Remembering Yvonne Craig, the first live-action Batgirl
Yvonne Craig, who portrayed the first onscreen version of Batgirl in 1967 during the third season of the iconic 1960s Batman television series, died Monday in her home at the age of 78.
Batgirl – AKA Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham City’s Police Commissioner James Gordon – was everything we needed in a TV female superhero. She was a seemingly unintimidating, cliché librarian by day and butt-kicker by night, and Ms. Craig embodied this combination in a way that made girls all over the world see something of themselves in Batgirl. Bookish girls saw how they could fight their own battles without being saved by a man, and even drive motorcycles instead of riding on the backs of them. Craig, a bit of a superhero herself, did all her own stunts.
Earlier this year, in an interview with CNN, Ms. Craig stated, “I hear from women that I was their role model. ‘When I was a little girl, I realized that girls could kick butt just like guys,’ [they’d say].”
On top of helping to break the world of its male-only-superheroes complex and giving little girls a strong female role model to look up to, Ms. Craig was also an accomplished ballet dancer. She used what she learned through the art of dance to perform many of her own stunts, allowing her to hold her own among greats like Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. In fact, she was the youngest member of the former Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, having toured with the company for three years before she had the opportunity to break into acting.
On top of her work as Batgirl, Ms. Craig lent her talent to roles such as the green-skinned Marta in the original Star Trek series, Nan in Gidget, and Tara Chapman in Mod Squad, as well as starred in both Kissin’ Cousins and It Happened at the World’s Fair with Elvis Presley.
And even aside from an impressive résumé of acting, dancing, and career ventures in real estate and prepaid phone cards, Ms. Craig was hugely into charity and philanthropic work. She also wrote a 2000 memoir titled Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond that chronicles her impressive life story, focusing on her break into Hollywood. I think I speak for all of us when I say: What didn’t this woman do?
According to a statement given by Ms. Craig’s family, “She felt that she lived a wonderful life and was blessed in many ways.” Though chemotherapy for cancer was something she did physically struggle with, the statement went on to say, “this didn’t dampen her sense of humor or her spirit, she intended to fight and win this battle. In the end, her mind still wanted to fight but her body had given up.” The statement also included, “One of her dying wishes was, ‘that no one waste a moment of their time in mourning for her loss in sadness but instead celebrate the awesome life she had been fortunate enough to live.’”
We lost a legend this week. Ms. Craig, you’ll be greatly missed among superhero fans and so, so many others for not only your talents, but the beauty you saw in and added to the world around you. Thank you for helping pave the road for strong female superhero roles. We are eternally grateful.
(Image via ABC, NBC)
