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Grace Lee Whitney, Yeoman Janice Rand of the Original Star Trek Series, Has Died

posted by takyon on Wednesday May 06 2015, @02:09AM   
from the you're-too-beautiful-to-ignore-too-much-woman dept.

mendax writes:

Multiple sources have marked the death of Grace Lee Whitney at 85. Those old-time Trekkies will recall that she played Captain Kirk's luscious yeoman in the first half of the first season before being fired. However, she made numerous appearances in the movies and one episode of Voyager.

What's interesting about this story is that she was, in fact, older than Leonard Nimoy, who died earlier this year, and William Shatner, who somehow manages to hang on, probably due to his amazing hair pieces, even though she played a character who was much younger than both. She wore her age well, and she will be missed.

• Miniskirt uniforms (Score: 3, Interesting) by JeanCroix on Wednesday May 06 2015, @02:19PM

  by JeanCroix (573) on Wednesday May 06 2015, @02:19PM (#179515)

  An interesting bit of trivia - it was she who originated the women's miniskirt-style uniforms in the original series. From memory-alpha.org:

  In spite of feminist objections, it was actually a woman who was responsible for the introduction of the Starfleet mini skirts and not Roddenberry, as Star Trek lore would have it at the time. It was Grace Lee Whitney, brought in to play Yeoman Janice Rand, who made the suggestion to [costume designer William] Theiss, after she had done pre-production publicity shots, wearing the second pilot style uniforms with pants. Whitney explained, "In fact I was the one that made them do that. My concept of ladies in space were not to look like men. I read a lot of comic books as a kid, and I just saw the ladies as looking as we did. Actually it was shorts with the skirt flap over the front. Bill Theiss did that. And the black stockings, the boots, and the legs. I thought it was just outstanding."

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