The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy

by Grace Lee Whitney, Leonard Nimoy (Foreword), Jim Denney (Primary Contributor)

She opened for jazz great Billie Holiday, shared the set with Marilyn Monroe, and flirted on-screen with Jack Lemmon. In her dream role, Gene Roddenberry beamed her aboard the Starship Enterprise as Yeoman Janice Rand in the original “Star Trek” series. But a terrifying sexual assault on the studio lot and her lifelong feelings of emptiness and isolation would soon combine to turn her starry dream into a nightmare.

Genres: Star Trek, Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Grace Lee Whitney (born Mary Ann Chase) is an American actress and entertainer. She is best known as Janice Rand on the Star Trek television series and subsequent films and as the original mermaid for Chicken of the Sea tuna ad campaign

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am, frankly, ashamed that nobody who's reviewed this on Goodreads so far has commented on how INSANELY MESSED UP this book is.

Don't be misled by the packaging. This is not a Star Trek memoir. It isn't a celebrity call-out. It's a mess of an autobiography that begins, ends, and dwells in the middle on how its author was raped by an unnamed "Executive" during the brief period when she starred in 8 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series. It's a book about a rape, and how it destroyed Grace Lee Whitney's fragile ability to hang on to functional alcoholism and set her life into a downward spiral.

And then, in the last couple of chapters, it's about how she hit rock bottom, went to AA, became a born again Christian, and got minor roles in a couple of the Trek films. And forgave Gene Roddenberry for not fighting for her character and for letting her be written off the show the week after she was raped.

So. Let me start by saying: This book is SUCH A MESS.

It's loaded down with a poisonous amount of self-blame and internalized misogyny that makes it painful to read. And the author seems completely in the dark about how much self-hatred and misogyny is making it onto the page, or how toxically patronizing she's being about people who are "immoral," "sinful," and "promiscuous". (How are people reviewing this book and not commenting on any of this??)

Obviously, I picked up The Longest Trek because of the recent social media uproar. I like original source documents and I love Star Trek, so I wanted to do my own reading to verify the anonymous claim circulating on twitter that Gene Roddenberry raped Grace Lee Whitney.

Having read Grace Lee Whitney's book for myself, I don't believe Gene Roddenberry was "The Executive" who raped her.

Whitney says that despite his making passes at her continuously, she never slept with Roddenberry (p.73). She also talks about being angry with him when she was written off the show because "whatever the real reason I was written out, Gene had a hand in the decision. I was always aware that one little word from Gene could have kept me on the show." (p.108) (This is a few chapters after she attributes her firing from the show to The Executive's discomfort with seeing her around after he assaulted her.)

Toward the end of the book, she devotes a chapter and a half to her return to the Star Trek fold and her friendship with Gene Roddenberry later in their lives--something that makes no sense at all if you believe Gene Roddenberry is The Executive.

Don't get me wrong. I can see the argument for it having been Roddenberry who raped her, and the appeal of blaming it on him. He takes the credit for everything Trek, why shouldn't he take the blame, too? Roddenberry was a known womanizer and a cheat. He wrote and talked about women in sometimes terrible ways, and it's hard to imagine who else on set had the power over hiring and firing that Whitney attributes to The Executive. That said, it's also possible that her firing was coincidental and had nothing to do with the rape.

Based on my reading of this book, I don't believe Gene Roddenberry is "The Executive." But I can't authoritatively say that he wasn't. If it was Roddenberry who assaulted her, then Whitney made a very deliberate choice in her memoir (and every time she was asked about it later) to refuse to call out her attacker. If it was Roddenberry, then she went to a lot of effort to obscure that in her book--published 7 years after his death--and to rebuild a relationship with him later in her life.

This, despite cavalierly telling a story about the time Shatner hit her on set ("Bill just knew that a surprise slap across the face would put me right back in that frame of mind, that painful sense of having just been violated by the captain. ...As a result, I gave a terrific performance in a single take." (p.94)).

And then there's the entire chapter of condescending, AA-fueled, pop psychology dismissal of Gene Roddenberry's creativity and his atheism, in which she projects her own neediness, sex addiction, and alcoholism onto him and finds him wanting.

Can you tell how much I struggled with this book?

I walked away with the impression of an often-miserable, self-hating, puritanical woman, whose story of her own life is deeply frustrating to read--but which is clearly not intended as a call-out of Roddenberry or anyone else. It's obvious that she wrote it as part of her AA process and to put her demons to rest. I hope she found peace while she wrote it, and afterwards.

I think her decision not to name her attacker needs to be respected, and I think it does the fans, Roddenberry, and Whitney herself a disservice to pretend to claim authoritatively that it was or wasn't Roddenberry who assaulted her. Based on this book, I don't believe it was--but I think we can't possibly know, and to claim otherwise is misleading at best.

In conclusion: You're not going to find answers here. And you're probably going to regret the time you spent reading it.

[Lenny Husen · Rating 3 out of 5]

POSITIVES: if you are a fan of Star Trek TOS or of GLW herself, you should read this book.
Some great anecdotes about Star Trek and she has had a very interesting life, worked hard, partied hard.

NEGATIVES: not well-written, repetitious, and very "Narcissistic Born-Again Christian."
Alternates between self-pity and self-abnegation.

[Kryptonian Fletch · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is just plain annoying.

[Bryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even with a co-author, Whitney's book lacks the polish of her contemporaries from the Star Trek show. It is quite repetitive and seems to mention 'alcoholism' in every other paragraph, which gets very irritating, very quickly. Also annoying is her use of the phrase 'my friend INSERT FAMOUS NAME' to refer to just about anyone of note she has ever met, even if she doesn't bump into them again for twenty years. Despite all its flaws the book is filled with genuinely interesting anecdotes, told with a captivating honesty.

Highlights of her life worth reading about include her conversion to Judaism, her rampant sex life (which includes science fiction writer Harlan Ellison and astronaut Buzz Aldrin), her years of excessive drink and drugs abuse, and tales of working on the film Some Like It Hot (1959) and sharing a stage with Phil Silvers.

If you want to know even more about Grace Lee Whitney and her book, then please read my full review here: http://www.therefinedcowboy.com/what-...

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because I'm a huge fan of Star Trek, particularly the original series. Janice Rand was a prominent character in many of the early episodes of Star Trek and so I've kept up with her a little over the years. However, I didn't know a lot of things revealed in this book. Whitney comes off as a positive person, if a little self-absorbed in her early life, and a little "off the walls" later. She became extremely god oriented in later life as she recovered from alcoholism, which doesn't seem to be all that rare in such cases. She certainly doesn't pull any punches about her own blame for what happened to her, and the work certainly reads very honestly. The last quarter of the book focused a lot on her belief in god and involved some proselytizing. I found that part a bit dull. But the first three-quarters of the book kept me reading. All in all, I enjoyed it quite a lot.

[J.W. Braun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grace's book has some interesting bits, and it's nice to see her set the record straight after William Shatner messed up her story in "Star Trek Memories". Unfortunately, the book also has a lot of boring bits, and it doesn't have a very interesting structure. It needed a better coauthor than the one she worked with.

[Miles Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess that when I bought this book, I wasn't expecting much. The lesser members of the original "Star Trek" cast -- Doohan, Takei, Nichols, Koenig and Whitney -- spent the entire back half of their lives milking their participation on the classic series for all it was worth, and decades of being worshiped at conventions gave some of them enormously swelled heads. I figured Whitney, who I put last on the list because she appeared in the fewest episodes, would be doing the same here -- making herself look more important to the Trek legacy than she actually was, trying to take credit for work she didn't really do. I was very, very wrong. THE LONGEST TREK is, I believe, a work of brutal emotional honesty, and far different than what I was expecting in other regards as well.

