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YVONNE CRAIG PHOTO GALLERY #01 |
Updated: January 21, 2021
Yvonne Craig Bio:
Yvonne Joyce Craig, daughter of Maurice M. and Pauline Craig, was born in
Taylorville, Illinois, on May 16th, 1937. The family moved to Columbus, Ohio
around 1940. Yvonne started studying ballet at the age of ten.
Around 1950, Yvonne's parents decided to leave Columbus and move to Dallas.
Yvonne made her parents promise to let her study ballet at the prestigious Edith
James School in Dallas. Yvonne was considered to be a promising dancer, and at
the Christmas show she caught the attention of the guest of honor, prima
ballerina absoluta Alexandra Danilova. Danilova arranged to have Craig audition
for George Balanchine at the School of American Ballet, and Fergei J. Denham of
the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Both accepted her, and Craig chose to join the
Ballet Russe. She started with the Ballet Russe in 1954 at the age of sixteen,
making her one of their youngest members. Craig left the company in 1957 when,
while playing the Metropolitan Opera, Danilova ordered that Craig be replaced as
second lead. Feeling that Danilova had broken her promise, Craig walked out on
her contract.
Craig then moved to Los Angeles and studied dance at the Eugene Loring School.
Even back when she was still with the Ballet Russe, Hollywood producers Edmond
Chevie and Joe Pasternak had approached her to see if she were interested in
acting. Craig informed them that she was not interested in acting but was
content to be a ballerina. When Chevie again approached Craig after she had left
the Ballet Russe, she agreed to enter acting, thinking that it would be a source
of income until she joined another ballet company.
Craig was first hired for the film The Young Land, shot in 1957 but released in
1959. In this Western she played opposite Patrick Wayne (son of John Wayne);
Dennis Hopper and Ken Curtis were also in the film. But before shooting began on
The Young Land, Craig played a small role in the movie Eighteen and Anxious, and
so this was her first time on screen.
Several films later she danced with Bing Crosby in High Time (1960). She became
involved with actor-singer Jimmy Boyd, who was then a roommate of Lindsay
Crosby. Boyd was famous for his early fifties recording of "I Saw Mommie Kissing
Santa Clause." They soon married, against the advice of John Forsythe, who
thought they should first live together. The marriage lasted only two years.
Craig would later reflect that being a child of the fifties, she had thought
that lusting after someone meant that you had to marry them. She later dated
humorist Mort Sahl for more than three years and considered marriage to him.
Later she was deeply involved with actor Bill Bixby, including during her
time on the Batman series. In 1988 she married real estate developer
Kenneth Aldrich, who had been her companion for seventeen years.
Craig also briefly dated Elvis Presley in October of 1962, after meeting him to
act in his film It Happened at the World's Fair. She was also in his movie
Kissin' Cousins.
Craig made numerous television guest appearances, in shows such as Star Trek,
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, My
Favorite Martian, Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, Dobie Gillis, The Mod Squad, My Three
Sons, and The Wild Wild West. Her most famous role, though, is as Batgirl in the
Batman TV series.
Craig's acting career slowed in the seventies when she began refusing bikini
roles. She did some independent casting, and coaching of actors. For a time she
co-produced industrial shows and an independent feature. She then entered the
real estate business, first commercial and then residential, at one point owning
her own business in southern California. She also co-owned a prepaid telephone
card business. She did return to acting in 1990 with the movie Diggin' Up
Business.
Craig has also traveled extensively with her husband, to such exotic locales as
Peru, Africa, and New Zealand. In addition, she now appears regularly at science
fiction conventions, and has written an autobiography of her career, From Ballet
to Batcave and Beyond.
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