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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.
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.
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.
Fat load of good it did her. She got sexually assaulted by a drunk studio exec (And refused to ever name him. She didnt want to cause trouble and only revealed what happened later on). However Nimoy was aware of what happened and becamse a staunch defender of her. So whilst Kirks good graces where of doubtful providence, Spock was certainly on her side.
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
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...