Home Original page

Grace Lee Whitney

Grace Lee Whitney (1 April 1930–1 May 2015; age 85) was an American actress and entertainer best known for her portrayal of Janice Rand in Star Trek: The Original Series. She filmed her scenes for "The Enemy Within" on Thursday 16 June 1966, Friday 17 June 1966 and Tuesday 21 June 1966, her scenes for "The Man Trap" between Thursday 23 June 1966 and Monday 27 June 1966, her scenes for "The Naked Time" on Thursday 7 July 1966 and Friday 8 July 1966, and her scenes for "Charlie X" between Tuesday 12 July 1966 and Friday 15 July 1966, all at Desilu Stage 9.

Whitney's character was originally intended to be a major part of the series, however, she was written out after eight episodes. Whitney returned to the role for several cameo appearances in subsequent Star Trek movies, and featured in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback". She retained an active interest in Star Trek fandom, appearing in several fan films.

Biography[]

Born Mary Ann Chase, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she was adopted by the Whitney family who named her Grace Elaine Whitney. She became a prolific actress in the 1950s and 1960s, debuting on the Broadway stage in "Top Banana" before going on to appear in the 1954 motion picture of the same name. She worked with Jeffrey Hunter in the film The Man from Galveston (1963). Whitney guested on several well-known television series including The Twilight Zone, Bewitched, Batman, Cimmaron Strip, The Virginian, Mannix, and Gene Roddenberry's own Police Story, co-starring DeForest Kelley. She also appeared alongside her Original Series co-star George Takei in a 1998 episode of Diagnosis: Murder.

Whitney had two sons, Scott and Jon Dweck, who also appeared in Star Trek productions.

She died peacefully at her home in Coarsegold, California, at the age of 85. [1]

Star Trek[]

Whitney was cast as "Captain's Yeoman" for Gene Rodenberry's second Star Trek pilot, after his first, TOS: "The Cage" failed to be purchased as a regular series. Whitney appears in early publicity photos with William Shatner, wearing a Cage-style uniform of heavy velour and pants, but reportedly later suggested to William Ware Theiss that he change the female uniform to the more flattering skirt and boots design.

Intended to appear in far more episodes than she ultimately did, Whitney's Yeoman Rand was written out of several episodes, and ultimately dropped from the series after eight episodes. Her last on-screen appearance in the original Star Trek series is at the end of the episode "The Conscience of the King" when she exits the turbolift and gives a cold stare to Lenore Karidian. The following episode, her character is replaced by Dr. Helen Noel in "Dagger of the Mind".

The exact reason for Whitney's dismissal is uncertain; her struggle with alcohol and use of diet pills are sometimes cited as causes, while creator Gene Roddenberry's biography suggests that her departure was simply a budget cutback. In her autobiography, The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, Whitney describes an incident in which she was sexually assaulted by an executive of the Star Trek production team, whom she never identified by name, and she drew a link between this incident and her dismissal a few days later, but afterwards stated that her role was going to be eliminated in any case.

According to Inside Star Trek, Whitney slid deeper into her alcohol addiction after being dismissed from the show. Speaking of her termination from the series, Whitney stated, "they wanted William Shatner to have romances in each episode with a different person, because for him to be stuck with one woman was not good for him and it wasn't good for the audience. That's what they told me, so I was written out. There were two blonde girls and one black girl. Nichelle was a more important character and couldn't be written out. Everything's political in America. One of the blondes had to go. The other one was engaged to the boss, so guess who went? I just about killed myself. I drank, that's what we do, we drink to get rid of pain. I was really mad. My God, was I bitter." Roddenberry later apologized for the dismissal and said it was the "dumbest mistake" he ever made.

When Star Trek: Phase II was in early development, Whitney was slated to return as a ship's officer, and later she was seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as a transporter chief, where Rand was referred to by name, thus reestablishing her character in the franchise. She did not appear in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Rand would then reappear as a Chief petty officer in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Whitney did not have a role in the fifth Star Trek film, but she received a major supporting role in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, as well as a follow-on in the Star Trek: Voyager' episode VOY: "Flashback". Whitney would state that she enjoyed appearing in the Star Trek films that involved her and, of her casting in The Motion Picture, "It gave me a feeling as if I had turned back my life ten years." (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 55)

Whitney commenced to force her chemical dependences and her behavior compulsions into remission (chemical dependence and behavior compulsion both continued to defy permanent cures as of the middle 2020s) in the 1980s and went on to appear in many more Star Trek productions, most recently the 2007 fan film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men and the Star Trek: New Voyages episode "World Enough and Time" (2007), in which she appeared alongside George Takei, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, James Cawley, Jeffery Quinn, and John Carrigan. The episode was directed by Marc Scott Zicree, written by Zicree and Michael Reaves, and stunt coordinated by Leslie Hoffman.

Woman in cafeteria scene[]

Grace Lee Whitney appears in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock in an unspeaking cameo, credited as "woman in cafeteria". The character, a full commander assigned to Starfleet's Command Division (based on her white uniform collar), was never referred to by name, although in the years since many fans have assumed the character seen in Star Trek III was meant to be Janice Rand. When Star Trek IV was released, showing Rand as a Chief Petty Officer, this created a continuity problem since it would be highly unusual for a Commander in rank to loss their commission in this manner and revert to an enlisted Crewman.

In the later years of his life, Leonard Nimoy provided more details about Whitney's appearance in Star Trek III and all but confirmed that the character was not intended to be a return of Rand in the Star Trek franchise. In 2010, Nimoy described how Whitney, coming out of the 1970s struggling with personal tragedy and drug addiction, had approached several producers and executives about resuming her role in Star Trek as Janice Rand. Nimoy then personally invited her to the set of Star Trek III, after the end of principal photography, for a cameo role where he personally directed her reaction scenes to the USS Enterprise returning to Spacedock.

Pleased with the scene, Nimoy included this in the film and then, when directing Star Trek IV, invited Grace Lee Whitney to return, this time formally as Janice Rand, shown as a Chief Petty Officer thus continuing her Crewman career from the Original Series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. ("Grace Lee Whitney in TMP, ST III, and the Voyage Home", BBC Four, 2014)

Star Trek appearances[]

External links[]