Biography

Miss Nude Universe twice in a row, in 1970 and 1971, got her a topless non-speaking part in The New Centurions (1972). Started working as a maid for fellow nude model and actress Stella Stevens, went on tour as a strip-dancer for three years. Then she met talent-finder Russ Meyer, with whom she lived on-and-off for 15 years, and who apparently paid for her breast enhancement in 1979. They didn't marry because her first husband, 25 years her senior, wouldn't grant her a divorce (eventually he did, and she subsequently married, and divorced, three times). She appeared in many hardcore productions in the 1980s and 1990s, where she would not perform in explicit sex scenes; she would only say a line or be photographed topless. Her wild beauty, personal charm and sex appeal left her image imprinted on the viewer's mind, often more indelible than the film stars. In her later films she appeared plump, but still attractive. Chris Penn remembered her 44-25-35 dimensions from his earlier film The Wild Life (1984), in which Kitten also danced, and he presented his brother Sean Penn with an eye-popping, erotic performance by Kitten Natividad on the eve of his marriage to Madonna. She underwent a double mastectomy for treatment of breast cancer in October 1999.