"No, Boy Wonder. I'm Batgirl! You're no longer alone, Caped Crusaders." - as Batgirl from Batman (1967) Yvonne Craig was ranked # 7 on Wizard magazine's "Sexiest Women of TV" list in March 2008. Yvonne Craig was born in Taylorville, Illinois, and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. As a young teenager, Craig showed such promise as a dancer that she was accepted to Denham's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Her training progressed until she left the company in 1957 over a disagreement about casting changes. She is one of the youngest to become a member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Craig moved to Los Angeles hoping to continue her dancing, but was soon cast in movies. At first, she had small parts in pictures such as Gidget (1959), The Gene Krupa Story (1959) and The Young Land (1959). She also had a guest role as Beverly Mills in the 1959 episode "Little Miss Wow" of the television series Mr. Lucky. In 1960, she appeared with Bing Crosby in High Time. In the following year, she appeared with Cesar Romero in Seven Women from Hell. Romero would later play the Joker in Batman. Another connection to Batman occurred when Craig appeared in "The Case of the Lazy Lover", a 1958 episode of the television series Perry Mason, which also featured Neil Hamilton as her stepfather. Hamilton would later play her father, Commissioner Gordon, in Batman. Craig dated Elvis Presley for a time and had supporting roles in the two Elvis pictures, It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) and Kissin' Cousins (1964). She also appeared with in In Like Flint as a Russian ballet dancer opposite James Coburn (1967). Craig is best known for her role as Batgirl on the television series Batman (1966). Her secret identity was a mild mannered Gotham City Libraian who also happened to be Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara. Her character, Batgirl, was part of the 67-68 season, which was the end of the run for the show. Craig said in an 1998 interview with Femme Fatales that she did all her own stunts for the show, while Adam West and Burt Ward, the actors who played Batman and Robin, relied on stunt doubles. "I meet young women who say Batgirl was their role model,” Craig told the magazine. “They say it's because it was the first time they ever felt girls could do the same things guys could do, and sometimes better. I think that’s lovely." But that's not her only claim to fame in the Neat Stuff Universe, she also apperared in the original Star Trek and episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. In 1969 Craig played the Orion Slave Girl Marta in the third season episode of the original Star Trek series, Star Trek: Whom Gods Destroy. And, in a 1965 episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Brain Killer Affair"), Craig helps solve the mystery of a brain-endangering poison. In 1966, U.N.C.L.E. released a theatrical film, "One Spy Too Many", expanded from a 1965 Season Two episode, "The Alexander the Greater Affair". The movie fetured additional footage depicting more violence and risque content than seen on television. In the film version Craig appears as an U.N.C.L.E. communications officer (below) sunbathing topless under a sun lamp and carrying on a flirtatious relationship with Napoleon Solo. After Batman, Yvonne Craig continued to act sporadically in movies and television. Notably, she appeared in guest roles in Love, American Style, Kentucky Jones, The Big Valley, It Takes a Thief, The Mod Squad, Kojak and Emergency and The Six Million Dollar Man. She also made appearances as herself on some celebrity editions of Family Feud (1976-1985). Craig would later drop out of acting because she found it difficult to switch from sexy roles to mother roles. Never a mother, she thought she was not giving off the right vibes to the casting people. Craig eventually moved into private business. For a time, she was a co-producer of industrial shows, after which she worked successfully in the real estate business. Craig was involved with social and philanthropic work through the years, and was a public voice to support worker unions and equal pay for woman, as well as supporting free mammograms for women who cannot afford them. In 2000 Craig's autobiography "From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond" was published. In recent years Craig has provided the voice of Grandma on the animated children's show Olivia (2009) and, an avid