Biography

Julia Chalene Newmeyer was born on August 16, 1933, in Los Angeles, California, the eldest of three children. Her father, Don, was a one-time professional football player (the Los Angeles Buccaneers (1926)), her mother, Helene Jesmer, was a star of the 1920 Follies and later became a fashion designer under the professional name of Chalene. From an early age, Julie studied piano, dance, and classical ballet. She graduated from high school at the age of 15, and spent a year touring Europe with her mother and one of her two brothers. She became a prima ballerina for the Los Angeles Opera. She attended UCLA studying classical piano, philosophy, and French.

Julie went to New York and tried out for Broadway musicals; in 1955, she made her Broadway debut as the ballerina in "Silk Stockings." She won acclaim for her role as Stupefyin' Jones in "Li'l Abner." Though audiences and critics alike were stupefied by her good looks, that was not the compliment that Julie wanted.

Julie wanted to be known for her comedy; as she once told "The New York Times" in an interview, "Tell me I'm beautiful, it's nothing. Tell me I'm intellectual - I know it.Tell me I'm funny and it's the greatest compliment in the world anyone could give me." She had beauty, brains and a fantastic sense of humor. Promoting her various Broadway and off-Broadway show appearances, she often posed as a pin-up girl. Making the transition to TV, Julie appeared in Rod Serling's science fiction TV series The Twilight Zone (1959), playing Miss Devlin (devil). As physical perfection, Julie was perfect to play Rhoda the Robot in the sitcom TV series My Living Doll (1964); it had an enthusiastic cult following. In 1966, urged on by her friends she tried out for, and was cast, as the Catwoman (a character that she had never heard of before) in the wildly popular TV series Batman (1966). Because of a film commitment, Julie was unavailable to play the Catwoman in season 3 of the TV series (her role was taken over by Eartha Kitt in three back-to-back episodes).

Julie was very busy in the 1960s and 1970s, making guest appearances in many TV series and several made-for-TV movies. She toured the country in the stage productions of "Damn Yankees" and "Dames at Sea", among others. Becoming an entrepreneur, in 1977 Newmar turned up in "People" magazine wearing her new invention, Nudemar pantyhose. In the 1980s, she appeared in nine films while she was busy raising her son and working in the real estate business. Julie went back to UCLA to take a few real estate courses. In 1991, she toured in a stage production of "The Women". Still very active and very beautiful, she occasionally has appeared at fan conventions.
- IMDb mini biography by: kdhaisch@aol.com