http://www.yvonnecraig.com/news/2015/08/19/a-word-from-yvonne-craigs-family/

Link (http://www.yvonnecraig.com/news/2015/08/19/yvonne-craigs-official-obituary/)


YVONNE CRAIG

May 16, 1937 – August 17, 2015

Yvonne Craig passed away at her home in Pacific Palisades, surrounded by her immediate family and comforted by Hospice yesterday night. She died from complications brought about from breast cancer that had metastasized to her liver. She is survived by her husband, Kenneth Aldrich, her sister Meridel Carson and nephews Christopher and Todd Carson. A private service is being planned with no date set at the present time. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to: The Angeles Clinic Foundation by mail at 2001 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404 or by going into their website at www.theangelesclinicfoundation.org and following the “Donate” link.

Yvonne Craig began her theatrical career as the youngest member of The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and toured for three years when she was accidentally discovered by John Ford’s son Patrick and cast for the lead in the movie The Young Land.

This was quickly followed by many years of film and television including two movies with Elvis Presley (It Happened at the World’s Fair and Kissin Cousins). However, she is probably best known for originating the role as Batgirl in the 1966 TV series of Batman, or for her character “Marta” from the third season of Star Trek in the episode Whom God’s Destroy where she played the well remembered insane green Orion Slave Girl who wanted to kill Captain Kirk.

Over a span of years she appeared as a guest star in many television series, including The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Six Million Dollar Man,Land of the Giants, Mod Squad, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Love American Style, Emergency, and Courtship of Eddie’s Father just to name a few and worked opposite Bing Crosby, Sal Mineo, Don Knotts, George Hamilton, Dwayne Hickman, Dennis Hopper as well as Elvis Presley and James Coburn.

Her next career was that of a real estate broker where she was involved not only in commercial real estate, but also residential income properties for a period of years and still held a real estate license.

Yvonne and her sister, Meridel went into the prepaid phone card business at its inception producing phone cards for charitable events as well as promotional phone cards for the Paramount film Clueless and both Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny cards for Warner Bros. stores, as well as many charitable organizations for fundraisers.

In 2000, Ms. Craig wrote a book of anecdotal memoirs, From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond, which covered some of her years in the ballet and her theatrical career.

She actively did voice over work including voicing the role of Grandma in the 2009 Olivia cartoon series for Nickelodeon, and she was recently Executive Producer for the documentary feature film BIRTH.

She and her husband have traveled extensively all over the world, preferring adventure type travel, which has taken them to many countries through the years, and back to Africa seven times.

Yvonne has been involved with social work as well as 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.

She and her husband have also been advocates of education and long time supporters of education on all levels. They are actively involved with the Phillips Brooks House Association at Harvard, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, two different charter schools, and the Liberal Education for Arts Professionals out of St. Mary’s College of California better known as LEAP. She also volunteered time and tutored and mentored disadvantaged students.

Rest in peace.

http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/tv/batgirl-tv-actress-yvonne-craig-dies-cancer-78-family-n412206

She also appeared in the 60's Spy Series The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Personally, I prefer her on U.N.C.L.E. than of her role as Batgirl

Here's Yvonne Craig playing Cecille Bergstrom in an episode of U.N.C.L.E. entitled The Brain Killers Affair from the Very 1st Season
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb296/tnawrestlingfan/tnaimpactwrestlingfan/eG5jczJ5MTI_o_the-brain-killer-affair-6_zpsdoomh2q6.jpg

Here she is playing Maude Waverly in The Film Version of U.N.C.L.E. entitled One Spy Too Many
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb296/tnawrestlingfan/tnaimpactwrestlingfan/5-150_zpsksqqtiz1.jpg

Here she again is playing Maude Waverly in One Spy Too Many
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb296/tnawrestlingfan/tnasuperstarsfan/craig464_zpsdd7496ce.jpg

Here's another pic of Craig w/William Shatner in the 3rd and Final Season of The Original Star Trek playing the role of Marta
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb296/tnawrestlingfan/tnaimpactwrestlingfan/Nd_zpsh7ks5zfw.jpg

Here's another pic of Craig w/Lee Majors in an episode of The Big Valley entitled The Invaders playing the role of Allie Kay
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb296/tnawrestlingfan/tnaimpactwrestlingfan/valleytn_zpsq6nj7lsg.jpg

The Cast of The Original Batman on a Prime Time Version of abc's All-Star Family Feud w/the late Richard Dawson
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb296/tnawrestlingfan/tnaimpactwrestlingfan/yvonne_craig_game2_zps7qrhsp3b.jpg

Adam West, Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig in the 21st Century
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb296/tnawrestlingfan/tnaimpactwrestlingfan/terrific_trio_zpseez5bfjb.jpg

God Bless You Yvonne Craig, May You R.I.P.

Please say hello to your Batfriends and to your U.N.C.L.E. Leo G. Carroll


http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb296/tnawrestlingfan/tnaimpactwrestlingfan/yvonne_craig_2006_09_16_zpsoxz8blct.jpg

Well, she sure didn't survive this Bat Trap which was the cancer.

R.I.P. Yvonne. :(

Note to Yvonne Craig fans.... On eBay just now I just spotted a 16mm copy of her RARE 1966 unsold pilot, "Three Coins In A Fountain" (based on the 1954 feature film).

Very sad. She was in a few episodes of "Dobie Gillis" as well.

http://whatculture.com/comics/10-popular-comics-characters-imported-from-other-media.php/10

https://media.giphy.com/media/hj4ol81ykoWLS/giphy.gif

2. Barbara Gordon

First appearance: With viewing figures falling by the time of the third season of ABC’s pop art kitsch take on Batman in 1967, the producers decided to court new audiences, particularly girls, and so decided to introduce a female hero (http://www.oocities.org/attila2.geo/) to the show’s traditional Batman and Robin dynamic.

Although a Batwoman and Bat-girl already existed in the DC comics past, they were deemed too old fashioned and incapable of connecting with modern young women of the 1960s. Hence the introduction of the late Yvonne Craig as librarian and commissioner’s daughter Barbara Gordon who moonlights as Batgirl (without the hyphen).

In the comics: Much like Renee Montoya, Barbara is a character who was created for a medium outside the comics, but actually appeared on the page before she appeared on screen. The TV show’s producers approached DC editor Julius Schwartz to create the new modern young female character for them, resulting in Barbara appearing in the comic The Million Dollar Debut Of Batgirl! (Detective Comics #359) a few months before she was seen on TV.

Although the TV series did not last beyond its third season, the Barbara version of Batgirl became a regular fixture in the comics over the following decades. Batman: The Killing Joke in 1988 dramatically transformed the character, having her shot and paralysed by the Joker, eventually resulting in her becoming wheelchair bound genius hacker Oracle. After the New 52 reboot, now Barbara is Batgirl again and has her own title, but the paralysis and Oracle era still happened at some point in the past.

And back again?: As the best known version of Batgirl, Barbara Gordon has donned the mask and cape for virtually every animated version of the Batman and DC world, including the futuristic Batman Beyond in which she is portrayed as the future police commissioner.

In the live action films, Batgirl was instead an invented Barbara Wilson played by Alicia Silverstone in Batman And Robin, while Commissioner Gordon had a daughter that appeared very briefly as a young child in The Dark Knight. Her role as Oracle was adapted into the TV series Birds Of Prey in 2002 with Dina Meyer as Barbara. Presumably she hasn’t been born yet in Gotham, but that will happen sooner or later.

Jena Malone’s part in Batman V Superman is also rumored to be Barbara, but that has yet to be confirmed.

http://whatculture.com/comics/10-popular-comics-characters-imported-from-other-media.php/10

Basically, the show was the source for Barbara Gordon since the TV execs wanted a female character and went to DC who came up with her. Although her comic book appearance predated her initial episode's air date, she wouldn't have existed at all without the series.

Very sad. She was in a few episodes of "Dobie Gillis" as well.
Yeah, in various roles, including Aphrodite where she was seen flexing her muscles which seems weird since I never saw a girl flex her muscles before. But she was Batgirl.

YVONNE CRAIG Birthday Salute! 13 (https://twitter.com/13th_Dimension/status/732317964343513088) BEST BATGIRL EPISODES -- incl BATMAN '66 #21 https://t.co/ldDSpDxqDA

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiiW8dlXIAAE17I.jpg

R.I.P. Yvonne

YVONNE CRAIG Birthday Salute! 13 (https://twitter.com/13th_Dimension/status/732317964343513088) BEST BATGIRL EPISODES -- incl BATMAN '66 #21 https://t.co/ldDSpDxqDA

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiiW8dlXIAAE17I.jpg

It just occurred to me that this past Wednesday marked a year since Yvonne Craig passed away: :(
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May she rest in peace! As of this time, she is the 1 and only Batgirl.