Latest news with #CatCon
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Pet Projects: Q&A with CatCon Founder Susan Michals
Every summer, thousands of cat lovers, artists, and feline celebrities descend on Pasadena for CatCon, a one-of-a-kind convention that's part art show, part adoption fair, and part community celebration of all things cat. Founded by journalist and producer Susan Michals, CatCon has grown in ten years from niche event into the country's biggest gathering for fans of felines. We talked with Susan to talk about the evolution of CatCon, the changing image of the 'cat person,' and why supporting small businesses and animal welfare is at the heart of it all. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Sure, I worked for years at E on shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Live from the Red Carpet. I was lead producer for promos for 160 countries outside of the US. At the same time, I like to say you know this is LA, everybody has kind of a side hustle these days, two or three jobs. I really wanted to be a journalist, and I worked for Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Huffington Post. But it wasn't my ticket out of my day job, because, as a freelance journalist it doesn't really pay that well. So I moved from celebrity into the art world because I have an art background. And the first show I created was Cat Art Show. That debuted in 2014 with established artists—my headliners were Shepard Fairey, Mark Wright and Gary Baseman, all LA-based artists. And then I had emerging artists as well. 4000 people showed up at that show, and I realized that this was a demographic of cat lovers that was not being represented. At that point, the only thing on the feline landscape was really the breeder shows, sort of the best of breed, the Westminster Dog Show kind of thing. But regular cat fans were not being represented. Many of these fans were a younger demographic. And so I thought, you know what? I want to do a bigger show, like a convention that would appeal to them, and I needed to curate it like an art show. I decided I wanted to do information, education and entertainment. Because what I found is that people really wanted to learn a lot about their animals, and you can make even a topic like 'clipping your cat's nails' sexy if you have the right speaker, the right title, and a dynamic person on stage to talk about what this means. The first year, there was only three of us working on this. I curated all the exhibitors. I had people apply. I put together a workshop schedule, a celebri-cat schedule. I wanted it to be immersive as well, and so I thought up activations and I pitched sponsors and sort of brought it all together. I will say is that my experience working in production and as a journalist really lent itself to putting on a convention, because it is a production in its own right. I brought on people that had done trade shows and worked Comic Con and the Toy Fair to really help me build this show from the ground up, and they are still with me to this day. It's very important for me to offer opportunity to small businesses. Very, very important. It goes back to the Cat Art Show of emerging and established artists. Big sponsors help to support us and finance the show, but it's very important to me in this curatorial process of picking exhibitors to support those that are on Etsy. Those that are small businesses and give them the opportunity to showcase their wares and their talents. And it was also very important for us to give back to the city of Pasadena and Altadena. We have been, as a community, ravaged by the recent fires, and Pasadena Humane is still boarding animals that their owners have not found a place to live. They're continuing to board and support the people of this community by taking care of their animals. Pasadena Humane and the city of Pasadena have been so good to us. Los Angeles in general for the past 10 years, but specifically Pasadena since 2017. There's this—and it's still very present—this negative association with cat ownership, the crazy cat lady. Cat ladies are 60 plus, hoarders, spinsters, Grey Gardens, Dickensian characters. They live with 1000 cats, smell like cat pee, and are unmarried, right? I will tell you that through the years I get asked two questions every time I say I run a cat convention. The first question is, 'How many cats do you have?' And I say one, and people are shocked. I have one cat and one dog. And a second question that I get asked, which I think is really actually rude, but it's what I get asked, is, 'Are you married?' Every time I say I am between husbands at the moment, but that's not what defines me. And what I found is that, over the years, with CatCon, I think we've made a significant dent in what it means to be a cat person. It's when you put the word crazy in front of cat lady that has the negative connotation. When you say Catwoman versus cat lady, what do you think of? Catwoman—strong and fierce and independent, right? Sexy, right? When you look at the word cat lady, it's the exact opposite—somebody that you don't want to be with, somebody that isn't empowered. What we've seen over the years with CatCon is the rise of a different cat lady. It is a combination of empowerment, passion, enthusiasm, and independence. Our convention is not just cat food and cat litter. We had Petfinder there talking about adoptions. We have people that are bringing the latest in cat tech in water fountains and smart litter boxes and AI and all these different things. We have people that are creating clothing for humans that is cat-centric. We had a fashion show on Saturday called Project Catwalk, where people were given the idea of elevating the cat lady. What I love about CatCon is: there's no dog park for the cat person, right? There's no place to commune, and it's a community of people that come together to share one single purpose: that they love kitties. Animals give us such wonderful unconditional love and it's my job to create something year after year that people want to come back for. There are so many celebrities that are cat lovers and we're right here in Los Angeles so we get a lot of visits from the stars. We had Jake Johnson there. Matt Groening from The Simpsons was there. Lisa Loeb was there. Alexandra Shipp, Seth Green. David Dastmalchian was there from MurderBot and Dexter. He came with his family, and Gilles Marini comes all the time. It's amazing to see them show up and support the event, to help raise our profile and get the word out. With the advent of the adventure cat, of which we had a number at CatCon, it's no longer that cats are just indoor creatures. Now, I would say the majority of them are still very much indoor creatures, but we are seeing this definitive will see hotels that say pet friendly and you have to see if they take cats specifically but a lot more have started to. Hyatt, Sheraton, case by case, they're starting to accept cats, because we are seeing this uptick in people taking their cats with them when they travel. The adventure cats that come to CatCon are like Hollywood child stars. They've been doing this since they were little, so they're used to this sort of thing, the crowds and the attention. We have all these kitties this year who did meet and greets, and they average 100 meet and greets per hour. We had two cats, Sponge Cake and Buttercream. They travel with their owners all over the world in a backpack. They just got back from Venice and they've got 2 million followers. What I know about Hollywood and sort of the way we live now is you can do a phenomenal job, but every year you've got to up the ante. And I welcome that challenge, because I want to keep it fresh. And that's why I work on CatCon all year round, because I'm looking for what's going to make this audience come back. What's going to make them happy, and what's going to help them make a better life for them and their pets. I spoke at South by Southwest in 2019, and I really loved it. And I would really love to do a TED Talk eventually. I love public speaking. And I thought, you know, there's really nothing out there for cat people in—I mean, sure you can watch TikTok videos, you can watch a YouTube video, but how do I continue to bring the community together in person? So what I decided to do was to create this sort of salon environment called The Meow Factor. We did something about my—basically, my cat's a celebrity, and how I'm dealing with that. We did something on cat portraiture. And then we did something with Nathan the Cat Lady and Sterling the Trap King about trap neuter return. I'm creating more of a salon setting. It's not 300 people, it's 50 people so there's better engagement and opportunity to ask more questions. I've already done it at Annenberg Pet Space, and it's something that I'm looking at branching out across the country. Once I get a little bit of rest after CatCon, I'm definitely going to continue on my kitty trajectory. It's going to be sometime next year. January 2024 was 10 years, and I do it every two, so at some point next year. I don't know where it'll be or precisely when, but stay tuned!
The Guardian
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Cuteness overload': LA finds joy in a weekend of ‘Disneyland for cat people'
It's been a difficult year in southern California, with deadly wildfires, immigration raids that have that left communities in fear and thousands of soldiers deployed to Los Angeles. In downtown Pasadena over the weekend, though, the region received a badly needed dose of joy. On Saturday and Sunday, thousands of cat lovers flocked to the city for a weekend dedicated to all things feline. Inside the city convention center, there were 200 kittens waiting to be adopted and hundreds of vendors selling everything a cat lover could dream of: treats, charmingly kitschy tees, crocheted beds and medieval period-inspired portraits of regal cats. This is CatCon, or as one guest described it: 'Disneyland for cat people.' 'It's cuteness overload,' said Bianca Chapman, who has attended the conference for the past four years. 'I can't stop smiling. I leave here with my face sore.' There is no event for the cat-inclined quite like CatCon, which brings together products, educational workshops, the celebrities of the kitty world – human and feline – and, of course, cat lovers themselves. Here the question is not Do you have a cat?, but How many cats do you have? More than 10,000 people attended the two-day event and tickets sold out for both days. An entire weekend dedicated wholly to cats seemed particularly special for people this year given the hardships across the Los Angeles area in recent months. 'CatCon is a place where you can close out the outside world, and commune with people over our love of animals,' said Susan Michals, the event's founder. 'It's really a happy place, and it's just good fun celebrating our kitty friends.' This year marked the expo's 10th anniversary. Michals, a former journalist and TV producer, founded the event in 2015 as cat fever was taking the US by storm with iconic cats such as Lil Bub, Grumpy cat and Nala garnering millions of followers online and endless cat memes proliferating on seemingly every corner of the internet. A lifelong cat lover, Michals had already founded Cat Art Show and saw that event drew a younger audience who deeply loved cats and didn't fit the spinster persona so commonly associated with feline enthusiasts in popular culture. 'There's still that negative connotation. I realized there was a sort of an underserved and untapped population of cat lovers that were not being represented,' she said. 'And that's how CatCon was born.' CatCon opened its doors in 2015 with Michals aiming to deliver a curated event with workshops, meet-and-greets and hip new products. Ultimately, Michals said, her goal has been to elevate what it means to be a cat person, debunking the cat lady myth while giving back to shelters and advocacy groups. 'It's based in community. There was no IRL dog park for the cat enthusiast, because cats are cats,' she said as her own cat, the 20-year-old Miss Kitty Pretty Girl, meowed in the background, as if on cue. The event has further exploded in popularity amid a pandemic-fueled rise in pet ownership. Many visitors are repeat attendees who come each year with friends or family. CatCon is diverse with a mix of all genders, races and ages. Most people wore something cat-themed, such as crocheted tails and sparkly cat ears, and, in at least one case, a full leather cat woman costume. Sophia Zavala, dressed in cheetah-print pants, cat ears and a shirt from last year's event that reads 'stop staring at my kitties', has come for the last three years with her best friend to check out the latest products. 