world traveler, she and her husband Ken have visited the remotest corners of the earth. On Monday, August 17th, 2015 Yvonne Craig died after a two-year battle with breast cancer. She was 78. Craig’s family said in a statement that the actress died in her Pacific Palisades home surrounded by loved ones. She is remembered by fans as being an amazing artist who was as lovely in person as she was on the screen. Many also remember her as being their first TV crush. AV CLUB SLIDESHOW DEPARTMENT slideshow Selected Yvonne Craig TVography 77 Sunset Strip - Lover's Lane (1964) - Lady in the Sun (1963) - Bullets for Santa (1961) - Family Skeleton (1960) The Aquanauts - The Rainbow Adventure (1961) The Barbara Stanwyck Show - House in Order (1960) Batman - as Batgirl / Barbara Gordon (1967-1968) Ben Casey - If You Play Your Cards Right, You Too Can Be a Loser (1965) The Big Valley - The Invaders (1965) Bronco - Bodyguard (1959) Channing - My Son, the All-American (1964) Checkmate - The Cyanide Touch (1960) The Chevy Mystery Show - Murder Me Nicely (1960) The Courtship of Eddie's Father - Don't Look Now, But Your Scorpio's Rising (1970) Death Valley Days - To Walk with Greatness (1962) The Detectives - Quiet Night (1961) The Dick Powell Show - In Search of a Son (1962) The DuPont Show with June Allyson - The Girl (1959) Dr. Kildare - A Day to Remember (1964) Emergency! - Gossip (1974) Fantasy Island - Remember... When? (1983) Follow the Sun - A Ghost in Her Gazebo (1962) The Gertrude Berg Show - Mrs. G.'s Private Telephone (1961) The Ghost & Mrs. Muir - Haunted Honeymoon (1968) The Good Guys - Communications Gap (1969) Hennesey - Scarlet Woman in White (1960) Holmes and Yo-Yo - Key Witness (1976) Hot Off the Wire - Dora's Vacation (1961) I'm Dickens, He's Fenster - A Small Matter of Being Fired (1962) Ichabod and Me - Teenage Journalist (1961) It Takes a Thief - The Bill Is in Committee (1968) Kentucky Jones - Kentucky's Vacation (1965) Kojak - Dark Sunday (1973) Land of the Giants - Wild Journey (1970) Laramie - The Long Road Back (1962) Love, American Style - Love and the Confession (1972) - Love and the Loud Mouth (1971) - Love and the Big Game (1971) - Love and a Couple of Couples (1969) Olivia - Grandma and Additional Voices (2009 - 2011) The Magician - The Man Who Lost Himself (1973) The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - The Brain-Killer Affair (1965) Man with a Camera - Hot Ice Cream (1960) Mannix - Search for a Whisper (1973) - Who Killed Me? (1969) The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis - Flow Gently, Sweet Money (1962) - The Sweet Success of Smell (1962) - Like Mother, Like Daughter, Like Wow (1961) - Dobie's Navy Blues (1960) - The Flying Millicans (1960) Margie - The Initiation (1961) McHale's Navy - Pumpkin Takes Over (1965) Michael Shayne - It Takes a Heap o' Dyin' (1961) Mister Roberts - Damn the Torpedoes (1966) The Mod Squad - Find Tara Chapman! (1968) Mr. Lucky - Little Miss Wow (1959) My Favorite Martian - Keep Me from the Church on Time (1965) My Three Sons - If at First (1966) The New Breed - Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here (1962) O'Hara, U.S. Treasury - Operation: Rake-Off (1972) The Partners - Two or False (1972) - Here Comes the Fuzz (1971) Perry Mason - The Case of the Lazy Lover (1958) Peter Loves Mary - That Certain Age (1961) Philip Marlowe - Child of Virtue (1959) Sam Benedict - Sugar and Spice and Everything... (1963) - Everybody's Playing Polo (1962) Schlitz Playhouse of Stars - Papa Said No (1958) The Six Million Dollar Man - The Infiltrators (1977) Star Trek - Whom Gods Destroy (1969) Starsky and Hutch - Starsky vs. Hutch (1979) Tales of Wells Fargo - The Remittance Man (1961) Tom, Dick and Mary - Bad Day at Bristol Court (1964) Vacation Playhouse - Hooray for Love (1963) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - Turn Back the Clock (1964) Wide Country - The Bravest Man in the World (1962) Wagon Train - The Link Cheney Story (1964) The Wild Wild West - The Night of the Grand Emir (1966) Selected Yvonne Craig Filmography 1957 Eighteen and Anxious 1959 The Young Land Gidget The Gene Krupa Story 1960 High Time 1961 By Love Possessed Seven Women from Hell 1963 It Happened at the World's Fair 1964 Kissin' Cousins Advance to the Rear 1965 Ski Party Advance to the Rear 1966 Mars Needs Women One Spy Too Many One of Our Spies is Missing 1967 In Like Flint 1971 How to Frame a Figg 1990 Diggin' Up Business Yvonne Craig links slideshow