Original 'Star Trek' actress, Grace Lee Whitney, dies aged 85

Grace Lee Whitney, who played Captain Kirk's assistant in the original 'Star Trek' series died this weekend at the age of 85, her family confirmed.

Her son Jonathan Dweck said she died of natural causes on Friday in Coarsegold, California.

Whitney played the futuristic-clipboard-bearing Yeoman Janice Rand in the first eight episodes of the sci-fi series before being written out.

When the series was reborn as a movie franchise in 1979 she returned as petty officer in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." By the time she made her last appearance as Rand, in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," in 1991, she had made it to lieutenant.

Whitney, who until the last few years was a regular at 'Star Trek' conventions around the world, was a recovering alcoholic and spent most of her life helping others with addiction problems.

In her autobiography, called 'The Longest Trek', Whitney wrote that she became an alcoholic before getting treatment and regaining her career with the help of Leonard Nimoy, who starred as Spock in the series and also recently died.