Yvonne Craig, a prolific film and television star during the 1960s, has died. The actress, who was best known for starring as Batgirl on the 1966-1968 Batman series, was 78.
Craig’s family said that she died at her Pacific Palisades home in hospice care and surrounded by her family. She died from complications of breast cancer.
Craig was born on May 16, 1937 and began her career at a young age in the Battle Russe de Monte Carlo. She toured for three years before she was cast in 1959’s The Young Land with Patrick Wayne, John Wayne’s son. Other early roles included Gidget and on TV in Perry Mason.
Her star really took off in the 1960s, especially in 1964 and 1964, starring in two Elvis Presley movies - It Happened At The World’s Fair and Kissin’ Cousins. In 1966, she was cast as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon in the Adam West Batman series, which remains her most famous role.
In 1969, she also starred in a Star Trek episode, playing the famous green Orion Slave Girl in “Whom Gods Destroy.”
Rolls for Craig started slowing down in the early 1970s and she became a successful real estate broker in commercial real estate. She also worked in the prepaid phone card business with her sister. In 2000, she published her memoirs, From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond.
Most recently, she voiced the grandmother on the Nickelodeon series Olivia, which ran from 2009-2011.
Craig is survived by her husband, her sister and two nephews. The family is asking that, in lieu of flowers, fans donate in her memory to The Angeles Clinic Foundation.
screenshot from YouTube video