YVONNE CRAIG 60'S TV BATGIRL (DECEASED) SIGNED 8X10 JSA AUTHENTICATED #N38970

Yvonne Joyce Craig (May 16, 1937-August 17, 2015) was an American ballet dancer and actress best known for her role as Batgirl in the 1960s television series Batman, and as the Orion slave girl Marta in the Star Trek episode "Whom Gods Destroy" (1969). The Huffington Post called her "a pioneer of female superheroes" for television. One of her earliest television roles was in an episode of the TV series Perry Mason ("The Case of the Lazy Lover", 1958) alongside Neil Hamilton, who played her stepfather (later Hamilton played police Commissioner James Gordon, Batgirl's father). Shortly afterwards, she appeared in three films¢The Young Land, The Gene Krupa Story, and Gidget (all 1959)¢and also guest-starred in 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. Craig starred in roles with Elvis Presley in two films: It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) and Kissin' Cousins (1964). She also starred in the 1966 cult sci-fi film Mars Needs Women and appeared in In Like Flint (1967) as a Russian ballet dancer opposite James Coburn. From September 1967, Craig appeared in her highest-profile role¢as Batgirl¢for the third and last season of the 1960s ABC TV series Batman. As Batgirl she wore a purple and yellow outfit and rode a "purple motorcycle with white lace trim",[5] whereas as her alter ego Barbara Gordon she played the librarian daughter of Commissioner Gordon.[8] The New York Times praised her for "add[ing] a scrappy girl-power element" to a TV series it described as "campy".[3] Craig reportedly felt some connection to the character and complained to DC Comics after Barbara Gordon was shot and paralyzed by the Joker in the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke (1988).