From Ballet to the Batcave and Equality: Yvonne Craig (1937-2015) |

"So bad it's good" says the old adage and such a statement is definitely true when you think about the kitsch Batman live action television series from the '60s that ended up mesmerising generations of kids with its garish colours and rather ridiculous yet irresistible costumes. Among the main characters of that series there was also Batgirl, played by actress Yvonne Craig. A green-eyed brunette that convincingly starred in quite a few spy girl films, groovy Batgirl-Craig died on Monday at her home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.

Born in 1937, in Taylorville, Illinois, Craig grew up in Columbus, Ohio. She started her ballet training with Edith James and, through guest teacher Alexandra Danilova, Craig won a scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York. She joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo where she was the youngest member of the corps de ballet and where she became a soloist.

While touring in Hollywood she refused some film offers, but accepted them in the late 50s after abandoning ballet. She first starred in the teenage exploitation film Eighteen and Anxious (1958) and the western The Young Land (1959). More movies followed, among them comedy High Time (1960) and Seven Women from Hell (1961) and she also appeared on the small screen playing several guest roles.

In the mid-'60s she co-starred twice with Elvis Presley in It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) and Kissin' Cousins (1964). She also starred in the cult sci-fi film Mars Needs Women (1966) and landed better roles in the spy genre on TV, appearing on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Brain Killer Affair", 1965).

In 1966, she appeared as an U.N.C.L.E. employee in a theatrical film, One Spy Too Many, and, in the same year, she starred in an episode of The Wild Wild West ("The Night of the Grand Emir"), where she played an assassin who performs an exotic Arabian dance.

Craig put her ballet skills to good use playing the role of a Russian ballerina-enemy agent in In Like Flint (1967), before landing the Batgirl role on the Batman TV series.

The main idea of the producers was trying to spice up the series with a female crimefighter and, though skeptical at the very beginning, they went with it after realising Craig looked stunning in her skintight purple suit.

Craig appeared in the series as meek librarian Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon's daughter, by day, and Barbara's alter ego, Batgirl, by night. In this role she helped the Dynamic Duo keeping Gotham City safe.

Craig performed all her stunts in the series, riding the lilac Batcycle, a vehicle characterised by huge and frilly bat wings. Unfortunately, the series didn't get bigger ratings and was cancelled in 1968, and Craig closed the decade landing various roles on The Mod Squad, Star Trek (she is the green skinned alien Orion slave Marta in the episode "Whom Gods Destroy", 1969) and Land of the Giants.

In the '70s Craig returned to the big screen, but, refusing to accept sexy roles, her career came to a halt. She became a real estate agent after retiring from the screen, but, still feeling some connection to the Batgirl character, she complained to DC Comics after Barbara Gordon was shot and paralyzed by the Joker in the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke.

Craig resurged in popularity with the release of Tim Burton's Batman (1989), wrote her memories From Ballet to the Batcave & Beyond (2000) and appeared in the 2005 Ballets Russes documentary.

"Please celebrate Yvonne in your own way and the work she has left behind for you to continue to remember her by and enjoy", an announcement from her family reads on her website and maybe the best way to celebrate her is by remembering her social engagement.

A philanthropist and a long time supporters of education on all levels, Craig was also an advocate for workers unions, free mammograms for women who couldn't afford them (according to a statement on her website, Craig died from metastatic breast cancer that had spread to her liver) and equal pay for women.

Craig's Barbara Gordon/Batgirl was after all a fearless, smart and quick-witted superheroine in high-heeled boots who stood for equality. Batgirl even appeared in a 1974 Public Service Announcement by the U.S. Department of Labor-Wage & Hour Division in which she states she will free Batman and Robin tied to a pole in a deserted warehouse with a bomb ticking only for equal pay (Batgirl: I've worked for you for a long time, and I'm paid less than Robin. Robin: Holy discontent! Batgirl: Same job, same employer means equal pay for men and women).

Whenever she met her fans Craig was surprised to learn her character had inspired many young girls. In a way it sounds almost incredible, but it looks like in 2015, in a world in which women are still fighting for equality on an everyday basis, a fictional masked superheroine from the '60s in a bright costume may still be more inspiring than what we are collectively sold by celebrities and pop stars or by the fashion industry.