Rant #1,496: Goodbye, Batgirl

Another baby boomer cultural icon just died, and we mourn her passing.

Yvonne Craig, the sultry actress who portrayed Batgirl on the groovy, hip 1960s TV series, "Batman," died after battling breast cancer.

She was 78 years old.

Craig was a bit older than most of the other 1960s starlets when she finally hit it big in the late 1960s with her role on "Batman," the pop art TV series about Gotham's leading avenger.

Barbara Gordon was the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, but she had an alter-ego, Batgirl, which battled crime.

She was the perfect counterpoint for staid Bruce Wayne/Batman, and the perfect goo-goo eyed love interest for Dick Grayson/Robin.

And quite frankly, she made all the boys like me goo-goo eyed.

Craig started her acting career in the late 1950s, but it was in the 1960s that she shined. She was in several movies, including two with Elvis Presley--"It Happened At the World's Fair" and "Kissin' Cousins"--and she really made her mark on TV, with numerous guest starring roles in everything from "My Three Sons" to "The Mod Squad" to "Star Trek."

She was as photogenic as could be, with a great figure and a sultry look that was perfect for clean 1960s TV, sexy without being overtly sexual.

But as I said, nothing topped her stint as Batgirl, which people seem to forget was only for one single season, the final season of the show.

But people don't forget her at all, and even the CBS Evening News--as staid a news show as there is--mentioned her passing, and focused on her role as Batgirl.

Most importantly, she was television's first comic book hero, a couple of years before Lynda Carter became "Wonder Woman." Many believe Carter was the first, but they know not what they are talking about--it was Craig.

Craig acted into the 1970s and 1980s and beyond, and most recently, did cartoon voiceover work as her illness mounted, but she will always be remembered for that brief, one season run as Batgirl, something she acknowledged was her most popular and important role time and time again. She knew where her bread was buttered, and it put her in a different category than many of her fellow ingenues in the 1960s.

She was more than a pretty face with a body made to be shown off in a bikini.

She was, will be, and forever, now, is Batgirl.

R.I.P.