http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/20/arts/television/batgirl-dies-yvonne-craig.html?_r=0
Yvonne Craig, the actress best known as Batgirl in the 1960s TV series “Batman,” died on Monday at her home in California. She was 78.
In her role as Batgirl, Ms. Craig added a scrappy, girl-power element to the campy crime series whose other prominent female character was a slithery, sexy Catwoman played by Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt.
Joining the show in its third season, Batgirl’s flash of purple and yellow contrasted with the caped crusader’s dark image. She was known for jumping into the fray along with Batman and Robin, and for delivering a few clunks, pows and zaps of her own to villains.
Before she began her TV career, Ms. Craig was a ballet dancer and traveled with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as the group’s youngest member. Besides “Batman,” she acted in a number of TV series, including “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Land of the Giants,” “Mod Squad,” “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” “Love, American Style,” “Emergency!” and “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father.”
She also appeared in the 1964 Elvis Presley film “Kissin’ Cousins.
The Ohio-raised actress wrote a book, “From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond,” in 2000. After Hollywood, she began a career as a real estate broker.
