Yvonne Joyce Craig

Yvonne Joyce Craig (May 16, 1937 - August 17, 2015) was an American dancer and actress most well-known for her performance as 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 referred to her as "a pioneer of female superheroes" in the world of television. Yvonne Craig was born and raised in Taylorville, Illinois. In 1951, her family relocated to the Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, where she was a student at W. H. Adamson High School and then Sunset High School, from which she was not able to complete her studies due to the absence of "a single PE credit". After being spotted by Alexandra Danilova, a ballerina and instructor, Craig joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as the youngest corps de ballet participant. This training was helpful when she did stunts playing Batgirl. In 1957, she quit the ballet company "over disagreements over changes to casting". She relocated to Los Angeles in hopes of getting back into dance. However, she soon found herself in films roles. One of her first TV appearances was on the TV series Perry Mason ("The Case of the Lazy Lover") in 1958 alongside Neil Hamilton. Hamilton later was the Batgirl's stepfather, police Commissioner James Gordon. Then, she appeared in three films: The Young Land, The Gene Krupa Story The Gene Krupa Story, and Gidget (all 1959)--and was also a guest in the TV series Mr. Lucky as Beverly Mills in the episode "Little Miss Wow" (also 1959). Craig played with Bing Crosby in High Time (1960) as well as in Seven Women from Hell (1961) which was co-starred with Cesar Romero. In 1962, she guest-starred in the television show Western Laramie in the episode "The Long Road Back".Craig appeared in roles with Elvis Presley in two films The other was It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) and Kissin' Cousins (1964). She also appeared as an Russian ballet performer opposite James Coburn in Mars Needs Women (1966).