Slashdot Mirror
Actress Grace Lee Whitney, Star Trek's Yeoman Janice Rand, Has Died
SternisheFan writes: Grace Lee Whitney, the actress who played Yeoman Janice Rand on "Star Trek: The Original Series," reportedly died Friday in her home in Coarsegold, California. No cause of death has been reported. She was 85. The versatile actress and vocalist was born Mary Ann Chase in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1930. She was adopted by the Whitney family, and as a teenager, began her career in entertainment as a singer and dancer. She eventually became interested in acting and in 1966, clinched a role as Yeoman Janice Rand, a personal assistant to William Shatner's Captain James T. Kirk in the first season of the original "Star Trek" TV series.
That is all
Warp speed ahead.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Or Montgomery Scott. That'll be a sad day.
She may have been a minor character, but I remember the first time I watched Return Of Spock, and there was her cameo in Space Dock as the wounded Enterprise limped in. It was pretty emotional scene, and it was nice to see one of the second tier actors again. I thought it was pretty damned nice of Nimoy to bring her back for that cameo.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
She had a falling out with an Unamed Executive in the TV series. I felt she was in more episodes.
I see in a quick search for Yeoman Janice Rand that the good yeoman was a redshirt. So, how could she possibly have lasted this long...?
In any event, thanks for the memories, Grace.
I get the impression they were trying to make her a more major character... However she had some personal issues that got in the way.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I get the impression they were trying to make her a more major character... However she had some personal issues that got in the way.
She said that she was not given a more prominent role, and was eventually removed from the series, because the producers wanted Kirk to have romantic relationships with different women in each episode, to make the show more interesting. So she was written out.
On her IMDB page, she says they wanted to do more with her character, but then realized they had a black girl and two blonds. "One of the blondes have to go. The other one was engaged to the boss, so guess who went?"
I was surprised when I saw she was only in 8 of the episodes from the first season. Seemed like she handed Kirk the clipboard more often than that.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
I get the impression they were trying to make her a more major character... However she had some personal issues that got in the way.
They were going to play off the sexual tension between her and Kirk and have this simmering but never acted upon kind of thing between them. I wonder if she had remained in the series would Kirk have become the space-slut he's famous for?
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
The captain having an affair with a subordinate, let alone a co-worker, my-oh-my. I'd bet what is a really bad idea in the 21st century would still be a bad idea in the 23rd
She said that she was not given a more prominent role, and was eventually removed from the series, because the producers wanted Kirk to have romantic relationships with different women in each episode, to make the show more interesting. So she was written out.
By "different", did they mean green?
Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals.
Well, 50 shades of green.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
And a minor character you'll always be, Anonymous Coward!
She's dead, Jim. Vaya con dios, Yeoman.
I thought it was pretty damned nice of Nimoy to bring her back for that cameo.
Nimoy was pretty dammed nice all around...
For Star Trek 6, he pushed the studio to give DeForest a big raise to $1 millon as thanks for all that he had done. DeForest had never been paid much and was actually rather poor, driving an old beat up car and living in a small home without much savings.
If you look into it, Nimoy has a history of looking out for other people. A real nice person. Hopefully he was beamed right up, where it is we all go...
I can't believe Kelley was screwed around like that. For chrissakes, he was the only actor in The Motion Picture who appeared to have any motion, and he was absolutely critical to TOS's success. In fact, one of the big problems I have with the fandom TOS continuations is that they haven't found a strong Dr. McCoy, and it feels like a jelly filled doughnut without the jelly.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Well, since those shows are almost 50 years old, and she passed away at age 85, that would put her in the late 20's to early 30's when those shows were made.
I can't believe Kelley was screwed around like that.
I wonder if that's SOP by the studios. Pay actors, crew, whoever starving wages unless the particular person is in such demand is when studios will cave in and pay a livable wage. I was talking with a dancer who was approached by Dancing With The Stars production team, she turned it down because they offered something pitiful like $200 (yes, that is one "2" and two "zeros"). Though she does well competing Open Pro and coaching, she isn't that rich to abandoned that for a TV show. Fer christsakes, the stage has gillion dollar gear and a few folks making big bucks. Oh well, we all heard of "hollywood accounting."
mfwright@batnet.com
I see what I did there!
FWIW, I thought Eomer hammered the role rather well...
It's always fun to look up what else people have been in. One that caught my eye was Ms Whitney as an uncredited band member in the still brilliantly goofy Some Like It Hot.
...laura.
1) "The Search for Spock"
2) Although it was the same actress, she wasn't playing Janice Rand in that scene but just a random Starfleet officer.
3) Yes, I agree. The way she stands up and kind of shakes her head when she sees the damage on the Enterprise was somehow moving.
But it was filmed in the mid-20th century. My mother was a legal secretary at the time. What passed for okay then would be lawsuits all around today.
Supposedly Patrick Stewart was so impressed by the salary he gt for TNG that he bought a new car. A Hyundai.
Then again, he had been a theater man.
The first time I saw the movie which was in a theater, *I* immediately identified her as Janice Rand.
Since she was the same actor playing the part as if she was the same character, she was playing Janice Rand.
Film crew here.
If you work for a major studio like Paramount, in California, everyone's supposed to be in a union so they can't get away with paying people a pittance, you're generally guaranteed a living wage, even a very good one, if you can keep working all year (and if you can keep it consistent enough you'll get health and pension). The people you hear cheating at this aren't usually big studios, but little fly-by-night operations making TV movies in the valley, and production companies in right-to-work states like Georgia and Louisiana. Those are the sketchy operations.
Also, most of the time nowadays actors get residual payments, every time a show they acted in airs, they get paid a little something. It's not much but if you act on TV for a long time it really adds up. In the late 60s though it was customary for TV actors to be contracted into a "buy-out," where they sold they residual rights, or they agreed to only take residuals from the first few runs of the show. Back then the idea that a show would make money in re-runs was unheard of and nobody considered demanding residuals. I think I read somewhere that specifically in the Star Trek case, the actors got residuals for the first one or two NBC network re-runs, but they didn't get any money from the syndicated re-runs, which is where Star Trek really made its money.
Rental payments from Star Trek episodes literally kept Paramount in business in the 70s, they would have gone bankrupt without that show.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
I dunno, most of the continuities identify that particular lieutenant commander as Janice Rand, and we see Grace Lee Whitney as Rand in Star Trek I, identified by name as Rand, and again in Star Trek VI as Excelsior's comm officer, not identified there, but later in that Voyager episode where Tuvok remembers his service on Excelsior and LtCm Janice Rand is identified as the officer and is a major character in the episode.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
In The Search for Spock she played woman in cafeteria because the makers would not pay for her to play whatever rank Rand was at the time. It was a nice touch by Leonard Nimoy.
I, like Kirk, always had a crush on Janice Rand. It's sad to see her go.
On her IMDB page, she says they wanted to do more with her character, but then realized they had a black girl and two blonds. "One of the blondes have to go. The other one was engaged to the boss, so guess who went?"
To be fair to Roddenberry, Majel was already demoted from first officer (brunette) to nurse, to keep Spock on the show.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.