Dearly departed part one

Batgirl is dead.  Not a joker's bullet to paralyse Barbara Gordon and make her Oracle.  Yvonne Craig, the actor who portrayed the original incarnation of Batgirl in the 1960s Batman TV series, has passed away aged 78, on 18th August, having been treated for cancer in recent years.  Whereas Burt Ward, eight years her junior, who played Dick Grayson/Robin, has some more modern photographs of how he has really filled out when Googled, Craig is indelibly associated with her Batgirl persona, despite roles in the The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Wild Wild West and Star Trek (the original series) and two Elvis Presley films (she briefly dated 'the King').  She was past 30 when she got the job but her youthful looks meant she could pass off as the ten years younger of Barbara Gordon - it is a common trope to hire experienced actors that don't really age to play younger roles, as Buffy the Vampire Slayer amply demonstrated.  At 35, she reprised the Batgirl role, along with Adam West as Batman (who phoned in his performance) and Ward as Robin in a humorous skit of a US government advert notifying people of the law mandating equal pay, still as fresh as daisies (Ward played it well too).
Given the era of the show, the exposure of it and the series of pretty women who had appeared on Batman, Ward has admitted that he and West were 'sexual vampires', admitting that while bedding one lady who had an extras' role, a previous fling from a walk-on part on the show was banging on his front windows.  When Craig joined as Batgirl, Ward claims West said to him, "Burt, let's have a bat sandwich," to which Ward says he drew the line.  Craig divorced in 1962 and didn't remarry until over a quarter of a century later and, with her beauty, I am convinced would have had no problem with the years of 'free love'.
Craig did have one complaint of Batman in that though the screen test showed Batgirl the equal and sometimes better than the men, in the episodes she did appear, she was little more than a sidekick.  Maybe had the series gone on, the screen test side might have got an airing.  Then again it was 50 years ago and sexism was still quite ingrained - the producer, to preserve Batgirl's femininity, refused to allow her to punch enemies, utilising high kicks (Craig's usefulness in previously being a dancer coming into play) and objects lying around to lay low criminals.
One obituary I read wrote Batgirl was introduced as a gimmick to revive flagging ratings but could not arrest the slide, leading to Batman's cancellation.  Like with the original series of Star Trek, this merely ensured it as a cult classic, making it look a foolish commercial decision in hindsight.  Ward, however, claims that ratings were only an oblique factor - Batman was syndicated for a certain run and when that was concluded, the syndicate was not renewed as television networks wanted to do other things.  So Batgirl's appearances were curtailed yet the character was here to stay in other mediums, thanks in large part to Yvonne Craig inhabiting the role so well.