For many New Yorkers, Kitty Carlisle Hart has long been the very embodiment of graciousness and elegance. Her charming manners have enhanced her efforts as one of our city's most ardent spokespersons on behalf of the arts, particularly during the 20 years she chaired the New York State Council of the Arts. She has also been a strong advocate for women.

Mrs. Hart's own career provides a shining role model for women and has enriched us all. She is an actress and singer with a long record of achievements in the arts and in public service. Born in New Orleans, she was educated in Switzerland, then at the Sorbonne and at the London School of Economics. She studied acting in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

It is our good fortune that she based her performing career in our city. Mrs. Hart's first Broadway appearance was in Champagne Sec. Her most recent was in the 1984 revival of On Your Toes. In the world of opera, she created the role of Lucretia in the American premier of Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1967 as Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus.

Mrs. Hart's film appearances include a starring role in the Marx Brothers' classic, A Night at the Opera, two films with Bing Crosby, She Loves Me Not and Here is My Heart, and later, roles in Woody Allen's Radio Days and in the film version of Six Degrees of Separation. She was a regular panelist on the television show, To Tell the Truth, for 15 years. Mrs. Hart has also lectured nationwide.

In 1971, Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed her vice chairman of the New York State Council of the Arts. Governor Carey appointed her chairman in 1976 and Governor Cuomo reappointed her. She was the third person to hold that post and is now chairman emeritus. In 1990, she was appointed to the Independent Commission to review the National Endowment for the Arts. The next year, President George Bush presented her with the National Medal of Arts. She holds an Honorary Doctorate of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music.

Here in New York, in addition to her superb work for the Council, she has served as a board member of Empire State College and as an Honorary Trustee of both The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. She is a board member of the Center for Arts Education, dedicated to bringing the arts into our public schools.

Her concern for women's role in society led to her appointment as chairman of the Statewide Conference of Women and later as special consultant to Governor Nelson Rockefeller on Women's Opportunities. She moderated a television series called Women on the Move. Recently, she resumed her singing career. Mrs. Hart, whose late husband was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright- director Moss Hart, is the author of Kitty: An Autobiography.