Women who have cats have long been associated with the concept of spinsterhood. In more recent decades, the concept of a cat lady has been associated with “romance-challenged (often career-oriented) women”. A cat lady may also be an animal hoarder who keeps large numbers of cats without having the ability to properly house or care for them [Wikipedia]……or maybe they just love cats….here are a few Famous Cat Ladies:
Vivien Leigh and New Boy
Vivien Leigh, the English actress who starred in the 1939 adaptation of Gone with the Wind, owned multiple cats throughout her life. She was particularly fond of Siamese cats, and she is quoted as saying, “Once you have kept a Siamese cat you would never have any other kind.” Leigh’s first Siamese, called New Boy, was a gift from her husband, actor Laurence Olivier. New Boy (named after London’s New Theatre) wore a custom collar imported from Paris and appears in many photographs with Leigh. Poo Jones, the seal point Siamese she adopted after New Boy’s death, was Leigh’s favorite cat. He traveled with her everywhere (with his own luggage) and napped in her dressing room whenever she was working onstage or in front of the camera.
Tommy
Clara Barton
Clara Barton, the famous nurse and founder of the Red Cross, was an animal lover with a particular affinity for felines. During the Civil War, Barton earned the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield,” and in appreciation for her selfless work, U.S. Senator Schuyler Colfax sent Barton a kitten. Barton’s most beloved cat was the black and white Tommy, who kept her company for 17 years. A portrait of Tommy painted by Barton’s friend and fellow nurse Antoinette Margot still hangs in the Barton house in Glen Echo, Maryland.
Grace Kelly
In 1948, the Hollywood actress, Grace Kelly was photographed clutching a kitten while working as a part-time model, some eight years before she would become the Princess of Monaco. She possessed a love of cats throughout her life.
Betty Grable
Betty Grable wore her pet cat Whitney around her neck like a fur scarf in 1935. The cat then sniffed her hair. She was seen with Whitney all over town. She was even known to take him into resaurants to dine with her.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Calvin’s grave marker
The famous author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin owned an assertive Maltese cat named after her husband, Calvin. According to Stowe’s friend and fellow writer, Charles Dudley Warner, Calvin “walked into her house one day out of the great unknown and became at once at home.” Stowe was immensely attached to Calvin the cat, and supposedly she even allowed him to perch on her shoulder while she wrote. When Stowe and her husband had to move, she gave Calvin to Warner, and the cat went on to become the star of Warner’s essay, “Calvin (A Study in Character).”
Gina Gershon and Cleo
Here’s Gina Gershon, who’s called herself a “crazy cat lady,” being photographed with her cat Cleo. Later, she released a book about her journey to find the feline, titled In Search of Cleo: How I Lost My Pussy and Found My Mind.
Eartha Kitt and Jinx
In February, 1953, the singer and actress (who would later play Catwoman on television in 1967) was photographed checking her makeup with her cat, Jinx, lounging on her vanity table. It’s reported that Jinx preferred to stick around Eartha’s dressing room even while she was performing onstage
