Kitten Natividad

Early years

Francesca Isabel Natividad was born on February 13, 1948, in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, as the eldest of nine children, and she did not speak English until she was 10 years of age; this was in 1958. At that time, her mother married a U.S. citizen and they moved to Texas. Natividad attended high school in El Paso, where she was her senior class president.

After moving to California, Natividad worked as both a maid and a cook for Stella Stevens, and then as a key-punch operator for IBM, before eventually turning to go-go dancing to make ends meet. At this time, she adopted the stage name of "Kitten" Natividad, which came from her shyness. In 1969, at the age of 21 years, she had her first breast implant surgery in Tijuana (where it was legal) on the advice of her agent.

Career

Francesca, by then known mainly as Kitten Natividad, was introduced to Russ Meyer by fellow dancer Shari Eubank, a performer in Meyer's 1975 film Supervixens. Meyer hired her to narrate his movie Up! In it, she was shown sitting nude in a tree, quoting the poetry of Hilda Doolittle, and acting as a Greek chorus to the nonsensical action. Meyer was so impressed he wanted her to star in his next feature, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens, one of several collaborations between Meyer and film critic Roger Ebert. He paid for a second breast enhancement and voice lessons to eliminate her accent. Due to the tragic results of all breast enhancement surgeries she deeply regretted what she was talked in to doing. She left her husband for Meyer during the filming, and they lived together as a couple for most of the next 15 years.

After this, Natividad moved into pornographic modeling, mainly doing glamour or girl-girl shoots with the likes of Candy Samples, Uschi Digard, and Patty Plenty. The appearances increased her dancing income many times over. She incorporated a giant champagne glass into her act, similar to such as Lili St. Cyr had used, accompanied by the Bobby Darin hit "Splish Splash." She appeared as a guest on The Dating Game, one of a number of game shows that Chuck Barris produced.

During the 1980s, Natividad began appearing in pornographic productions, initially limiting her performances to appearing topless. Eventually, however, she graduated to engaging in hardcore performances, usually with younger men and women. She also founded the private photo and video studio called "The Kitten Klub." She famously appeared as a stripper at the bachelor party held by Sean Penn to celebrate his 1985 marriage to Madonna.

In 2001, Natividad starred in the cult film comedy The Double-D Avenger, directed by William Winckler, and in it, she was reunited with fellow Russ Meyer "repertory" stars actress Haji (from Meyer's Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!) and Raven De La Croix from Meyer's film Up! In The Double-D Avenger, Kitten Natividad played Chastity Knott, a woman who becomes a busty costumed crime fighter.

In pop culture

Personal life

In October 1999, Natividad underwent a double mastectomy as part of her breast cancer treatment. Following the removal of her breasts, it was revealed that the silicone used in her 1969 breast augmentation surgery was of industrial rather than surgical grade. She later had corrective surgery to restore her bust to a size more familiar to her fans. As of early August of 2016, she was living alone with a pit bull and three cats, all of which were featured in the 2005 documentary movie Pornstar Pets, and she continued to support herself with sales of her porn videos and phone sex. She appeared in the Adam Rifkin independent feature A Night at the Golden Eagle; according to her, Rifkin remembered recognizing her when their cars were both stopped at the same stoplight 25 years earlier.

Selected filmography

Kitten Natividad has appeared in more than 65 films and video productions. Career highlights and major studio features include: