Actress Yvonne Craig who played Batgirl in the 1960s hit TV series dies aged 78
YVONNE Craig, who played the sexy, crime-fighting Batgirl in the 1960s TV hit Batman, has died. She was 78.
Ms Craig died on Monday at her Los Angeles home from complications from breast cancer which had spread to her liver, her family said.
“In the end, her mind still wanted to fight but her body had given up,” the family said in a statement.
She began her career as a ballet dancer, the youngest member of The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, with which she toured for three years.
Then she got her big break and was discovered by Hollywood, appearing in a 1958 episode of Perry Mason and in the 1959 feature The Young Land.
After that, Ms Craig went on to win dozens of roles in television shows, as well as co-starring in two 1960s Elvis Presley films, It Happened at the World’s Fair and Kissin’ Cousins.
But she was best known as Batgirl (and her alter ego, librarian Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon’s daughter) in the 1967-68 season of ABC’S Batman. Another memorable TV role of hers was from an episode of the original Star Trek as the green Orion Slave Girl who wanted to kill Captain Kirk.
Her many other TV appearances included Dobie Gillis, ‘77 Sunset Strip, Dr. Kildare, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Mod Squad, Love, American Style, Kojak and The Six Million Dollar Man.
In later years, Ms Craig also did voiceover work, including the role of Grandma in Olivia.