Grace Lee Whitney, an actress who appeared on the first season of the original Star Trek and became a fan-favorite, has died. She was 85.
Her family told StarTrek.com that she died peacefully at her Coarsegold, California home.
Before Trek, Whitney appeared on Broadway and in the Billy Wilder films Some Like It Hot and Irma La Douce. She also racked up countless TV guest spots before she joined Gene Roddenberry's sci-fi series.
She only appeared in eight episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series’ first season, playing Yeoman Janice Rand, an assistant and early love interest for William Shatner’s Captain Kirk. According to Deadline, she admitted that she used amphetamines to stay thin and alcohol after she was written out of Trek. In her memoir, The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, she also wrote that a Desilu executive sexually assaulted her. She did credit Leonard Nimoy for helping her through her struggles.
In the late ‘70s, she was welcomed back into the Trek family, appearing in The Motion Picture, The Search For Spock, The Voyage Home and The undiscovered Country. She even made an appearance in a Voyager episode and two fan films. She also frequently attended fan conventions and fans loved meeting her.
Her family told NBC News that she wanted to be remembered as a “successful survivor of addiction,” not just a Trek actress. “Grace experienced 35 years of sobriety through continuous fellowship with others and through God and Jesus,” they added.
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