Grace Lee Whitney, Acting - KorPlix:Korean Person Archives

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Grace Lee Whitney
Acting

Grace Lee Whitney
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1930-04-01,Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Gender
Female
Biography
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.

Filmography

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

6.471

Star Trek: The Motion Picture
1979-12-07

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

7.008

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
1991-12-06

Way Down Cellar

6

Way Down Cellar
1968-01-07

The Man from Galveston

5.2

The Man from Galveston
1963-12-18

The Texan Meets Calamity Jane

0

The Texan Meets Calamity Jane
1950-11-15

To the Journey - Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager

0

To the Journey - Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager
2024-11-07

A Public Affair

0

A Public Affair
1962-03-03

Bring Back... Star Trek

3.5

Bring Back... Star Trek
2009-05-09

The Kid with the 200 I.Q.

5

The Kid with the 200 I.Q.
1983-02-06

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

6.58

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
1984-06-01

5

Top Banana
1954-02-22

5

Ironside
1967-03-28

Some Like It Hot

8.098

Some Like It Hot
1959-03-19

6.3

The Captains
2011-07-22

Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

4.3

Star Trek: Of Gods and Men
2007-12-22

Pocketful of Miracles

7.3

Pocketful of Miracles
1961-12-18

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

7.14

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
1986-11-26

7.4

Irma la Douce
1963-06-05

The Naked and the Dead

5.9

The Naked and the Dead
1958-08-06

Critic's Choice

5.5

Critic's Choice
1963-02-24

8

Star Trek
1966-09-08

77 Sunset Strip

6.7

77 Sunset Strip
1958-10-10

Star Trek: Voyager

7.8

Star Trek: Voyager
1995-01-16

7.3

Batman
1966-01-12

5

Surfside 6
1960-10-06

6.8

Hart to Hart
1979-09-22

Arrest and Trial

5

Arrest and Trial
1963-09-15

6.5

Gunsmoke
1955-09-10

General Electric Theater

5.5

General Electric Theater
1953-02-01

6.455

Cannon
1971-09-14

6

Bring Back...
2005-05-10

Run for Your Life

7.167

Run for Your Life
1965-09-13

5.045

Cimarron Strip
1967-09-07

6.429

The Virginian
1962-09-19

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

5.2

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963-10-04

6

The Big Valley
1965-09-15

The Eleventh Hour

6

The Eleventh Hour
1962-10-03

7

The Rifleman
1958-09-30

6.3

Bat Masterson
1958-10-08

5.6

The Detectives
1959-10-16

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

5.5

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956-10-05

0

Rango
1967-01-13

The Walter Winchell File

5

The Walter Winchell File
1957-10-02

The Outer Limits

7.754

The Outer Limits
1963-09-16

Diagnosis: Murder

7.1

Diagnosis: Murder
1993-10-29

5.2

The Outsider
1968-09-18

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

6.7

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1955-09-06

The Untouchables

7.8

The Untouchables
1959-10-15

5.7

Temple Houston
1963-09-19

The Name of the Game

6.8

The Name of the Game
1968-09-20

Arrest and Trial

5

Arrest and Trial
1963-09-15

Run for Your Life

7.167

Run for Your Life
1965-09-13

5.6

The Detectives
1959-10-16

77 Sunset Strip

6.7

77 Sunset Strip
1958-10-10

6.429

The Virginian
1962-09-19

Death Valley Days

6.4

Death Valley Days
1952-10-01

6.7

Mannix
1967-09-16