{"id":3614,"date":"2015-08-19T18:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T18:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sixtiescinema.com\/?p=3614"},"modified":"2015-08-19T18:00:54","modified_gmt":"2015-08-19T18:00:54","slug":"tribute-to-yvonne-craig-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/19\/tribute-to-yvonne-craig-rip\/","title":{"rendered":"TRIBUTE TO YVONNE CRAIG, RIP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"yvonne-craig\"<\/a>Lovely Yvonne Craig’s passing has truly saddened me. She was one of my childhood favorites along with Miss Julie Newmar, Tina Louise, Deanna Lund from Land of the Giants<\/em>, and Bridget Hanley from Here Come the Brides<\/em>. Yvonne had the looks and knockout figure for sure, but she also had acting talent as evidenced by the varied roles she played. She was the ultimate 60s chick appearing in Elvis musicals, beach parties, spy flicks, melodramas, westerns, the original Gidget<\/em>,\u00a0and guest starring on all the popular TV shows of the decade. She was tops as Batgirl and would bring a smile to my face Friday nights when she frequently popped up on Love, American Style<\/em>. Below is my tribute to her cribbed from my book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

Yvonne Joyce Craig was born on May 16, 1937 in Taylorville, Illinois.\u00a0 When her family relocated to Dallas, Craig began ballet training with Edith James.\u00a0 A superlative dancer, Yvonne wowed guest teacher Alexandra Danilova who chose her to be her prot\u00e9g\u00e9.\u00a0 It was through Danilova that Craig won a scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York, which led her to become the youngest member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo where she progressed to soloist.\u00a0 While on tour in Hollywood, she passed on film offers but when she returned in 1957 (after abandoning a career in ballet possibly because she was a bit too voluptuous to be a dancer) she accepted the female lead in the handsomely produced western The Young Land<\/em> (1959) starring Patrick Wayne as a lawman torn between the Anglos and Mexicans in the newly formed state of California.\u00a0 Craig with cleavage amply on display played his Senorita girlfriend.\u00a0 When filming was delayed, she accepted a supporting role in the teenage exploitation film Eighteen and Anxious<\/em> (1958).\u00a0 More movie roles followed\u2014the disapproving high school friend of Sandra Dee\u2019s surfing sweetie in Gidget <\/em>(1959) and a pony-tailed teenage vixen who puts the moves on shy drummer Sal Mineo in The Gene Krupa<\/em> Story<\/em> (1959).\u00a0 Craig also began appearing on the small screen with small guest roles on Schlitz Playhouse of Stars<\/em>, Perry Mason<\/em>, Bronco<\/em>, Philip Marlowe<\/em>, and a few appearances on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 1960, television viewers were treated to Yvonne Craig playing the sweet ing\u00e9nue on episodes of The Barbara Stanwyck Show<\/em>, Channing<\/em>, The Dick Powell Show<\/em>, Dr. Kildare<\/em>, Follow the Sun<\/em>, Hennessy<\/em>, and many others.\u00a0\u00a0 On the big screen she played a brainy college coed in the Bing Crosby comedy High Time<\/em> (1960) where she met her first husband Jimmy Boyd (they divorced two years later) and a young nurse held captive by the Japanese in the WWII adventure Seven Women from Hell<\/em> (1961).\u00a0 Craig then shocked her fans when cast as the town tramp who vamped rich playboy George Hamilton in By Love Possessed <\/em>(1961).\u00a0 Sitting in his car, the amorous Craig seductively purrs, \u201cIf, ah, I get drunk and pass out\u2026it\u2019s no fun for me.\u00a0 If you get drunk and pass out\u2026it\u2019s no fun for me.\u201d\u00a0 After their roll in the hay he gives her the brush off.\u00a0 Furious, the gold digging tart then accuses him of rape.<\/p>\n

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Craig\u2019s big screen persona softened during the mid-Sixties after signing a contract with MGM and co-starring twice with Elvis Presley.\u00a0 In It Happened at the World\u2019s Fair<\/em> (1963) she was a small town girl clad in a tight form-fitting dress caught making out on the family sofa with playboy pilot Elvis by her gun-toting father who runs the poor boy out of his house and in Kissin\u2019 Cousins<\/em> (1964) she vied with her hillbilly sister Pamela Austin for the charms of distant cousin GI Presley.\u00a0 In a surprising twist, brunette Craig’s charm lands the King while blonde Austin has to settle for another.<\/p>\n