Yvonne Joyce Craig

Yvonne Joyce Craig (May 16, 1937 - August 17 the 17th of August, 2015) was an American actress and ballet dancer popular for her character in the role of Batgirl in the 1960s television series Batman as well as her role as the green-skinned Orion slave girl Marta in the Star Trek episode "Whom Gods Destroy" (1969). The Huffington Post called her "a pioneer in female superheroes" for the screen. Yvonne Craig was born in Taylorville, Illinois, and was raised in Columbus, Ohio. Her family in 1951 moved to the Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, where she was a student at W. H. Adamson High School as well as Sunset High School, from which she didn't graduate due to the lack of "a single PE credit". Craig was accepted into Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as the most junior ballerina in the company after being identified by Alexandra Danilova who is a dancer and teacher. As she performed as Batgirl in the film, her training proved to be very helpful. She quit the ballet company in 1957 "over an argument over casting decisions" and moved to Los Angeles in the hopes of continuing her dancing career, but found herself being cast in film roles. One of her first television appearances was in an episode from the TV series Perry Mason ("The Case of the Lazy Lover" 1958) alongside Neil Hamilton, who played her stepfather (later Hamilton played Police Commissioner James Gordon, Batgirl's father). In the years following her appearances on The Young Land, The Gene Krupa Story (all 1959), and Gidget (all 1958) she was also in guest roles as Beverly Mills on the TV show Mr. Lucky (also 1959). Craig was seen alongside Bing Crosby and Seven Women from Hell (1960), in which she was joined by Cesar Romero. In 1962, she appeared as the guest on Western Laramie's "The Long Road Back" episode. Craig also appeared alongside Bing Crosby in High Time (1960) as well as Seven Women from Hell (1961) as well as Seven Women from Hell (1961), both which included Cesar Romero. Craig also starred in two Elvis Presley films: It Happened in the World's Fair (1963), as well as Kissin' Cousins (1964). She also appeared in the science-fiction film Mars Needs Women (1966) and was in In Like Flint (1967) as the role of a Russian dancer who was paired with James Coburn.