Biography
This page uses content from the Grace Lee Whitney biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Grace Lee Whitney (born Mary Ann Chase, April 1, 1930 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is an American actress. She is most famous for playing Yeoman Janice Rand in part of the first season (1966-1967) of Star Trek: The Original Series.
Whitney started her entertainment career as a "girl singer" on Detroit's WJR radio. She soon opened in nightclubs for the likes of Billie Holiday, and toured with the Spike Jones Band. She debuted on Broadway in Top Banana with Phil Silvers and had a bit part in the 1954 movie by the same name. She then starred as 'Lucy Brown' in the national tour of The Threepenny Opera. She also had a small uncredited part in Billy Wilder's classic Some Like It Hot (1959). In Los Angeles, she sang with a number of orchestras and bands, culminating with the release of several songs in the 1970s relating to her experiences on Star Trek, which included "Disco Trekkin'", "Charlie X", and "Star Child".
Whitney reprised her role as Janice Rand, who had received a promotion to Chief Petty Officer (CPO), in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). She appeared again in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), with another promotion, as Lt. (jg) Janice Rand, and finally, the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback". She has made guest appearances on some three dozen other television series.
Her autobiography is entitled The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy (1998) (ISBN 1-884956-05-X). The book delves into her hiring and firing from Star Trek and her fight and eventual victory over alcohol and drug use, particularly marijuana.
An interview with Whitney will be published in Talkin' Trek and Other Stories by Anthony Wynn, coming from BearManor Media, and a collection of her music is to be released on compact disk for the first time; both releases scheduled for 2007. She resides in California.
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