Yvonne Joyce Craig

Yvonne Joyce Craig (May 16, 1936 - August 17, 2015), was an American actress, ballet dancer and choreographer. She is best known for her roles in Batman's 1960s TV series Batman and Marta, an Orion slave girl with green skin, in the Star Trek 1969 episode "Whom Gods Destruction". The Huffington Post called her "a pioneer in female superheroes that were adapted for television." Yvonne Craig was born and raised in Taylorville, Illinois. In 1951, her family relocated to the Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, where she was a student at W. H. Adamson High School and later Sunset High School, from which she did not complete her studies due to the absence of "a single PE credit". Craig joined Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as the most junior ballerina in the company after being identified by Alexandra Danilova who is a dancer and instructor. It was a great training that enabled her to do stunts as Batgirl. In 1957, she left the ballet company "over a disagreement over casting changes". She relocated to Los Angeles in hopes of continuing her dance career. However, she soon found herself in film roles. She was first seen in an TV episode of Perry Mason ("The Case of the Lazy Lover"), alongside Neil Hamilton. Hamilton later was appointed the Batgirl's police commissioner James Gordon. Then, she appeared in three films, including The Young Land, The Gene Krupa Story The Gene Krupa Story, and Gidget (all 1959)--and was also a guest 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) with Cesar Romero. In 1962, she was guest-starring in Western Laramie's "The Long Road Back" episode. Craig also appeared alongside Bingcrosby in High Timing (1960) and Seven Women from Hell (1961) as well as Seven Women from Hell (1961), both which included Cesar Romero. Craig also starred in two Elvis Presley films: It Was at the World's Fair (1963), as well as Kissin' Cousins (1964). She also appeared in the science-fiction film Mars Needs Women (1966) and also appeared in In Like Flint (1967) as a Russian ballet dancer opposite James Coburn.