Yvonne Craig
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| Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (February 2007) |
| Yvonne Craig | |
|---|---|
| Image:Yvonne Craig.jpg Yvonne Craig, early 60s. | |
| Birth name | Yvonne Craig |
| Born | May 16 1937 Image:Flag of the United States.svg Taylorville, Illinois, U.S. |
| Years active | 1957-1990 |
| Spouse(s) | Jimmy Boyd (1960–62) |
| Parents | Maurice and Pauline Craig |
| Official site | http://www.yvonnecraig.com/ |
Yvonne Joyce Craig (born May 16, 1937 in Taylorville, Illinois) is an American actress best known as Batgirl from the 1960s TV series Batman.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Yvonne Craig was originally trained to be a ballet dancer, and was a member of the corps de ballet of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the 1950s.[1] Gradually she moved into acting, and in 1959, she appeared in no less than three films: The Young Land, The Gene Krupa Story, and Gidget. In 1960, she appeared as a busty young co-ed with Bing Crosby in High Time, where she met and married singer/actor Jimmy Boyd. After their divorce in 1962 Yvonne starred in several films including roles with Elvis Presley and Dennis Hopper, and appeared in the sequel to Our Man Flint, In Like Flint as a Russian Ballet dancer opposite James Coburn.
In the mid-1960s, with film roles beginning to taper off, she moved into television, notably as Marta, a green-skinned Orion slave girl in the third season Star Trek episode, Whom Gods Destroy. In this episode, she is interred in a space asylum. In one The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode she helps solve the mystery of a brain-endangering poison. [1][2] In an episode of The Wild Wild West she is an assassin. Most famously, in Batman, she had the role of Batgirl (and her alter ego: librarian Barbara Gordon) on the 1960s TV series. [3]
Although the Batman TV show has been criticized as "campy", many have praised Yvonne Craig's portrayal as paving the way for many other television heroines in the years that followed. Craig appeared in the last season of the series and was often put in "perilous" situations along with Batman and Robin.
After Batman, Yvonne Craig continued to act sporadically in movies and television. Notably, she appeared in guest roles in It Takes a Thief, The Mod Squad and Emergency!. From 1969 - 1972 she appeared in four episodes of the comedy series Love, American Style. [4]
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. She maintains her own internet web site.
[edit] Selected filmography
- The Young Land (1959)
- Gidget (1959)
- The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
- High Time (1960)
- By Love Possessed (1961)
- It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)
- Kissin' Cousins (1963)
- Ski Party (1965)
- Mars Needs Women (1966)
- In Like Flint (1967)
- How to Frame a Figg (1971)
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Craig, Yvonne (2000). From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond. New York: Kudu Press. ISBN 0967807565.
[edit] References
- Erickson, Hal (2007). Yvonne Craig. All Movie Guide. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
- McLeod, Mike (2007). It's African Mask for TV's Batgirl. The Celebrity Collector. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
[edit] External links
- Yvonne Craig's Official Personal Home Page
- MSN Entertainment - Yvonne Craig
- Yvonne Craig at the Internet Movie Database
- Yvonne Craig at TV.com
- Bat-Bios - Yvonne Craig
- Yvonne Craig article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
Categories: Articles to be expanded since February 2007 | All articles to be expanded | 1937 births | American ballet dancers | American film actors | American television actors | Graduates of Dallas ISD | Illinois actors | Living people | People from Columbus, Ohio | People from Dallas | Welsh-Americans | People from Christian County, Illinois
