Yvonne Joyce Craig

Yvonne Joyce Craig, May 16 1937 - - August 17, 2015. Craig was an American dancer and actress who was popular for her performances as Batgirl in the 1960s' TV show Batman and Marta who played Marta, the Orion slave girl Marta, in Star Trek's episode "Whom Gods Deceive" (1969). The Huffington Post called her "a pioneer in female superheroes in television." Yvonne Craig was raised in Columbus and was born in Taylorville in Illinois. Her family in 1951 moved to the Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, where she went to W. H. Adamson High School as well as Sunset High School, from which she did not finish her education due to the absence of "a single PE credit". Craig was identified by Alexandra Danilova (a ballerina and teacher) and joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1951, becoming the youngest member of the corps de ballet. This training was helpful when she did stunts acting as Batgirl. In 1957, she resigned from the company's ballet program due to disputes regarding casting changes. She then moved to Los Angeles with the hope of continuing her dancing career. However, she did find herself in film roles. Her first television role was on the TV series Perry Mason ("The Case of the Lazy Lover") in 1958 with Neil Hamilton. Hamilton later was the Batgirl's stepfather, police Commissioner James Gordon. After that, she appeared in three films: The Young Land, 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 alongside Bing Crosby (1960), and Seven Women from Hell (1961), which featured Cesar Romero. In 1962, she was a guest star on the Western Laramie in the episode "The Long Road Back".Craig starred in roles with Elvis Presley in two films which included It Happened At the World's Fair (1963) and Kissin Cousins (1964). In the year 1966, she appeared in Mars Needs Women. In 1967, she was an Russian ballet dancer in In Like Flint.