This is a tough one to take. Yvonne Craig passed on Monday of this week. I first saw her in the movie SKI PARTY...or maybe in DOBIE GILLIS. Or STAR TREK. None of that matters. She was and will always be...BATGIRL! The BATMAN series took a nosedive when she came on for various reasons, none of which had to do with Yvonne, who was much loved by male and female fans alike. My 6th grade girlfriend would pretend to be Batgirl and I would help her catch the bad guys as Robin! Yvonne Craig had a great sense of comic timing, a wonderfully wispy face, and even played a few good villain roles in the 1970s, not suffering nearly the typecasting that affected Burt Ward and Adam West.
Rest In Peace
As I mentioned on Kid's blog, this one really came as a shock. Mainly because I somehow had an impression that she was much younger than she really was. She must have been thirty when she played Batgirl, but her youthful good looks and "girly girl" quality made her seem ten years younger.
ReplyDeleteShe also had a small part in "In Like Flint" as a Russian ballerina. Judging by the moves she made in fight scenes on "Batman," she must have had formal training as a dancer.
And, yes, the Batman TV series was on its last legs in the third season, for reasons that had nothing to do with Yvonne. Mainly, it was that the super hero and camp fads were passing by then.
I really hated hearing this.
ReplyDeleteJust like you, one of my main associations with her outside of BATMAN is SKI PARTY. And along those same lines, she had a small part in the original GIDGET. And she was also the comical femme fatale in the Don Knotts movie. HOW TO FRAME A FIGG.
Steve,
ReplyDeleteYvonne was with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo until 1957. She was 30 when she debuted as Batgirl. It was perfect casting, as far as I was concerned.
Thanks!