Yvonne Joyce Craig

Yvonne Joyce Craig (May 16 1936 until August 17 15th, 2015), was an American dancer, dancer, and choreographer. Craig is most well-known for her roles in Batman's television series from the 1960s Batman as well as Marta she was an Orion slave girl sporting green skin, in the Star Trek 1969 episode "Whom Gods Destruction". The Huffington Post referred to her as "a pioneer of female superheroes" on television. Yvonne Craig was born in Taylorville, Illinois, and was raised in Columbus, Ohio. Her family moved to Dallas in 1951. She attended W. H. Adamson High School, Sunset High School and then W. H. Adamson High School. It was unfortunate that she didn't graduate because she did not receive "one PE credit". Craig was accepted into Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the role of the youngest dancer in the corps de ballerina, after being recognized by Alexandra Danilova who is a dancer and teacher. When she was playing Batgirl, this training proved very beneficial. In 1957, she resigned from the company's ballet program due to disputes over casting changes. She then moved to Los Angeles with the hope of pursuing her dance career. However, she did find herself appearing in film roles. One of her first television performances was on an episode of the TV series Perry Mason ("The Case of the Lazy Lover" 1958) along with Neil Hamilton, who played her stepfather (later Hamilton played Police Commissioner James Gordon, Batgirl's father). After that, she appeared in three films - The Young Land, The Gene Krupa Story The Gene Krupa Story, and Gidget (all 1959)--and she also appeared in the TV series Mr. Lucky as Beverly Mills in the episode "Little Miss Wow" (also 1959). Craig starred alongside Bing Crosby (1960), and Seven Women from Hell (1961) that starred Cesar Romero. In 1962, she appeared as an actress in the Western Laramie episode "The Long Road Back". Craig also starred with Elvis Presley's character in It Happened At the World's Fair (1963), and Kissin' Cousins (64). She also starred as a Russian ballet performer opposite James Coburn in Mars Needs Women (1966).