Lee Meriwether
First let me start this page by answering your objections, No, Lee was not a villain in the 1966 Batman TV show. She WAS Catwoman in the full length feature film however, not in the TV show. So to be correct she is listed under Guest Stars rather than Villains.
In Episodes # 87 - King Tut's Coup and # 88 - Batman's Waterloo, Lee played Lisa Carson, the daughter of a rich Gotham City Socialite who was kidnapped by King Tut.
When looking at Lee, one might say wow she was pretty. Beautiful , good looking, "Babe" also might come to mind. If you had these thoughts you would not be alone. In 1955 Lee was the reigning Miss America !
She was born in Los Angeles and shortly after her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. In the fifth grade, her father was transferred to San Francisco. When she went to college, she was nominated by a frat house for a beauty contest and entered which she never would have done on her own. She won the titles - Miss San Francisco, Miss California and then Miss America in 1955 (she also won the swimsuit competition, meow ). Sadly prior to the Miss America contest, her father died and she contemplated not going to Atlantic City. With encouragement from her mother who reminded her of the scholarships available to the winner and that her father had wanted her to compete, Lee was a trooper and went to see Burt Parks and crew. Well win she did and that opened doors for Lee later down the road.
She began her career in stage and screen doing a stint on The Today Show (52) and in New Your, she took the Miss America scholarships and furthered her studies in acting studying with pageant scholarships to study acting with the famed teacher Lee Strasburg. The roles started coming in for this talented beauty, her first role in a movie was in the Sci Fi flick - 4D Man in 1959. TV was knocking and she appeared in many guest appearance in popular TV Shows, - Perry Mason, My Three Sons, The F.B.I., The Man from UNCLE, F Troup, The Fugitive, among others.
In 1966, Lee went to an audition for a full length feature film that was based on a top TV show at the time, Batman. Julie Newmar could not fit it into her schedule so they needed someone to fill the curvaceous cat suit. During the audition she curled up on the couch , purred, and licked her paws (hands) to show she had all the right cat moves and she did indeed win the part.
Here's a great photo of her as Catwoman
After her appearance in the movie Lee won the role of Dr. Ann MacGregor in the Irwin Allen TV series 'The Time Tunnel " in 1966. An Irwin Allen production, they shared the same consoles seen in the Batcave! She also made her guest appearance in Batman the same year.
She appeared in numerous TV Shows and movies - Star Trek (69) Mission Impossible (69) Land of the Giants (69) The New Andy Griffith Show (71) and in 1973 she won the part of Betty Jones in the long running TV show, "Barnaby Jones" with Buddy Ebsen from 1973 to 1980. She was unique a true beauty that actually could act !
She continued in her acting and many TV appearances and movies followed, CHIPS (77) Murder She Wrote (84) She was Lilly Munster in the TV series , The New Munsters which aired from 88 to 91
She was a regular on All My Children from 1996 to 1998 as RN Ruth Brent Martin.
She still is active in the entertainment field, She continues to tour with her husband of 14 years, Marshall Borden performing in theaters across the country. She also appears on Batman reunion shows and reunions, This is one reason the role she played in Batman is a bit blurred, she is always shown with the photo of her in the cat costume so most think she was the third Catwoman on the show. Ah well, TV show or movie she certainly did the part justice.
Lee Meriwether is nothing but a class act, from Miss America in 1955 to TV in 2000, she is as beautiful as always and we hope to see more of her in the future.
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