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.

Comments

God bless and keep you, Yeoman Rand

[Anonymous Coward]

That is all

Re:God bless and keep you, Yeoman Rand

[cayenne8]

Wow..I had no idea she was that old.

I used to think she was pretty hot back on the old Star Trek days....

Well, sounds like she had a full life....say hello to Leonard, Deforest and James for us all!!

Re:God bless and keep you, Yeoman Rand

[wcrowe]

Indeed. I recall what St. Nikolai Velimirovic said about death:

"Think of yourself as though you were dead, I say to myself, and you will not feel the coming of death. Blunt the barb of death during life, and when it comes it will not have the means to sting. Think of yourself every morning as a newborn miracle, and you will not feel old age. Do not wait for death to come, because death has indeed already come and has not left you. Its teeth are continually in your flesh. Whatever was living before your birth and whatever will survive your death--that even now is alive within you."

The Undiscovered Country

[Chas]

Warp speed ahead.

Re:Yawn.

[MightyMartian]

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.

Dressed for success?

[Marginal Coward]

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.

Re:Dressed for success?

[BarbaraHudson]

Scotty wasn't just a red shirt - he was THE red shirt. The one that everyone who failed to live up to his level got offed / eaten alive / transporter accident / phasered one time too many / crushed by a rock ... and in the unreleased episodes, killed themselves when they thought their phaser was a blow drier, stepped into to turbo lift without checking to see if it was there, didn't realize that not all planets had earth-normal atmosphere, froze to death when they forgot the difference between 20C and 20K, at the food in the cafeteria ... (that will get you every time, no matter where you are in the universe).

Re:Dressed for success?

[sg_oneill]

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.

Re:Yawn.

[ShanghaiBill]

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.

Re:Yawn.

[I'm New Around Here]

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.

Re:Yawn.

[Opportunist]

Well, 50 shades of green.

Re:Yawn.

[FlyHelicopters]

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...

Re:Yawn.

[MightyMartian]

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.

Re:Yawn.

[k6mfw]

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."