Whitney Blake
Encyclopedia
Whitney Blake was an American
film
and television
actress, director and producer.
Blake was born as Nancy Ann Whitney in 1926 in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California
, the first child of Martha Mae Wilkerson and Harry Whitney. Her childhood was spent traveling across the country with her family, attending 16 different schools.
While attending Pasadena City College
, Blake 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
.
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.
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
starring Christopher Jones
in the title role. In 1967 she played attorney Lee Drake on The Andy Griffith Show
. As demand for her in network television and films dwindled, Blake became a hostess of a Los Angeles
television talk show. After that, Blake again reinvented herself and became a film and television director
, producer, and writer.
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 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.
(born 1947), all by her first husband Tom Baxter, although the marriage later ended in divorce. From 1957 to 1967, she was married to Jack Fields (who died aged 78 in 1995).
She was married, lastly, to writer/collaborator Allan Manings
(1924–2010), until her death in 2002. She directed films and was, with Manings, co-creator of the sitcom One Day at a Time
.
at her home in Edgartown, Massachusetts
at the age of 76, survived by her husband and three children.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actress, director and producer.
Blake was born as Nancy Ann Whitney in 1926 in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California
Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California
In 1909, Hill Avenue, now Hill Drive, was one of Eagle Rock's most beautiful streets. Other streets were Royal Drive , Acacia Street , Kenilworth Avenue , Highland Avenue , and Fairmont Avenue...
, the first child of Martha Mae Wilkerson and Harry Whitney. Her childhood was spent traveling across the country with her family, attending 16 different schools.
While attending Pasadena City College
Pasadena City College
Pasadena City College is a community college in Pasadena, California, USA, located on Colorado Boulevard. PCC is the third largest community college campus in the United States. PCC was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. In 1954, Pasadena Junior College merged with another junior...
, Blake worked in small-theater groups in the Los Angeles area. In the summer, she worked at her mother's ice cream stand in McMinnville
McMinnville, Oregon
McMinnville is the county seat and largest city of Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. According to Oregon Geographic Names, it was named by its founder, William T. Newby , an early immigrant on the Oregon Trail, for his hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
.
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
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
Johnny Midnight
Johnny Midnight (TV series)
Johnny Midnight is an American crime drama that aired for one season in syndicated from January to December 1960. The series stars Edmond O'Brien as the title character.-Synopsis:...
, Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise , renamed U.S. Marshal , is a 58-episode syndicated western-themed crime drama set in Arizona and starring John Bromfield as law enforcement officer Frank Morgan. In the first two seasons, Morgan was sheriff of Cochise County...
, and twice on Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron was a Canadian-born movie actor whose career extended from the 1930s to the 1970s. He appeared in horror, war, action and science fiction movies, but is best remembered for his many Westerns....
's State Trooper
State Trooper (TV series)
State Trooper is a half-hour television crime drama set in the 1950s American West, starring Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, an officer of the Nevada State Troopers. The series aired 104 episodes in syndication from September 25, 1956, to June 25, 1959...
.
In addition, she guest-starred on Mike Connors
Mike Connors
Mike Connors is an American actor best known for playing detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series, Mannix. Before that, he had played a crime-fighting investigator, wielding a .38 handgun hidden in his back, in another CBS series, Tightrope.-Early life:Connors was born Krekor Ohanian in...
's Tightrope
Tightrope (TV series)
Tightrope is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 1959 to September 1960. Produced by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene in association with Screen Gems, the series stars Mike Connors as an undercover agent named "Nick" who was assigned to infiltrate criminal gangs...
detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
series, in the 1960 episode "High Bridge" of the NBC western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series Overland Trail
Overland Trail (TV series)
Overland Trail is a short-lived American Western series which aired on NBC from February 7 to June 6, 1960. The series starred William Bendix and Doug McClure,-Synopsis:...
starring William Bendix
William Bendix
William Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, best remembered in movies for the title role in the movie The Babe Ruth Story and for portraying clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television's The Life of Riley...
and Doug McClure
Doug McClure
Douglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...
. She also appeared in the first episode of the syndicated western series Pony Express
Pony Express (TV series)
Pony Express is a half-hour syndicated western television series which ended its 39-episode schedule in 1960, the centennial of the launching of the Pony Express, a short-lived venture promoted by William Hepburn Russell of the freight company Russell, Majors and Waddell...
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.