Grace Lee Whitney was a singer and actress who had a very busy career in the 50s - 60s. She worked on the singing circuit with people like Billie Holiday and Count basie, Broadway ("Top Banana"), in feature films ("Some Like It Hot" with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe) and extensively on television. In 1966, she was cast as Yoeman Janice Rand on "Star Trek," which she regarded as at once the pinnacle and the downfall of her personal and professional life. And indeed, THE LONGEST TREK is a story of downfall, a downfall long in the making, which took Whitney to what addicts call "rock bottom."

Whitey grew up in a small Michigan town, the adoptive daughter of a conservative family. Finding out she was adopted seems to have caused her immense psychological upset, which resolved in wild behavior -- drinking, smoking, and sex at an early age. By the time she was about high school senior level she had already killed a man in a drunk driving hit-and-run (for which she was never caught) and had two back-alley abortions, one of which is described in brief but gruesome detail. A beautiful woman and a talented singer, she broke into showbiz with her voice first before getting her first acting gigs in the age of live television. Her first husband was Jewish, which caused her to convert and assume, in the habit of most religious converts, an aggresively "nationalistic" attitude about her adoptive religion. Getting cast in a recurring role on "Star Trek" was a very exciting moment for her because, being touchy about adoption, she felt ectstatic about finding a "home." Now, as most TREK fans know, the character of Janice Rand was featured heavily in the first half of the first season, and then disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again. Various theories were put forth over the years about her departure, ranging from her alcoholism to weight gain to the fact that the sexual tension between her character and James Kirk made it awkward for Kirk to pursue romantic storylines with guest characters, etc. Whitney tells a different story, at least in terms of emphasis. She says she was sexually assaulted by a studio suit she calls The Executive at a TREK cast party, and that this same man most likely had her blackballed afterward, following the habit of sexual predators to discard their victims so they don't have to look at them. Getting written out of TREK triggered a nasty and lengthy spiral into depression, worsening alcoholism, drug abuse, and sexual depravity that ended up with her career and second marriage in ruins, and her wandering L.A.'s Skid Row, drinking cheap booze and wondering what went wrong. Whitney's story from that point is a long road back into sobriety and a religiosity of her own making, with entire chapters devoted to her quest for sobriety and spirituality, as well as her desire to return to the TREK fold and how its legacy has shaped her life.

THE LONGEST TREK is a well-written book, with ghostwriter Jim Denney skilfully interweaving the history of STAR TREK (and Hollywood) into Whitney's life in a way that is curiously fresh. Unlike other TREK memoirs, which repeat the same old stories over and over again, Whitney/Denny's narrative challenges the established narrative of the show's history on many points. She also talks very frankly about her relationships with Harlan Ellison (who wrote "City on the Edge of Forever"), Leonard Nimoy and Gene Roddenberry, and recreates 70s Hollywood in a very visceral way. She holds back nothing about the depths of degradation she reached at the low points of her life -- the book is at times gruesome -- and tries to explain how the behavior of addiction is generic behavior, following predetermined courses with predictable results. Nor does she solely blame "The Executive" as she calls him, for ruining her career, which she could easily be forgiven for doing, when the reality was more complicated. Most importantly, she is painfully honest about WHY Janice Rand was important to Grace Lee Whitney, rather than trying to convince us how important the character was to the show. (Anyone who has heard, for example, George Takei speak will know what I'm talking about there.)

I confess I found some aspects of the book to be aggressively off-putting. A big theme of TREK is admitting your trespasses and making amends for them, and she goes into great detail about how she hunted down many people from her past to offer apologies; yet the man she supposedly killed while drunk driving as a teenager is never mentioned afterwards. She's terribly upset about broken relationships and the hurt her alcoholism caused others, but seems totally indifferent to causing a man's death while drunk. And her attitude on religion is full of chauvinism and contradictions. For example, having converted to a strict form of Judaism so she could marry her first husband, a Sephardic (Arab) Jew, she blames his misogyny "on the Arab side of him"...as if Orthodox/Hisidic practices are progressive on the subject of women! She also seems to have been "born again" while visiting Israel, accepting the divinity of Jesus, but insists on avoiding the use of his name and on calling herself Jewish. Since most Jewish people I know, including my own relations, consider Judaism to be as much an ethnicity as a faith, her claim to Judaism is perhaps tenuous even with the conversion; with acceptance of Jesus as divine, that pretty much puts paid to any idea she can claim to be Jewish in my mind. She also spends an entire chapter refuting Gene Roddenberry's brand of atheism. It's interesting to read as a kind of essay, but turns the book in the direction of religious proselytizing, which is also a distictly non-Jewish trait, since Judaism doesn't seek converts. Maybe I'm overblowing this, in fact I probably am, but it just struck me as kind if bizarre and off-putting.

Having said that, I think this is a good book on several levels: as a good, fast, entertaining read; as a very fresh and interesting take on STAR TREK and its phenomenon from an inside'rs persepctive; a very, very pre-#MeToo expose on behalf of women working in a Hollywood that regarded female talent as little more than subhuman sex objects to be used and discarded; and one person's very hard road from the depths of substance abuse and self-degradation to self-respect and positivity.

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

The autobiography of Grace Lee Whitney, probably remembered most for her appearance as Yeoman Janice Rand on the original Star Trek. As well as that role she many other parts on various TV shows of the 60's. One thing I didn't know was that she was one of Sweet Sue's band in the movie 'Some Like it Hot'.
Unfortunately, behind the scenes, her story was similar to that of Casandra Peterson (Elivra) in that she suffered abuse at the hands of men in Hollywood. She was adopted as a baby and that had a profound impact on her outlook on life. It's a sad and moving story and I admit I found much of it depressing to read. It's her story though and deserves to be read.

[Ralph Calhoun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read this as I was also watching the early Star Trek Episodes that featured Grace as Yeoman Rand. This book has as much about her alcoholism and other addictions as it does about Trek so some might not enjoy that, but I was glad to see Grace get sober AND find Jesus. As a Christian Trek fan this was a great thing. I'd probably give it 3 1/2 stars. It is repetitive at times. Still a good look at her life and I'll probably explore some of the other shows and movies she appeared in over a long career.

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable and most unusual book. It was one part biography and one part Christian testimony. You can tell that Grace Lee Whitney is not a professional writer, but very few autobiographies are ever written by professional writers.

[WhatShouldIRead]

I read to escape and immerse myself into the book's world. Unfortunately neither of which I got with reading a portion of this book. I did not want to immerse myself into alcoholism nor a casting couch event. Perhaps later in the book the author spoke about working on Star Trek, which is why I wanted to read this book, but where I stopped there was just a mention of the show along with alot of unpleasantness extraneous material.

[Carol Rizzardi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been a Star Trek fan for more than 50 years, and when I learned of this book, I was eager to read it. What a disappointment. A good 20% of the book was devoted to how good-looking she was/is. Another 20% was repetitive, exact same sentences repeated throughout the book. At least 10% was proselytizing, detailing her visions and born-again status, and 10% was Hollywood name-dropping. A full 100% was just poor writing. I blame the co-author. The reading level was fifth grade, at the most. I ended up speed-reading the book.

[Mari Romancegirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I am not, nor was I ever a Star Trek fan. I was interested in her story as she was adopted and became an actress. Grace did find her birth family and discovered her story. Her mother worked in a department store and was in a relationship with a travelling salesman. She was unmarried when she became pregnant and gave Grace up for adoption. Unfortunately, she didn't find out the wherabouts of her birth mother until she had been dead for 10 years, and the remaining family would not acknowledge her. They would not accept that she had a child out of wedlock.

Her adoptive mother never acknowledged Grace as her "real child", so Grace grew up feeling unaccepted. Grace's story is a very self destructive one. Her use of alcohol ruined many opportunities in her life. And although I understand alcoholism is hereditary, I do not believe Grace's reasoning for her actions. She chose to drink, she chose to be promiscuous, and she chose to marry the wrong men. She drove drunk at a young age and may have killed a man when she was 15. She had 2 abortions as well.

Her story of how she ended her Star Trek career, I'm not sure I believe it. If an executive had assaulted her, why didn't she report him? He could have assaulted other women on the show? Why didn't she do something? Why, when she told Leonard Nimoy what happened, why didn't HE do something? Why didn't he go with Grace to law enforcement? Why would Grace consider Leonard Nimoy a friend? Friends don't do that!

I appreciate Grace's honesty. I appreciate her story. She really went through alot.

This book is a lesson of what NOT to do when you drink too much, have no self respect, and sleep with too many men. I was fascinated.

[F · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost did not read this book because of the semi-graphic nature of the assault [she handled the telling well but note that this book is NOT for pre-pubescent children and even up to adulthood I would be cautious in that regard].

The book might be considered by some to be religious but this should be considered in the context of the biographical nature inherent in the book. I don't have a problem with it but I know some people might take offense unfairly since this is Grace's story. It seems strange to me that people get upset when reading a biography [auto or otherwise] and then get offended when a personal experience is included just because it is Christian.

Not a polished book [some repetition, etc. _ realize Whitney is not a writer but the "with" writer should have caught that. The author is quite open about her own faults [almost to a fault] but it is necessary in the telling. I went back and watched her Outer Limits episode because of this book and enjoyed it thoroughly. It's hard for me to imagine she was only 5 years younger than my own mother [I am 60 now, watched Trek in its original run on network television as a 5th grader].

[Ian Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Longest Trek” by Grace Lee Whitney (1998) This edition, second edition 2007

Overall Rating 5/10 – “In”credible

Writing Style
Easy, flowing short sentences.

Critique
I very much wanted to know about her Star Trek life and, of course, the autobiography mostly stayed within that area. I was shocked to learn of her bad experience and the subsequent consequences to her role as Janice Rand. While I was reading this I was “niggled” that something wasn’t quite right and it wouldn’t sit properly with me. A short time later I came to realise that what I had read was probably untrue. Not a lie, but rather distortion of what actually happened. Of course, I can’t possibly know the truth but this realisation then pretty much destroyed my desire to read the book.

I did read the penultimate chapter (about Gene Roddenberry) but my mind was polluted and I could not read it objectively.

Regrettably, after that chapter I set the book aside.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all what I would have expected. It is not especially well written. I should make greater allowance for including recaps of every play, movie, and tv show Whitney was in - after all, this was written before IMDB and Wikipedia - but I'm not sure why a book aimed so explicitly at Trekkies needed complete plot summaries of every episode and movie featuring Rand. The name-dropping sometimes felt heavy-handed, too. But despite that, Whitney's personal story is so compelling and told so honestly that it elevates the book above a typical memoir. The content is better than the writing is poor. In the end, the book I was most reminded of was not another Star Trek biography but C.S. Lewis's Surprised By Joy. Worth reading to the end.

[David Hibberd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is, as Mr. Spock would say, Fascinating. Grace Lee Whitney led a mostly troubled life. Put up for adoption as an infant and raised by her adoptive mother who would not acknowledge Grace as her daughter had lasting effects on Grace. She started drinking at a young age, got involved with drugs and sex. Spent many years suffering from a variety of addictions. She turned from her Christian upbringing and converted to Judaism. Was married twice and raised two sons. When life had knocked her down to the point of despair, she began the Twelve Step Program and turned her life around. Using her life experiences she shares her story in prisons, at conventions, and other locations to help others with addictions understand that these things can be overcome.

[Mick Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good book,mainly to do with her private life with a few snippets to appease the star trek fans.she had survived not one but two sexual attacks while doing the original series,her alcoholism comes under the microscope.the executive who goes unnamed in the book can be found albeit allegedly on the internet.more of a book about one persons recovery from substance abuse which if it helps one more person by reading it via an interest in star trek then it has found a purpose.

[Auntie M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first chapter was really hard to read because it was about a sexual assault. The last two chapters were really hard to read because they were preach-y and super Christian. But the rest of the book was interesting and informative!

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A frank and sometimes disturbing account of the life of an actress/performer decades before the Me-Too phenomena. In the end she came out on top, but paid several little prices along the way.

Wish I could have met her during those final years .... Rest In Peace, Grace Lee!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A supplement to my Star Trek Remastered viewing.

[Dan William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, a quick read and worth it if you are a fan of Star trek; TOS.

[Ancient Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting life story... I'm glad she found a way to get a handle on her life, even if I don't buy into that New Age-y, Born Again religiosity she tries to foist on the reader.

[tyRonE hArDing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good inspiring read. One of the better of the ST biographies

[Edward Champion · Rating 4 out of 5]

My unanticipated TREK studies in January continue with this brave tell-all book from Grace Lee Whitney, who played Yeoman Rand. Yes, there is the vile Executive, who sexually assaulted Whitney shortly before she was let go from TOS. But this volume is an attempt by an addict and an alcoholic to emerge from the malady with dignity. Even with Jim Denney ghost-writing, we learn that Whitney deeply cared about the Rand character and loved STAR TREK -- even going so far as to write songs during the production of ST:TMP. She also had tremendous talent, insights, and experience (enough to win the eyes of Harlan Ellison and Buzz Aldrin -- she dated both of them!). Being fired from STAR TREK after being sexually assaulted was a tremendous blow. And there are heroes and villains here. Leonard Nimoy (also an alcoholic) was a true and very kind mensch to Whitney. Shatner -- opportunistic shit that he is -- called Whitney for an interview for one of his books and completely distorted her story. And then there's Roddenberry, who may or may not be the Executive. This manipulative motherfucker tried to play a "prank' on Robert Wise just as Whitney was sobering up, where Whitney dressed up like a tramp. Wise hated this and treated her like shit during the production and this caused Whitney to backslide into drink and dope. And for all of you insensitive Goodreads fucks harping on Whitney for being "born again," go jump in the ocean and never come back. It's amazing that Whitney got her life together (which included raising two sons, largely on her own) and didn't blame the people who hurt and victimized her. This book firmly put me onto Team Whitney and I'm really glad that she told the truth about her life and managed to find a way out of her addictions.

[Bruce Stephenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grace Lee Whitney's account of her life before, during, and after Star Trek. A sexual assault, alcoholism, drugs, lost opportunities, and sex addiction dominate a large part of her story, yet it is somehow vivaciously readable. There are some clues throughout the book but it isn't really until you reach the last few chapters that Grace describes being 'born again' and having visions of 'Y'shua ha Mashiach' - here the book becomes 'preachy' (but not offensively so) and her purpose for writing it becomes clear. It was, however, interesting to read about Star Trek and some of the people involved from her unique perspective - she has a few things to say about Gene Roddenberry, Leonard Nimoy (a kind and supportive friend), and surprisingly little to say about William Shatner. I was unaware of her musical talents, and was surprised to discover that she has recorded several songs inspired by Star Trek. A quick and entertaining read.

[Vickie Woodard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a Star Trek nut. I have books, all the movies, action figures and Christmas ornaments.
Ok. My son gave me mint condition action figures. And plates. I forgot about the plates.
So naturally I read biographies and autobiographies of the cast.
At times this book read like a marathon name dropping.
But then Whitney drops the superficial and lets us see who she is.

[Emerson Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me cry. Rest in peace, Miss Whitney.

[Mrs. Lynn Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ghostwriting combined with an amazing life full of ups and downs equals a compelling, can't bear to put it down read.