'I think it allows the crazy cat ladies to come together. I get to hang out with my best friend without our husbands,' she said with a chuckle. 'We spend with no limits. Both our husbands made us save up for today.' For mother and daughter Dulce Figueroa and Angely Mata, who have attended multiple times since 2017, the event was a bonding experience and a chance to be among fellow cat people. 'You know everybody here loves cats,' Figueroa said. 'It's just fun.' On the other side of the 55,000 sq ft exhibition hall, Tamara Bencivenga and her son, nephew and their friend stood at the front of a long line. They were there to meet Sponge Cake and Buttercream, two extremely popular globetrotting Scottish folds. It was a union years in the making for the LA-area family. They had tried to meet the famous felines in Las Vegas and New York without success, but on Saturday, Bencivenga and the children, wearing cat ears and light blue shirts adorned with an ode to the cats and their owner, got the chance to pet them and say hello. 'They seemed a little shy, but they just sat still and let us pet them,' Bencivenga said afterward, as the children gleefully recalled how 'cute and chunky' they were. Nearby, another celebrity feline known as 'Cat Named Calvin' was attracting a line of fans. Besides the handful of celebrity cats, there are no actual felines roaming CatCon (people aren't permitted to bring the animals), and that made one corner particularly popular. The Pasadena Humane Society, which has continued to house animals displaced by this year's fires, was running an adoption village featuring 200 kittens. People waited in some cases upwards of 30 minutes to greet the cats. On Saturday alone, more than 100 were adopted. Each time, a staffer would ring a bell and cheers would follow across the hall. James Madrid took home a tiny, nimble, yet to be named black kitten as a companion for his four-year-old cat, Momo. His girlfriend had suggested they go to CatCon, and he was eager to join. 'I love cats, man,' he said. 'I grew up with cats. I come from a cat family.' Bianca Chapman, the owner of three black cats named for Egyptian queens, has attended CatCon for the last four years, and makes a point to come alone because she always meets people. Along with the cat ears and tails, there are no shortage of cheeky political statements, such as shirts reading 'proud parent of a gay cat' or 'childless cat lady' and even an almost familiar-looking red hat with the slogan 'Make cats safe again'. J Morrison, a Brooklyn-based artist and longtime vendor at CatCon, sells art based on his own Siamese cat with slogans such as 'Kittens against Trump'. His booth was popular and often crowded on Saturday, something he attributed to a humorous message that resonated with people. There is a spirit of diversity and inclusion at CatCon that is special, Chapman said, particularly in this moment. People feel accepted here, she said, wearing cat ears and a small stuffed cat on her shoulder, and shelters and stray cats are showcased and celebrated. 'It's a beautiful response to what's happening right now,' she said. 'When you have a pet, you can't help but be tender. I think people are yearning for that. 'CatCon is showing you can be tender and goofy at any age. People are still finding joy – and even activism in their joy.'
The Guardian
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Cuteness overload': LA finds joy in a weekend of ‘Disneyland for cat people'
It's been a difficult year in southern California, with deadly wildfires, immigration raids that have that left communities in fear and thousands of soldiers deployed to Los Angeles. In downtown Pasadena over the weekend, though, the region received a badly needed dose of joy. On Saturday and Sunday, thousands of cat lovers flocked to the city for a weekend dedicated to all things feline. Inside the city convention center, there were 200 kittens waiting to be adopted and hundreds of vendors selling everything a cat lover could dream of: treats, charmingly kitschy tees, crocheted beds and medieval period-inspired portraits of regal cats. This is CatCon, or as one guest described it: 'Disneyland for cat people.' 'It's cuteness overload,' said Bianca Chapman, who has attended the conference for the past four years. 'I can't stop smiling. I leave here with my face sore.' There is no event for the cat-inclined quite like CatCon, which brings together products, educational workshops, the celebrities of the kitty world – human and feline – and, of course, cat lovers themselves. Here the question is not Do you have a cat?, but How many cats do you have? More than 10,000 people attended the two-day event and tickets sold out for both days. An entire weekend dedicated wholly to cats seemed particularly special for people this year given the hardships across the Los Angeles area in recent months. 'CatCon is a place where you can close out the outside world, and commune with people over our love of animals,' said Susan Michals, the event's founder. 'It's really a happy place, and it's just good fun celebrating our kitty friends.' This year marked the expo's 10th anniversary. Michals, a former journalist and TV producer, founded the event in 2015 as cat fever was taking the US by storm with iconic cats such as Lil Bub, Grumpy cat and Nala garnering millions of followers online and endless cat memes proliferating on seemingly every corner of the internet. A lifelong cat lover, Michals had already founded Cat Art Show and saw that event drew a younger audience who deeply loved cats and didn't fit the spinster persona so commonly associated with feline enthusiasts in popular culture. 'There's still that negative connotation. I realized there was a sort of an underserved and untapped population of cat lovers that were not being represented,' she said. 'And that's how CatCon was born.' CatCon opened its doors in 2015 with Michals aiming to deliver a curated event with workshops, meet-and-greets and hip new products. Ultimately, Michals said, her goal has been to elevate what it means to be a cat person, debunking the cat lady myth while giving back to shelters and advocacy groups. 'It's based in community. There was no IRL dog park for the cat enthusiast, because cats are cats,' she said as her own cat, the 20-year-old Miss Kitty Pretty Girl, meowed in the background, as if on cue. The event has further exploded in popularity amid a pandemic-fueled rise in pet ownership. Many visitors are repeat attendees who come each year with friends or family. CatCon is diverse with a mix of all genders, races and ages. Most people wore something cat-themed, such as crocheted tails and sparkly cat ears, and, in at least one case, a full leather cat woman costume. Sophia Zavala, dressed in cheetah-print pants, cat ears and a shirt from last year's event that reads 'stop staring at my kitties', has come for the last three years with her best friend to check out the latest products. 'I think it allows the crazy cat ladies to come together. I get to hang out with my best friend without our husbands,' she said with a chuckle. 'We spend with no limits. Both our husbands made us save up for today.' For mother and daughter Dulce Figueroa and Angely Mata, who have attended multiple times since 2017, the event was a bonding experience and a chance to be among fellow cat people. 'You know everybody here loves cats,' Figueroa said. 'It's just fun.' On the other side of the 55,000 sq ft exhibition hall, Tamara Bencivenga and her son, nephew and their friend stood at the front of a long line. They were there to meet Sponge Cake and Buttercream, two extremely popular globetrotting Scottish folds. It was a union years in the making for the LA-area family. They had tried to meet the famous felines in Las Vegas and New York without success, but on Saturday, Bencivenga and the children, wearing cat ears and light blue shirts adorned with an ode to the cats and their owner, got the chance to pet them and say hello. 'They seemed a little shy, but they just sat still and let us pet them,' Bencivenga said afterward, as the children gleefully recalled how 'cute and chunky' they were. Nearby, another celebrity feline known as 'Cat Named Calvin' was attracting a line of fans. Besides the handful of celebrity cats, there are no actual felines roaming CatCon (people aren't permitted to bring the animals), and that made one corner particularly popular. The Pasadena Humane Society, which has continued to house animals displaced by this year's fires, was running an adoption village featuring 200 kittens. People waited in some cases upwards of 30 minutes to greet the cats. On Saturday alone, more than 100 were adopted. Each time, a staffer would ring a bell and cheers would follow across the hall. James Madrid took home a tiny, nimble, yet to be named black kitten as a companion for his four-year-old cat, Momo. His girlfriend had suggested they go to CatCon, and he was eager to join. 'I love cats, man,' he said. 'I grew up with cats. I come from a cat family.' Bianca Chapman, the owner of three black cats named for Egyptian queens, has attended CatCon for the last four years, and makes a point to come alone because she always meets people. Along with the cat ears and tails, there are no shortage of cheeky political statements, such as shirts reading 'proud parent of a gay cat' or 'childless cat lady' and even an almost familiar-looking red hat with the slogan 'Make cats safe again'. J Morrison, a Brooklyn-based artist and longtime vendor at CatCon, sells art based on his own Siamese cat with slogans such as 'Kittens against Trump'. His booth was popular and often crowded on Saturday, something he attributed to a humorous message that resonated with people. There is a spirit of diversity and inclusion at CatCon that is special, Chapman said, particularly in this moment. People feel accepted here, she said, wearing cat ears and a small stuffed cat on her shoulder, and shelters and stray cats are showcased and celebrated. 'It's a beautiful response to what's happening right now,' she said. 'When you have a pet, you can't help but be tender. I think people are yearning for that. 'CatCon is showing you can be tender and goofy at any age. People are still finding joy – and even activism in their joy.'
