woman who comes from Sweden to stay with an older university couple\u2014she’s the daughter of a colleague and suddenly grown up. Newmar’s character throws her hosts’ lives life into chaos by walking around wearing only a towel and asking the husband, a professor, to sire her a child, so the offspring will be the ultimate combination of beauty and brains. (Once again, Newmar reprised the role for the film version<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1961 Newmar took on the role of one of the classic seductresses of the stage, Lola in “Damn Yankees.” As part of a broader, inventive photo shoot that was supposed to be a summer theater preview, LIFE photographer Nina Leen<\/a> had Newman vamping around outdoors in front of scarecrow, and even trying out some baseball poses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suffice to say that Newmar had plenty of practice playing the sex kitten before she ever trained her abilities on Batman and had the Caped Crusader fumbling and bumbling<\/a> like so many other men who shared a scene with her.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Julie Newmar (center) played Stupefyin’ Jones in the Broadway musical L’il Abner, 1956.<\/p>\n

Photo by Gjon Mili\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar starred in the Broadway play “Marriage-Go-Around,” 1958; she won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Katrin Sveg.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar starred in the Broadway play “The Marriage-Go-Round” in 1958; her character Katrin Sveg, was a provocative visitor from Sweden who at times wore only a towel.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar starred in the Broadway play “The Marriage-Go-Round” in 1958; her character Katrin Sveg, was a provocative visitor from Sweden who at times wore only a towel.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar in the Broadway play “The Marriage-Go-Round,” 1958.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar in the Broadway play “The Marriage-Go-Round,” 1958.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar in the Broadway play “The Marriage-Go-Round,” 1958.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar in the Broadway play “The Marriage-Go-Round,” 1958.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar, right, with Claudette Colbert in a scene from the Broadway play “The Marriage-Go-Round,” 1958.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar, left, with Charles Boyer and Claudette Colbert in a scene from the play “The Marriage-Go-Round,” 1958.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar, right, and Charles Boyer in a scene from “The Marriage-Go-Round,” in which her character has given Boyer’s a nude statue that she posed for.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ralph Morse\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar in a photo shoot promoting her performance as Lola in “Damn Yankees,” 1961.<\/p>\n

Photo by Nina Leen\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Julie Newmar in a photo shoot promoting her performance as Lola in “Damn Yankees,” 1961.<\/p>\n

Photo by Nina Leen\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"\"\n
\n

Julie Newmar in a photo shoot promoting her performance as Lola in “Damn Yankees,” 1961.<\/p>\n

Photo by Nina Leen\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"\"\n
\n

Julie Newmar in a photo shoot promoting her performance as Lola in “Damn Yankees,” 1961.<\/p>\n

Photo by Nina Leen\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
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Julie Newmar in a photo shoot promoting her performance as Lola in “Damn Yankees,” 1961.<\/p>\n

Photo by Nina Leen\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julie Newmar gained her most enduring fame by playing Catwoman on the Batman television show of the 1960s, but she had been a presence on the stage and screen long before she ever donned the catsuit. Newmar frequently played a role that was a staple in a certain kind of comedy: the attractive woman who … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5366431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,28],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nBefore She Was Catwoman: Julie Newmar in LIFE - LIFE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/before-she-was-catwoman-julie-newmar-in-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Before She Was Catwoman: Julie Newmar in LIFE - LIFE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Julie Newmar gained her most enduring fame by playing Catwoman on the Batman television show of the 1960s, but she had been a presence on the stage and screen long before she ever donned the catsuit. 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