Jill St. John, at right, in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)
Actress Jill St. John, who made a splash as the first femme fatale on the 1966 Batman series and as the female lead in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, turns 80 today.
Born 19 August 1940 as Jill Arlyn Oppenheim in Los Angeles, she was an only child who was groomed to be a performer from an early age. Her career began before she had turned 10, and had a handful of movie and television appearances as a youngster and as a young teen. Her career shifted into high gear in 1957, and continued on through to the end of the century. Since 2000, she has only had three acting roles, the last on the Christmas special Northpole in 2014.
While Jill St. John has kept a very low profile for a variety of reasons, her influence on the comics is an impressive one. As Molly the Mole in the 1966 Batman series, she was a major inspiration for the creation of the Carrie Kelley Robin in the 1980s, and that character has lasted to today. She also was the inspiration for Batman’s love interest, skier Molly Post, in Batman #244-245, which appeared around this time in 1972, and Detective Comics #451 (September 1975).
Overall, she has had an interesting career. We wished she had made more appearances, especially with such classic shows as Perry Mason and The Twilight Zone, but that was not meant to be. At any rate, we wish her the best on her 80th birthday!!!
