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Grace Lee Whitney

Grace Lee Whitney

Grace Lee Whitney (April 1, 1930 - May 1, 2015) was an American actress and singer, best known for her role as Janice Rand on the original Star Trek television series and subsequent Star Trek films. Born Mary Ann Chase, she was adopted by the Whitney family, who changed her name to Grace Elaine. She started her entertainment career as a "girl singer" on Detroit's WJR radio at the age of fourteen. After she left home, she began to call herself Lee Whitney, eventually becoming known as Grace Lee Whitney. In her late teens, she moved to Chicago where she opened in nightclubs for Billie Holiday and Buddy Rich, and toured with the Spike Jones and Fred Waring Bands. Whitney debuted on Broadway in Top Banana, playing Miss Holland. Following the successful run of the show, she joined the cast in Hollywood, where she recreated the role in the 1954 movie of the same name. In Los Angeles, Whitney auditioned for and was cast in the starring role of Lucy Brown in the national tour of The Threepenny Opera. Whitney made more than a hundred television appearances following her television dramatic debut in Cowboy G-Men in 1953; The Real McCoys, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Bat Masterson, The Rifleman, 77 Sunset Strip, Bewitched, Batman, and The Untouchables. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Whitney was also on live television shows including You Bet Your Life, The Red Skelton Show, The Jimmy Durante Show and The Ernie Kovacs Show. Whitney was cast as a member of the all-female band in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot. She shared several scenes with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe, including the famed "upper berth" sequence. She had uncredited roles in House of Wax, Top Banana, The Naked and the Dead, and Pocketful of Miracles. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry cast Whitney in the role of Yeoman Janice Rand, the personal assistant to Captain James T. Kirk, in 1966. Whitney appeared in eight of the first fifteen episodes, after which she was released from contract. She had claimed that, while still under contract, she was sexually assaulted by an executive associated with the series. Later, in a public interview, she stated that Leonard Nimoy had been her main source of support during that time. She went into more details about the assault in her book The Longest Trek, but refused to name the executive, saying in the book, "This is my story, not his." Whitney returned to the Star Trek franchise in the 1970s after DeForest Kelley saw Whitney on the unemployment line and told her that fans had been asking for her at fan conventions. Whitney reprised her role as Janice Rand, who had received a promotion to chief petty officer in Star Trek: The Motion Picture). She also appeared in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, with another promotion, as Lieutenant Commander Janice Rand. Five years later, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the franchise, she returned in the 1996 Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback", along with George Takei. She also reprised her role in two internet Star Trek episodes. In the 1970s, she appeared in The Bold Ones, Cannon, and Hart to Hart. In 1998, she appeared in an episode of Diagnosis: Murder, which reunited her with her Star Trek colleagues George Takei, Walter Koenig and Majel Barrett.

Personal information

Birthday

1930-04-01

Birth Place

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Movies and TV shows :

poster

77 Sunset Strip

1958

6.7

TV
A Public Affair

A Public Affair

1962

0.0

Movie
poster

Arrest and Trial

1963

7.0

TV
poster

Bat Masterson

1958

6.3

TV
poster

Batman

1966

7.3

TV
poster

Bewitched

1964

7.9

TV
poster

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

1963

5.5

TV
poster

Bring Back...

2005

6.0

TV
Bring Back... Star Trek

Bring Back... Star Trek

2009

3.5

Movie
poster

Cannon

1971

6.5

TV
poster

Cimarron Strip

1967

5.0

TV
Critic's Choice

Critic's Choice

1963

5.5

Movie
poster

Death Valley Days

1952

6.4

TV
poster

Diagnosis: Murder

1993

7.1

TV
poster

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

1956

5.5

TV
poster

General Electric Theater

1953

6.0

TV
poster

Gunsmoke

1955

6.5

TV
poster

Hart to Hart

1979

6.8

TV
Irma la Douce

Irma la Douce

1963

7.4

Movie
Ironside

Ironside

1967

5.0

Movie
poster

Mannix

1967

6.7

TV
Pocketful of Miracles

Pocketful of Miracles

1961

7.3

Movie
poster

Rango

1967

0.0

TV
poster

Run for Your Life

1965

7.2

TV
Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot

1959

8.1

Movie
poster

Star Trek

1966

8.0

TV
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

1984

6.6

Movie
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

1986

7.1

Movie
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

1991

7.0

Movie
Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

2007

4.3

Movie
Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

1979

6.5

Movie
poster

Star Trek: Voyager

1995

7.8

TV
poster

Surfside 6

1960

5.0

TV
poster

Temple Houston

1963

5.7

TV
poster

The Big Valley

1965

6.0

TV
The Captains

The Captains

2011

6.3

Movie
poster

The Detectives

1959

5.6

TV
poster

The Eleventh Hour

1962

6.0

TV
The Kid with the 200 I.Q.

The Kid with the 200 I.Q.

1983

5.0

Movie
poster

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

1955

6.7

TV
The Man from Galveston

The Man from Galveston

1963

5.2

Movie
The Naked and the Dead

The Naked and the Dead

1958

5.9

Movie
poster

The Name of the Game

1968

6.8

TV
poster

The Outer Limits

1963

7.8

TV
poster

The Outsider

1968

5.2

TV
poster

The Rifleman

1958

7.0

TV
The Texan Meets Calamity Jane

The Texan Meets Calamity Jane

1950

0.0

Movie
poster

The Untouchables

1959

7.9

TV
poster

The Virginian

1962

6.4

TV
poster

The Walter Winchell File

1957

5.0

TV
To the Journey - Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager

To the Journey - Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager

2024

0.0

Movie
Top Banana

Top Banana

1954

5.0

Movie
Way Down Cellar

Way Down Cellar

1968

6.0

Movie