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 Ysleta 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 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 filmSupervixens. 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 criticRoger Ebert. Meyer paid for a second breast enhancement and voice lessons to eliminate her accent. Due to the tragic results of her breast enhancement surgeries she deeply regretted what she was talked into 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 has had backlash from burlesque performers because she did hardcore videos. She also founded the private photo and video studio called "The Kitten Klub." Her website is now closed. 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 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
Señora Natividad appeared on The Gong Show in the late 1970s and on The Dollar-Ninety-Eight Beauty Show, both of which, like The Dating Game, were produced by Chuck Barris.
She appeared in a 1980s music video for Mitch Ryder's version of the song "When You Were Mine," which was written and composed by Prince.
In August 2006, Señora Natividad appeared in a Playboy layout, "The History of Bikinis."
Personal life
In October 1999, Natividad underwent double-mastectomy surgery for treatment of breast cancer. After her breasts were removed, it was discovered that the silicone that had been used in her implants when she had undergone her 1969 surgery was of an industrial grade rather than a surgical grade. She subsequently underwent corrective surgery, and this brought her closer to the size that her fans remembered her having been. As of early August 2016, she was living alone with a pit bull and three cats, all of which were featured in the 2005 documentary moviePornstar 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:
