Grace Lee Whitney (April 1, 1930 - May 1, 2015) was an American actress and singer, best known for her role as Janice Rand on the original Star Trek television series and subsequent Star Trek films. Born Mary Ann Chase, she was adopted by the Whitney family, who changed her name to Grace Elaine. Sh ... e started her entertainment career as a "girl singer" on Detroit's WJR radio at the age of fourteen. After she left home, she began to call herself Lee Whitney, eventually becoming known as Grace Lee Whitney. In her late teens, she moved to Chicago where she opened in nightclubs for Billie Holiday and Buddy Rich, and toured with the Spike Jones and Fred Waring Bands. Whitney debuted on Broadway in Top Banana, playing Miss Holland. Following the successful run of the show, she joined the cast in Hollywood, where she recreated the role in the 1954 movie of the same name. In Los Angeles, Whitney auditioned for and was cast in the starring role of Lucy Brown in the national tour of The Threepenny Opera. Whitney made more than a hundred television appearances following her television dramatic debut in Cowboy G-Men in 1953; The Real McCoys, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Bat Masterson, The Rifleman, 77 Sunset Strip, Bewitched, Batman, and The Untouchables. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Whitney was also on live television shows including You Bet Your Life, The Red Skelton Show, The Jimmy Durante Show and The Ernie Kovacs Show. Whitney was cast as a member of the all-female band in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot. She shared several scenes with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe, including the famed "upper berth" sequence. She had uncredited roles in House of Wax, Top Banana, The Naked and the Dead, and Pocketful of Miracles. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry cast Whitney in the role of Yeoman Janice Rand, the personal assistant to Captain James T. Kirk, in 1966. Whitney appeared in eight of the first fifteen episodes, after which she was released from contract. She had claimed that, while still under contract, she was sexually assaulted by an executive associated with the series. Later, in a public interview, she stated that Leonard Nimoy had been her main source of support during that time. She went into more details about the assault in her book The Longest Trek, but refused to name the executive, saying in the book, "This is my story, not his." Whitney returned to the Star Trek franchise in the 1970s after DeForest Kelley saw Whitney on the unemployment line and told her that fans had been asking for her at fan conventions. Whitney reprised her role as Janice Rand, who had received a promotion to chief petty officer in Star Trek: The Motion Picture). She also appeared in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, with another promotion, as Lieutenant Commander Janice Rand. Five years later, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the franchise, she returned in the 1996 Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback", along with George Takei. She also reprised her role in two internet Star Trek episodes. In the 1970s, she appeared in The Bold Ones, Cannon, and Hart to Hart. In 1998, she appeared in an episode of Diagnosis: Murder, which reunited her with her Star Trek colleagues George Takei, Walter Koenig and Majel Barrett.
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| Organization | Category | Movie |
|---|
Star Trek
as Yeoman Janice Rand
Episodes: 7
First Aired: Sep 08, 1966
Batman
as Neila
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Jan 12, 1966
Star Trek: Voyager
as Commander Janice Rand
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 16, 1995
Gunsmoke
as Pearl
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 10, 1955
General Electric Theater
as Audrey Henderson
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Feb 01, 1953
Run for Your Life
as Billie
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 13, 1965
The Virginian
as Nina
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 19, 1962
The Big Valley
as Maggie
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 15, 1965
The Eleventh Hour
as Dawn
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 03, 1962
Bat Masterson
as Louise Talbot
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 08, 1958
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Ellen
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 05, 1956
The Outer Limits
as Carla Duveen
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 16, 1963
Diagnosis: Murder
as Encounter Group Abductee
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 29, 1993
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
as Saloon Girl (as Ruth Whitney)
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 06, 1955
The Untouchables
as Fran
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 15, 1959
Temple Houston
as Tangerine O'Shea
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 19, 1963
The Name of the Game
as Suzette
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 20, 1968
Arrest and Trial
as Sally Burns
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 15, 1963
Run for Your Life
as Millie
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 13, 1965
The Detectives
as Susie
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 16, 1959
77 Sunset Strip
as Natasha
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 10, 1958
The Virginian
as Heather
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 19, 1962
Death Valley Days
as Verna
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 01, 1952
Mannix
as Gloria
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 16, 1967
Bewitched
as Babs Livingston
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 17, 1964
77 Sunset Strip
Episodes: 4
First Aired: Oct 10, 1958
Surfside 6
Episodes: 3
First Aired: Oct 06, 1960
The Walter Winchell File
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Oct 02, 1957
Hart to Hart
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 22, 1979
Arrest and Trial
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 15, 1963
Cannon
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 14, 1971
Bring Back...
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: May 10, 2005
Cimarron Strip
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 07, 1967
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 04, 1963
The Rifleman
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 30, 1958
The Detectives
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 16, 1959
Rango
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 13, 1967
The Outsider
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 18, 1968
Popularity History
| Year | Month | Avg | Max | Min |
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| 2024 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 8 |
| 2024 | 7 | 16 | 29 | 5 |
| 2024 | 8 | 18 | 40 | 6 |
| 2024 | 9 | 11 | 25 | 4 |
| 2024 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 4 |
| 2024 | 11 | 5 | 11 | 2 |
| 2024 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 5 |
| 2025 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 4 |
| 2025 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 1 |
| 2025 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 0 |