Entrepreneur
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Entrepreneur
Why This Ex-TV Producer Walked Away From Hollywood to Rewrite the 'Cat Lady' Story
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. The term "cat lady" has long carried a negative connotation. "When I started, everyone had a fixed idea of what a cat person looked like," says CatCon founder Susan Michaels. "Very Eleanor Abernathy from The Simpsons — a hoarder, a spinster, 60-plus." That stereotype is just one example in a long history of cat-centric mockery aimed at women, from early 20th-century anti-suffrage campaigns featuring hissing cats to the rhetoric seen in recent presidential elections. With CatCon, the world's biggest cat-focused pop culture event, Michaels is flipping that script. Through a three-pronged approach — information, education, and entertainment — she's transforming a tired trope into an empowering narrative…and a lucrative business opportunity. Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success. Nine lives (and careers) Before she became the full-time connoisseur of content creator cats, Susan Michaels built an impressive career in media. As the saying goes, everyone in L.A. has five different jobs — and Michaels was no exception. She spent time as a line producer and casting director. She worked as a journalist for major outlets Vanity Fair and The Wall Street Journal. She even spent 12 years at E! Entertainment, contributing to shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Live From the Red Carpet, where she helped bridge cultural differences for global audiences. "I'd shoot promos with the Kardashians, write scripts, direct, and work with editors to shape the final product," Michaels recalls. She later joined a French production company, using her connections to bring in talent like Dustin Hoffman and Paula Wagner for various film projects. Two of the films she worked on even premiered at Cannes, though, unfortunately, both screenings coincided with the first and second years of CatCon, which always takes precedence for Michaels. Related: 3 Ways Female Entrepreneurs Can Shatter Stereotypes While Also Empowering Others Meow or never In 2014, feline fanatic Susan Michaels founded the Cat Art Show to merge her lifelong love of cats with her deep background in pop culture. Headlined by artist and OBEY founder Shepard Fairey, the show drew over 4,000 attendees, mostly younger, trend-conscious fans. "They didn't fit into how people think of 'cat ladies,'" Michaels says. "There was this confluence of cat and pop culture. It was sort of the advent of the cat meme at that time." Realizing she had tapped into something bigger, Michaels started Ticket Out!, the parent company behind what would soon become CatCon. "I knew I was onto something with the Cat Art Show," Michaels says. "But it wasn't sustainable enough to quit a salaried, benefit-filled 12-year job at E!, where I loved working." At first, she split time between the two, handling cat con business on weekends. Drawing on the pop culture savvy she honed at E!, she launched the first official CatCon in 2015, hosted by Ben Huh of the Cheezburger Network — the site behind some of the most iconic cat memes of the 2010s. "He gave a great lecture on the differences between cats and dogs," recalls Michaels, a self-described "bipetual." The inaugural event was a rousing success — Michaels shares that they actually ran out of kittens in the adoption section and had to go out and find more from local shelters. Unfortunately, this victory came with an ultimatum. "My creative director sat me down and said, 'Susan, you have to choose — CatCon or E!,'" Michaels shares. "I was about to turn 50, and the idea of losing my health insurance and taking that leap was daunting." Nevertheless, Michael overcame her fears and turned her full attention towards cat con, in a decision that would forever alter the future of felines everywhere. Related: 3 Ways Gen Z CEOs are Crushing Stereotypes Purrrrsuasive marketing A decade later, CatCon has become an institution in the "catmmunity," amassing over 850,000 followers across platforms. While many copycats have popped up over the years (pun intended), founder Susan Michaels believes CatCon remains the gold standard. "We've seen other conventions come and go over the past 10 years," Michaels says. "But nobody has done what we've done at this scale." According to Michaels, what makes CatCon so successful is consistent engagement with the audience. "People always ask, 'What do you do the rest of the year?'" Michaels says. In addition to CatCon, she runs the biennial Cat Art Show under the CatCon Presents umbrella and has recently launched Meow Factor — a TED Talk-style lecture series for cat lovers. She also spends time attending other conventions in the 'animal sector,' keeping tabs on what's working and what's not. But what really sets CatCon apart is its sponsor consultancy. "We don't just hand sponsors a booth," she explains. "We provide a full CatCon consultancy—guiding them on how to connect with our audience, sharing data from surveys, and continuing the relationship before, during, and after the event." Michaels likens CatCon to a "startup incubator and talent resource," helping famous felines — and their humans — reach their full potential. "Small businesses are extremely important to me, and I also really love working closely with the sponsors to help them tap into our audience to get that maximum roi," she says. "What a lot of cons are missing is the cultivating of a relationship. And that's where I think we're a standout. Does it cost money? Sure. Does it pay off? Absolutely." One of her key services is matching celebrity cats with brands to drive booth traffic and engagement. Over the years, CatCon has partnered with companies like Mars Petcare, Purina, 3M, Kendo and NBCUniversal. "They'll use the celebrity cats for promo reels leading up to CatCon," she explains. "Say you've got a booth and want to work with Nathan the Cat Lady — he'll come to me, and I'll broker the deal." It's not just pet food and cat litter either. CatCon features everything from smart vacuums to home security to car companies like Chevy. "It's about the full experience of modern pet ownership," Michaels explains. Through this hands-on approach, Michaels has maintained control of CatCon's narrative, protected creators from malicious actors, and ensured sponsors receive genuine value. "I'm a conduit. A manager. An agent," she says. She may have left the red carpet behind, but true to the L.A. stereotype, Michaels still wears five hats at once.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Original Catwoman Julie Newmar, 91, Seen During a Rare Public Appearance in L.A.
