Yvonne Craig (1937-2015)
Yvonne Craig, best known for playing Batgirl in the 1960's Batman TV series, has sadly passed away. We pay tribute to her significant career.
While Craig originally trained to be a ballet dancer, her acting career took off in the late 50's and she never looked back. Her first cinematic role was in the youthsploitation noir Eighteen and Anxious (1957), which was about a young woman becoming (shock! horror!) pregnant much to her parents' dismay. With a typically over-the-top, amusing tagline, "Parents may be shocked, but youth will understand!", and a retrospectively ludicrous approach to teenage pregnancy, the film at least offered the actress the chance to do more work and get her name out there.
By 1958, she had already landed a role in crime series Perry Mason, in an episode which, incidentally, also starred Neil Hamilton who would go on to play Craig's on-screen father Commissioner Gordon in the Batman show. Her film career would continue with the odd part here and there. She was in High Time (1960), which starred Bing Crosby, and Seven Women From Hell (1961) with Cesar Romero, best known for playing The Joker in Batman.
More 60's film credits included roles in Elvis Presley movies It Happened At The World's Fair (1963) and Kissin' Cousins (1964), cult spy sequel In Like Flint (1967) and trashy sci-fi flick Mars Needs Women (1967).
It was on television that she enjoyed the most credits, however, in the likes of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (1964), The Wild Wild West (1966), 77 Sunset Strip (60-64), My Three Sons (1966), The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1965) and the "Whom Gods Destroy" episode of Star Trek (1969), where she played green-skinned alien beauty Marta.
She was cast several times in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV movies, she appeared on The Dating Game in 1967 but it was her portrayal of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in the Adam West-starring Batman series which truly elevated her to iconic status. Whether the character was added to the last season of the show to spice up decreasing ratings or not, it's hard to deny that she was a more-than-worthy addition to the cast.
For one thing, seeing a female superhero kicking butt alongside her male counterparts every week was pretty cool, plus she brought some additional brains and wit to Batman's investigations and always looked fabulous. It's a shame the show didn't offer us more Batgirl-starring seasons but Craig certainly made her mark in those 26 episodes. The Batgirl character would go on to be played by Alicia Silverstone in the film Batman & Robin, appear in Batman: The Animated Series, her own DC comic book series (as well as Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke) and even the new Batman: Arkham Asylum video games.
Yvonne Craig's career enjoyed more success in the 70's with roles in various TV series from Kojak (1973) to Mannix (69-73), The Six Million Dollar Man (1977) and Starsky and Hutch (1979). After that, she focused mainly on producing and working in the real estate business. She would come back to acting here and there, her last role was providing the voice for a character in children's animated series Olivia (2009).
Craig died at the age of 78 in her home on Monday surrounded by her family after a long battle with breast cancer. She is survived by her husband Kenneth Aldrich, her sister Meridel Carson and nephews Christopher and Todd Carson.
