The Original Batgirl, Yvonne Craig, Passes Away
TV’s Batgirl, Yvonne Craig, passed away Monday night at her home in Pacific Palisades, CA. She was 78.
Born in 1937, Craig’s career began in ballet, when she became the youngest member of The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, touring for three years until she was cast as the lead in the movie The Young Land. Other movie roles included two opposite Elvis Presley: It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963) and Kissin’ Cousins (1964). She also had roles in the cult film Mars Needs Women (1966), In Like Flint (1967), and two feature-length versions of episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. — One Spy Too Many and One of Our Spies Is Missing.
But it was her role as Batgirl that threw her into the spotlight. For the third season of Batman, producer William Dozier asked DC Comics to develop a new female character to add to the roster of the show, making it more attractive for renewal by ABC. Carmine Infantino designed the new Batgirl, who made her debut in the pages of Detective Comics in 1967. The daughter of Commissioner Gordon, this Batgirl was nothing like the spunky sidekick Bat-Girl created by Bob Kane in the 1950s.
“I hear from women that I was their role model,” she told CNN in an interview earlier this year. “‘When I was a little girl, I realized that girls could kick butt just like guys,’ [they’d say].” With her training in dance, Craig was able to do her own stunts on Batman.
Craig also appeared in the third season of Star Trek, playing the Orion slave girl Marta in “Whom Gods Destroy” opposite Steve Ihnat as Captain Garth of Izar.
As Batgirl, Craig was the first regular superheroine on television, paving the way for Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman), Joanna Cameron (Isis), and all of the other actresses who put on a cape.
She is survived by her husband, Kenneth Aldrich, her sister Meridel Carson and nephews Christopher and Todd Carson. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, fans make donations to: The Angeles Clinic Foundation by mail at 2001 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404 or by going into their website at www.theangelesclinicfoundation.org and following the “Donate” link.
[Official Obituary at Yvonne Craig’s web site]