Julie Newmar, best known for originating the role of Catwoman, was spotted out in Los Angeles on May 15, marking a rare public appearance for the 91-year-old actress Newmar has been quite private in recent years, only making rare fan appearances at fan events and posting on social media Her latest public outing comes shortly after she shared a post on Instagram stating that she "was depressed" until reading fan comments on a clip of her as CatwomanThe original Catwoman is still on the prowl! Julie Newmar, the actress best known for originating the role of Catwoman in the '60s Batman TV series, was spotted out in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 15, marking a rare public appearance for the star. During the outing, Newmar, 91, drove a motorized scooter on the street and, to fans most accustomed to her iconic black catsuits, was practically unrecognizable in a light-colored, casual ensemble. The actress wore gray sweatpants, a pair of fuzzy slippers and a blue button-up shirt. She also wore a wide-brimmed hat, which kept the L.A. sun out of her eyes. Though Newmar does not step out often, the 91-year-old is somewhat active on her Instagram account, where she last posted on May 13. 'Our most glorious garden yet,' the star recently captioned several photos of the flowers blossoming at what appeared to be her L.A. home. Earlier this month, she also posted the link to a clip from her turn as Catwoman alongside Adam West in Batman, which ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1968. (Though Newmar only starred in a total of 13 episodes, they are some of the most iconic, with four taking the top spots on IMDB's top-rated Batman episode list.) 'I was depressed -- then I read what people had to say about me in the comment section. Oh My!!' Newmar wrote alongside a screenshot of the clip, a scene in which Catwoman attempts to seduce the titular hero, played by West. 'She's amazing,' one top comment on the video reads. 'I loved her as a child, and as an adult I can appreciate her comedic genius. Such an incredible presence ❤️.' 'Julie Newmar is by far my favorite Catwoman!' another person wrote. 'She had such a mesmerizing presence everytime she was on screen ❤️.' Prior to her sighting in L.A., Newmar's most recent public appearances — though few and far between — have all been connected to her Catwoman roots. In June 2024, she attended a fan event, where she playfully sported cat ears while signing autographs for admirers. In 2017, she also made appearances at fan events, including Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con and CatCon, where she also nodded to the beloved antihero with a cat-inspired ensemble. While reflecting on her career in an interview with Bring Me the News, Newmar previously said, "I'm realizing that through all the shows I've done — the television, film and stage — all the mediums I've worked in, Catwoman's costume was the one that allowed me to tell the story through my body." "The words were brilliant, and funny on top of that," she told the outlet. "The producer hired the right people to do all the lighting, to do this, that and the other, and it was the right time in the right decade. It all worked." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Newmar slipped back into her catsuit — figuratively, at least — decades after Batman first aired, voicing the iconic feline in animated movies Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs. Two-Face, which were released in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Since Newmar first originated the role in the '60s, some of the biggest names in Hollywood have donned the iconic black catsuit, including Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry and Anne Hathaway. In Matt Reeves' The Batman in 2022, Zoë Kravitz played the iconic anti-hero alongside Robert Pattinson as the title character. Newmar's non-Catwoman film credits, meanwhile, include a starring role in another '60s series, My Living Doll, an appearance in George Michael's 'Too Funky' music video and, perhaps most famously, a cameo as herself in 1995's To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. Read the original article on People
