Christine White, an actress best known today for her performance in the beloved 1963 Twilight Zone episode “The Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” has died at age 86.
Her death was confirmed in the Carroll County Times. The Washington, DC native died on April 14 at the Brinton Woods Nursing Home in Washington.
She was born on May 4, 1926 and began acting while at the University of North Carolina. She graduated in 1948 and moved to New York, where she frequently starred on live shows like Playhouse 90 and Philco Playhouse during the early 1950s. She later moved to Los Angeles, taking roles in over 50 shows.
Despite her long list of credits, she will always be known to many as the woman who sits next to soon-to-be Star Trek legend William Shatner in “The Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” According to The New York Times, the iconic episode was based on a Richard Matheson short story and has Shatner as a man who thinks the plane is being torn apart by a gremlin during a storm. The episode was later lampooned on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons and became a Twilight Zone fan favorite.
After she left acting, she returned to Washington to take up writing and care for her mother. She is survived by nieces and nephews.
"The Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" - 1963 Version from Dylan JamesT on Vimeo.