Yvonne Joyce Craig (May 16, 1937 – August 17, 2015) was an American actress who is best known for her role as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in the 1960s television series Batman.

[5] Craig's father's work caused the family to move in 1951 from Columbus, Ohio[6] to the Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas.

While there, the 16 year-old Craig lived with roommate and future comedienne Carol Burnett at the Rehearsal Club on West 53rd Street.

[4] She left the ballet company in 1957 "over a disagreement on casting changes" and moved to Los Angeles in the hopes of continuing her dancing career.

[8] Craig explained how her acting career started in Los Angeles, saying "...this guy invited me to his office and said, 'I'm making a movie, do you want to be in it?'

Shortly afterwards, she appeared in three films—The Young Land, The Gene Krupa Story, and Gidget (all 1959)—and also guest-starred in the TV series Mr. Lucky as Beverly Mills in the episode "Little Miss Wow" (also 1959).

Craig appeared with Bing Crosby in High Time (1960) and in Seven Women from Hell (1961), featured alongside Cesar Romero.

She also starred in the low budget science fiction film Mars Needs Women (1966) with Tommy Kirk and appeared in In Like Flint (1967) as a Russian ballet dancer opposite James Coburn.

In 1964, Craig guest-starred as Carol, an underwater photographer, on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ("Turn Back the Clock").

[16] In 1965, Craig appeared in The Big Valley ("The Invaders") and Kentucky Jones ("Kentucky′s Vacation"), Craig played a Navy nurse with exotic Arabian dance skills in an episode of McHale's Navy ("Pumpkin Takes Over") and in an episode of The Big Valley with Lee Majors and Barbara Stanwyck; both aired in 1965.

In a 1968 episode of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir ("Haunted Honeymoon"), she played Gladys Zimmerman, a bride-to-be who was stranded overnight at Gull Cottage.

Craig played a main character as well did the vocals for part of the soundtrack for Ski Party (1965) with Frankie Avalon.

From September 1967 until March 1968, Craig appeared in her highest-profile role as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon for the third and final season of the 1960s ABC TV series Batman.

[17] The New York Times praised her for "add[ing] a scrappy girl-power element" to a TV series it described as "campy".

In 1969 Craig appeared on Star Trek as Marta, a green-skinned Orion woman in the episode "Whom Gods Destroy".

[15] In the episode, former Starfleet Captain Garth (Steve Ihnat), is incarcerated in a mental asylum on a distant planet.

Garth lures Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to visit him in order to escape by hijacking the Enterprise.

"Susan [Oliver, who portrayed the Orion "Vina" in the show's pilot episode "The Cage"] and I were supposed to be from the same planet.

In a 1970 episode of Land of the Giants ("Wild Journey"), she played one-half of a humanoid, time-observing duo (with Bruce Dern), who chase two of the Earth castaways (series stars Gary Conway and Don Marshall) into the past, ultimately forcing them to relive the flight that sent them to the giants' planet.

[25] In 1973 Craig reprised her Batgirl role in a public service announcement (PSA) promoting equal pay for women sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

The PSA was written and directed by Sidney Galanty, and narrated by the Batman TV series creator and producer William Dozier.

All the money was donated to a charity the local Star Fleet chapter worked with... Yvonne Craig enjoyed meeting fans".

[11] Craig died at age 78 at her home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, on August 17, 2015, from breast cancer that had spread to her liver.