Whitney Blake
Whitney Blake | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Nancy Ann Whitney February 20, 1926 |
| Died | September 28, 2002 (aged 76) Edgartown, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, director, producer |
Whitney Blake (February 20, 1926 — September 28, 2002) was an American film and television actress, director and producer.
Early life and career
Blake was born as Nancy Ann Whitney in 1926 in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, the first child of Harry and Martha Mae (née Wilkerson) Whitney. Her childhood was spent traveling across the country with her family, attending 16 different schools. While attending Pasadena City College, she worked in small-theater groups in the Los Angeles area. In the summer, she worked at her mother's ice cream stand in McMinnville, Oregon.[1]
After her appearance in an amateur Hollywood production of The Women caught the attention of talent scouts, she appeared on a number of television programs, including the syndicated Johnny Midnight, Sheriff of Cochise, and twice on Rod Cameron's State Trooper.
In addition, she guest-starred on Mike Connors's Tightrope detective series, in the 1960 episode "High Bridge" of the NBC western series Overland Trail starring William Bendix and Doug McClure. She also appeared in the first episode of the syndicated western series Pony Express in the episode "The Good Samaritan". Her guest appearance in the short-lived series "The D.A.'s Man" garnered an Emmy nomination in 1959.[2]
Blake is best remembered for having portrayed Dorothy Baxter, an interior designer and the wife of George Baxter (Don DeFore), a lawyer, on the NBC sitcom Hazel (1961), starring Shirley Booth in the title role as a bossy maid. In the last season on CBS, DeFore and Blake left the series and were replaced by Ray Fulmer and Lynn Borden, respectively in the roles of Steve and Barbara Baxter, the younger brother and sister-in-law of George Baxter.
After Hazel ended, she guest-starred in an episode of ABC's western series The Legend of Jesse James. In 1967 she played attorney Lee Drake on The Andy Griffith Show. As demand for her in network television and films waned, she became a Los Angeles television talk show host. After that, she reinvented herself and became a film/television director and producer.[citation needed]
Blake guest-starred as "Angie" in "Incident of the Curious Street" in Series 1 Episode 13 of Rawhide, and played leading lady to James Garner in "The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick", the 1958 second season opener for Maverick. She also appeared on the first episode of the long running television program Perry Mason as the defendant Evelyn Bagby (and at least one later episode), and appeared in the first film version of a Mike Hammer novel when she starred in My Gun Is Quick in the 1950s.
Personal life
Blake had three children by her first husband Tom Baxter, whom she married when she was around 17 or 18; the marriage later ended in divorce:
- Richard Whitney (born November 24, 1944)
- Brian Thomas (born February 18, 1946); from around 1988, he co-owned (with his mother) a bookstore, Baxter's Books, in Minneapolis; the business closed a decade later.
- Meredith Ann (born June 21, 1947), an actress
From 1957 to 1967, she was married to talent agent Jack X. Fields (who died, aged 78, in 1995); that marriage also ended in divorce.
From August 24, 1968 until her death in 2002 she was married to writer/collaborator Allan Manings (1924–2010).[3] She directed films and was, with Manings, co-creator of the sitcom One Day at a Time.[4]
Death
Blake died from cancer at her home in Edgartown, Massachusetts in 2002, aged 76, survived by her husband, Allan Manings, and her three children from her first marriage.
References
- ^ Google profile
- ^ Google profile
- ^ Allan Manings' obituary Los Angeles Times, May 15, 2010; page AA6.
- ^ [http://www.Ancestry.com Vineyard Gazette and Dell's Who's Who in Hollywood