Yvonne Craig Dead at 78

Quite a lot of people forget, as silly as Batman ’66 was, it touched on a lot of Batman lore. The most overlooked probably being the inclusion of Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl. Yvonne Craig famously played the part in the final season of the series and did so in a fabulous, iconic fashion.

It’s with a heavy heart that we report the passing of the definitive Batgirl at the age of 78.

"In the 1960s, with film roles beginning to taper off, she moved into television, appearing in several shows, including The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Death Valley Days, Hennesey, and My Three Sons. Craig appeared five times on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, portraying five separate girlfriends for the titular character between 1959 and 1962. One of her more memorable roles came in 1969 when Craig appeared on Star Trek as Marta, a green-skinned Orion slave girl in the third-season episode “Whom Gods Destroy“.Craig’s highest profile would come with the cult 1960s television series Batman as Batgirl (and her alter ego, librarian Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon’s daughter). She appeared in the final (1967–1968) season. Batgirl’s true identity was unknown to Batman and Robin, and their true identities were unknown to her; only Alfred, the butler for Bruce Wayne/Batman, was aware of Batgirl’s identity. Craig felt some connection to the character and complained to DC Comics after Barbara Gordon was shot and paralyzed by the Joker in the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke."

-wiki

"Craig passed away at her home in Pacific Palisades surrounded by her family on Monday, the statement said. She is survived by her husband, Kenneth Aldrich, her sister Meridel Carson and nephews Christopher and Todd Carson.“She felt that she lived a wonderful life and was blessed in many ways,” the statement said. Chemotherapy weakened her but 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.”"

-NBC

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She will be missed.