Title: From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond
Author: Yvonne Craig
Publisher: Kudu Press (Venice, CA)
Year: 2000
ISBN: 0-9678075-6-5
Size: 6" x 9"
Pages: 166, plus a detailed listing of acting credits and an index
Illustrations: 48 black and white on 24 pages
Price: $25 for a signed copy from Yvonne Craig's website
Where to Buy: http://www.yvonnecraig.com
We all knew that Yvonne Craig could defeat supervillains with style, grace, and high kicks. Now she demonstrates her superlative talents as a story teller, and what stories she has to tell! In her autobiography, Craig reminds us all that she has had a long and colorful career in Hollywood, working with Dennis Hopper, James Cann, James Coburn, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Vincent Price, William Shatner, Don Knotts, and Ricardo Montalban, just to name a few. Craig's book is full of interesting and amusing stories about working with her varied co-stars. These accounts not only give detailed insights into her colleagues, but also reveal Craig's own delightful and witty personality. But what is so engaging is that Craig not only succeeds in entertaining the reader with details of her acting career, but her book also contains fascinating and sometimes strange surprises about her life, such the her encounter with Howard Hughes. Furthermore, Craig is not shy about sharing her observations, philosophies and life lessons, giving the reader more insight into this fascinating woman.
Most of Craig's book covers her acting career, with a few other chapters about her time as a ballerina, her love affairs, and her love of animals. Her time as Batgirl gets one chapter, and so does her appearance on Star Trek. Here, and elsewhere in the book, we find many amusing stories, and also very frank and open discussions of her co-stars.
There is twenty-four page section of illustrations in the book. These are black and white and are placed two per page. They cover Craig's acting career, and also include some from the ballet and her personal life. Most are rare and are nice to see. But the highlight of the book is Craig's wonderful stories. Fans who want pin up photos of Craig are best served by buying 8 x 10's from Craig's web site and other sources.
The book also contains a detailed summary of Craig's film and television credits. This is based upon this reviewer's research and is also available at this web site. Since Craig makes many specific references to her acting roles, the summary of credits is a useful guide to the reader.
