Earlier this year, all of the Star Trek community mourned the passing of Leonard Nimoy. Now, comes the news of the passing of Grace Lee Whitney, the actor best known as Yeoman Janice Rand.
StarTrek.com is deeply saddened to report the passing of Grace Lee Whitney, who played Yeoman Janice Rand on Star Trek: The Original Series, in several of the TOS features and also on Star Trek: Voyager. According to her family, the actress and singer died on May 1 at the age of 85, passing away peacefully in her home in Coarsegold, California.
Whitney, a blue-eyed blond beauty, represented one of Star Trek’s greatest cautionary tales and also one of the franchise's most satisfying renaissance stories. She played the deeply professional Rand in eight first-season TOS episodes before being dropped from the series and slipping into an abyss of drugs and alcohol that left her, quite literally, on Hollywood’s Skid Row. She finally got help, found God, and reclaimed her life and career, with an assist from Leonard Nimoy, and spent decades helping others overcome their own addictions.
Beyond the realm of Star Trek, Whitney's credits included the Broadway show Top Banana, such films as Some Like It Hot and Irma la Douce and also many TV guest spots on shows including, The Outer Limits, Death Valley Days, Bonanza, The Rifleman, Bewitched and the pilot for Police Story, which also featured the talents of Gene Roddenberry and DeForest Kelley
Star Trek even came full circle for Whitney, as she was invited back into the fold and appeared in The Motion Picture, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, and The Undiscovered Country, as well as in the “Flashback” episode of Voyager and the fan films “World Enough and Time” and “Of Gods and Men.”.
If you wish to view first season episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series that featured Whitney, you can watch them here for free at the video section of Star Trek.com. They have channels for all Star Trek series.
Grace was a good actor and she will be missed by all who loved her and worked with her.
Star Trek Blogger Kevin Dilmore has written a nice tribute about how he met Grace at one of the first ever Star Trek conventions and even got her autograph! You can read his touching words at Star Trek.com