Blake is best remembered for having portrayed Dorothy Baxter, an interior designer and the wife of George Baxter (Don DeFore
Don DeFore
Donald John DeFore was an American actor who played "the regular guy" and "the good, ol' boy next door" in many films in the 1940s and 1950s.-Life and career:...
), a lawyer, on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
sitcom Hazel
Hazel (TV series)
Hazel is a Screen Gems television series about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 1961 until April 1966...
(1961), starring Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
in the title role as a bossy maid. In the last season on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, DeFore and Blake left the series and were replaced by Ray Fulmer
Ray Fulmer
Raymond Stover Fulmer, known as Ray Fulmer , is a former actor, originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for his role as Steve Baxter in the final season of Shirley Booth's situation comedy Hazel, which aired on CBS television from September 13, 1965, to April 11, 1966.Fulmer first...
and Lynn Borden
Lynn Borden
Lynn Borden is an American actress best known for her role as "Barbara Baxter" in the final season of the Shirley Booth sitcom Hazel, which aired on CBS from 1965 to 1966.-Background:...
, respectively in the roles of Steve and Barbara Baxter, the younger brother and sister-in-law of George Baxter.
After Hazel
Hazel (TV series)
Hazel is a Screen Gems television series about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 1961 until April 1966...
ended, she guest-starred in an episode of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's western series The Legend of Jesse James
The Legend of Jesse James (TV series)
The Legend of Jesse James is a 34-episode western television series starring Christopher Jones in the tile role of notorious outlaw Jesse James which aired on ABC from September 13, 1965, to May 9, 1966...
starring Christopher Jones
Christopher Jones (actor)
William "Billy" Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones, is an American character actor, born August 18, 1941 in Jackson, Tennessee....
in the title role. In 1967 she played attorney Lee Drake on The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
. As demand for her in network television and films dwindled, Blake became a hostess of a Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
television talk show. After that, Blake again reinvented herself and became a film and television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
, producer, and writer.
Blake guest starred as "Angie" in "Incident of the Curious Street" in Series 1 Episode 13 of Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
, and played leading lady to James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
in "The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick," the 1958 second season opener for Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
. She appeared on the first episode of the long running television program Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
as the defendant Evelyn Bagby (and at least one later episode), and appeared in the first film version of a Mike Hammer
Mike Hammer
Michael "Mike" Hammer is a fictional detective created by the American author Mickey Spillane in the 1947 book I, the Jury .-Description:...
novel when she starred in My Gun Is Quick
My Gun Is Quick
My Gun Is Quick is a 1957 mystery film based on the novel My Gun is Quick by Mickey Spillane. Written by Richard M. Powell and directed by Phil Victor and George White, the movie stars Robert Bray as private investigator Mike Hammer, Pamela Duncan as Velda, Hammer's secretary.The story begins when...
in the 1950s.
Personal life
She had three children: Richard (born 1944), Brian (born 1946) and actress Meredith BaxterMeredith Baxter
Meredith Baxter , also known for some years as Meredith Baxter-Birney, is an American actress and producer. She is known for her acting roles including three television series: Family , an ABC television-network drama, Family Ties , an NBC television-network situation comedy, and Dan Vs. , a...
(born 1947), all by her first husband Tom Baxter, although the marriage later ended in divorce. From 1957 to 1967, she was married to Jack Fields (who died aged 78 in 1995).
She was married, lastly, to writer/collaborator Allan Manings
Allan Manings
Allan Manings was an American television producer and comedy writer. He was active in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and was best known for his work in co-creating with his wife, actress Whitney Blake, One Day at a Time, as well as serving as producer of the Bud Yorkin-Norman Lear Tandem show,...
(1924–2010), until her death in 2002. She directed films and was, with Manings, co-creator of the sitcom One Day at a Time
One Day at a Time
One Day at a Time is an American situation comedy on the CBS network that aired from December 16, 1975 until May 28, 1984. It portrays Ann Romano, a divorced mother, played by Bonnie Franklin, her two teenage daughters Julie and Barbara Cooper and Schneider, their building superintendent .The show...
.
Death
She died from cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at her home in Edgartown, Massachusetts
Edgartown, Massachusetts
Edgartown is a town located on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,779 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Dukes County. Edgartown has the largest population and area in the entire Dukes County and Martha's Vineyard.- History :In 1642....
at the age of 76, survived by her husband and three children.