Yvonne Joyce Craig

Yvonne Joyce Craig (May 16, 1936 from 1936 to 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 the Orion slave girl with green skin in Star Trek's 1969 episode "Whom Gods Destruction". The Huffington Post referred to her as "a pioneer of female super heroes" on the television. Yvonne Craig was raised in Columbus and was born in Taylorville in Illinois. Her family in 1951 moved to the Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, where she attended W. H. Adamson High School and later Sunset High School, from which she was not able to be able to graduate due to the absence of "a single PE credit". After being spotted by Alexandra Danilova, a ballerina and instructor, Craig joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as the youngest corps de ballet member. It was a great training which helped her to perform stunts as Batgirl. In 1957, she quit the company's ballet program due to a dispute regarding casting changes. She later moved to Los Angeles with the hope of pursuing her dance career. But, she found herself appearing in film roles. One of her first TV roles was on the TV series Perry Mason ("The Case of the Lazy Lover") in 1958 with Neil Hamilton. Hamilton later was the Batgirl's stepfather, police Commissioner James Gordon. The actress was featured in three films shortly after, The Young Land, The Gene Krupa Story and Gidget (all 1959). She also guest-starred in the TV series Mr. Lucky, as Beverly Mills, in the episode "Little Miss Wow" which was also a 1959. Craig was seen with Bing Crosby and Seven Women from Hell (1960), where she was in a duet with Cesar Romero. In 1962, she appeared as a guest star on the Western Laramie show "The Long Road Back". Craig also starred with Elvis Presley's characters in It Was at the World's Fair (1963), and Kissin' Cousins (64). In the year 1966, she starred in Mars Needs Women. In 1967, she played an Russian dancer on In Like Flint.