20 Things You Didn't Know About Catwoman
10. Catwoman's Mentor Later Became Joker's Mother
Frances Conroy's Ophelia Powers serves as an Alfred Pennyworth-style mentor to Halle Berry's Patience Phillips in Catwoman.
A female academic who was forced out in favour of her male colleagues, Ophelia is an expert in history and, in particular, on the lore of cats and their relationship to women. She even owns (or at least cares for) an Egyptian Mau cat, Midnight, which brings Patience (and others) back to life.
Her role had originally been intended for the first onscreen Catwoman, Julie Newmar, who had flirted devilishly with Adam's West Batman in the 1960s TV series; however, Newmar declined the role.
Later, Conroy accepted the role of Penny Fleck, mother to Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck in 2019's Joker after Frances McDormand had declined that role. After that film, her performance alongside Halle Berry in Catwoman largely went unmentioned.
One of the interesting unexplored points in Catwoman, however, is whether Ophelia Powers may actually be a cat woman herself...