TV's Batgirl, Yvonne Craig, Dead at 78

It seems like bad form to think of yourself and your own mortality when someone dies. But the death of Yvonne Craig, best known as Batgirl from the 60s TV version of Batman, does just that. It makes me sad for a piece of my childhood dying. It makes me realize how old I am, given that the youthful and vibrant actress I remember was 78 years old at the time of her death. But mostly it just makes me sad.

Image from source, MSN

I was surprised to find out that Craig only appeared on 22 episodes of Batman, given her impact on my childhood memories. Unknown to me at the time, was that she was added in season three of a very short-lived fad of a show.  To me, a child of the 70s, pretty much at the birth of cable TV (when that meant simply having channels 2-13, rather than just 3 or 4 stations), I knew the show from reruns. There could have been hundreds of episodes, I had no idea. They aired them out of order, showing two-parters (from seasons 1 and 2) Monday through Thursday, and then a Batgirl episode on Fridays. I didn't know at the time that she had been added to boost already flagging ratings, and that they'd pared down to a single episode per week in season 3, rather than the cliffhanger and resolution from the first two years. But I did realize that Craig was also the green slave girl that wooed Captain Kirk on Star Trek, another relatively short-lived faddish show.

To me, and many of my era, Craig will remain that beautiful girl, who made a splash that had many ripples beyond the relatively scant number of episodes we watched her in. That's more than most people can claim. RIP, Ms. Craig.

[Excerpt]

TV’s Batgirl Yvonne Craig Dies at 78
 
Yvonne Craig, the actress best known for her role as Batgirl in the 1960’s “Batman” TV series, died on Monday. She was 78. Craig passed away at her home in Pacific Palisades surrounded by her family, according to her spokesman. She had been suffering from breast cancer that metastasized to her liver. . .

Read more at: MSN