Yvonne Joyce Craig

Yvonne Joyce Craig, May 16 1937 - - August 17, 2015. She was an American dancer and actress popular for her performances as Batgirl in the 1960s' TV show Batman and Marta as Marta, the Orion slave girl Marta from Star Trek's episode "Whom Gods Deceive" (1969). The Huffington Post referred to her as "a pioneer in female superheroes" on television. Yvonne Craig was raised in Columbus and was born in Taylorville in 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 later Sunset High School, from which she did not complete her studies due to the absence of "a single PE credit". After being discovered by Alexandra Danilova, a ballerina as well as an instructor, Craig joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as the youngest corps de ballet member. While she was performing as Batgirl in the film, her training proved to be extremely helpful. In 1957, she resigned from the ballet company because of disagreements concerning casting changes. Then, she moved to Los Angeles with the hope to continue her career in dance. But, she found herself appearing in film roles. She first appeared in an episode of the TV episode of Perry Mason ("The Case of the Lazy Lover") along with Neil Hamilton. Hamilton later became the Batgirl's police commissioner James Gordon. She appeared in three movies shortly after, The Young Land, The Gene Krupa Story and Gidget (all 1959). She also appeared as 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) that starred Cesar Romero. In 1962, she appeared on the 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 starred as a Russian dancer alongside James Coburn in Mars Needs Women (1966).