KITTY CARLISLE HART is an actress and singer with a long record of achievement in the arts and public service. She was born in New Orleans and educated in Europe; Mrs. Hart attended school in Switzerland and went to the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics. She studied acting in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Kitty Carlisle Hart's first appearance on Broadway was in Champagne Sec. She most recently was seen in the 1984 revival of On Your Toes. In opera she created the role of Lucretia in the American premiere of Benjamin's Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, and she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1967 as Prince Orlofsky in Die Flerdermaus. Kitty Carlisle Hart's film appearances include a starring role in the classic A Night at the Opera with the Marx Brothers and two films with Bing Crosby, She Loves Me Not and Here Is My Heart. Later film appearances include Radio Days and Six Degrees of Separation. In recent years she has lectured extensively throughout the United States, and was a regular panelist in the long-running television show "To Tell the Truth" for fifteen years.

Kitty Carlisle Hart is Chairman Emeritus of the New York State Council on the Arts. Mrs. Hart served as Chairman from 1976 until 1996. Appointed in 1971 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller as Vice Chairman, Mrs. Hart was appointed Chairman by Governor Carey in 1976 and was re-appointed by Governor Cuomo. Mrs. Hart is the third person to occupy the post since the Council's founding in 1960.

While participating in a wide range of public service activities, Mrs. Hart has taken a particular interest in the role of women in society. She chaired the Statewide Conference of Women and was later appointed Special Consultant to Governor Nelson Rockefeller on Women's Opportunities. She moderated a television series called "Women on the Move." Kitty Carlisle Hart performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a series entitled Art of New York and has now resumed her singing career.

She was appointed to the 1990 Independent Commission to review the National Endowment for the Arts. Mrs. Hart received the National Medal of Arts from President George Bush on July 9, 1991. She has also received appointments to the Visiting Committee of the Board of Overseers of Harvard's Music School and to the Visiting Committee for the Arts at MIT. Mrs. Hart has also served as a member of the board of the Empire State College, and as an associate Fellow of the Timothy Dwight College, Yale University. She is now an Honorary Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. Mrs. Hart received an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree from the Curtis Institute of Music.

Mrs. Hart is the author of Kitty: An Autobiography. She was married to Pulitzer Prize winning playwright-director Moss Hart, who died in 1961. The couple had two children, Cathy and Christopher. Mrs. Hart now has three grandchildren.