(CNN)-Grace Lee Whitney, who played Yeoman Janice Rand in the original "Star   
   Trek" series and a handful of movies based on the series, died Friday at her   
   home in Coarsegold, California. She was 85.   
       
   Her death was confirmed by the Madera County, California, Sheriff's Department.   
       
   On the official "Star Trek" website, startrek.com, Whitney was described as   
   "one of 'Star Trek's' greatest cautionary tales and also one of the   
   franchise's most satisfying renaissance stories." She was written out of the   
   show in its first season and struggled with alcohol and drug problems before   
   finding recovery, reprising the Rand role in the "Star Trek" films and   
   devoting her life to helping others.   
       
   Originally a singer and dancer from the Detroit area, Whitney worked on   
   Broadway and had a number of small roles in movies and TV series, including   
   "The Real McCoys," "Hawaiian Eye" and "77 Sunset Strip," before being cast as   
   Rand for "Trek's" debut season in 1966. The character was essentially an   
   assistant to William Shatner's Capt. James T. Kirk.   
       
   But she struggled, telling a British tabloid she'd gotten hooked on diet pills   
   trying to stay thin. She also had problems with alcohol, though she told   
   startrek.com that her drinking was not that serious while doing the show.   
       
   She lasted just eight episodes on "Trek" before being let go.   
       
   Her forced departure started a spiral that took years to overcome.   
       
   "I just about killed myself over that reject. And when I would go on   
   interviews, I would smell of alcohol. I was very Lindsay Lohan-ish, very   
   Charlie Sheen. I was lost. I was lost and I began to bottom out," she told   
   startrek.com in 2011. "It took me about 10 years after getting written out to   
   come to my senses when I bottomed out."   
       
   She eventually got help while on Los Angeles' Skid Row, getting into a 12-step   
   program. It turned her life around. (Among her supporters: Leonard Nimoy,   
   "Trek's" Spock, who had his own battles with alcohol.)   
       
   "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry put her in the movies, just going into   
   production, and she appeared in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," as well as   
   the third, fourth and sixth entries in the series. She later appeared on the   
   TV series "Star Trek: Voyager." By that point, she'd been promoted to   
   Commander Janice Rand.   
       
   But by then her focus was on helping others with substance abuse problems. She   
   devoted more than three decades to that work, going public with her own   
   addiction at a "Trek" convention.   
       
   "When I told the fans I was an alcoholic, they all applauded. When I told them   
   I had given myself to a higher power, they cheered again," Whitney told The   
   (Fresno) Bee in 2013. "I'm in a great place because I've gone full circle."   
       
   Whitney wrote a 1998 memoir, "The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy," about   
   her experiences.   
       
   Her family wanted her to be remembered for her outreach.   
       
   "She continued her fellowship work in Fresno and Madera County, completely   
   dedicating her life to helping herself and others find daily sobriety and a   
   higher power out of addiction," her son, Jonathan Dweck, told the newspaper.   
       
   And if her interview with the "Star Trek" website was any indication, she   
   loved her life.   
       
   "Right now I take my grandchildren to school and cart them around, and I'm of   
   maximum service to them," she said. "I also line dance one night a week and I   
   go to the gym three days a week. So, my life is happy, joyous, free, sober and   
   saved, and a lot of fun, too. I have a lot of fun."   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.99   
    * Origin: NCS BBS -Houma, LoUiSiAna- (1:3828/7)