The woman who will always be the definition of Batgirl passed away Monday from cancer. Craig was never a major star, usually cast in supporting or guest roles but when she appeared in Star Trek she was memorable as the Orion mental patient Marta in the episode “Whom Gods Destroy.” That rather over-top episode is a minor fave for being a showcase of aliens since Marta wasn’t the only non-human patient being treated for mental illness (I know, it’s not in my top 10).
Only in the last few years did I find out Batgirl’s alter ego was originally Betty Kane and the TV show caused the change to Barbara Gordon, probably as a marketing decision. I’m confident there was a fanboy uproar in 1968 but back then it was in isolated pockets nobody could hear. I’m also surprised the character didn’t appear until 1961, I figured DC rolled Bat-Girl (the original spelling) shortly after the Kefauver hearings alleging Batman and Robin were homosexuals in the Fifties.
Regardless, Mrs. Craig was awesome as Batgirl on TV and to this day you can see her influence on how the character is visualized today in DC Comics and the Nineties animated show (the red hair poking out from under the cowl namely). Both incarnations portray Batgirl as younger, I think she was in her upper teens on the cartoon and they scaled her age back to her early twenties after the book’s soft reboot last year. When Craig had the role she was 30! Any woman over 25 today is no longer a “babe” in Hollywood so they get cast as parents or spouses now unless they have serious pull. To me, she one of the last “real” women to get such a part. She was sexy without being fake, smutty or low-brow.
Thanks for getting me to like some female superheroes was I was a little boy Mrs. Craig. We always were stoked to see Batgirl swinging in to hit a bad guy during the opening credits of Batman‘s third season.