Whitney Blake
Whitney Blake | |
---|---|
Born | Nancy Ann Whitney February 20, 1926 |
Died | September 28, 2002 Edgartown, Massachusetts, US | (aged 76)
Occupation(s) | Actress, director, producer |
Years active | 1956–1998 |
Spouses | |
Children | 3, including Meredith Baxter |
Whitney Blake (born Nancy Ann Whitney; February 20, 1926 – September 28, 2002) was an American film and television actress, director, and producer. She is known for her four seasons portraying Dorothy Baxter, the mother, on the 1960s sitcom Hazel, and as co-creator and writer of the sitcom One Day at a Time. With her first husband she had three children, including actress Meredith Baxter.
Early life
Blake was born in
Acting
Blake gained acting experience with five years of work in little-theater productions. In 1953, she was in several productions at the
Blake was cast in My Gun Is Quick, the film version of a Mike Hammer novel by Mickey Spillane.
In 1957, she appeared in the first episode of
In 1957, she played Lilli Bridgeman, who hires a professional assassin to murder her husband, Les (
Blake played leading lady to James Garner in "The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick," the second-season opener in 1958 for the ABC/WB Western series, Maverick.
She appeared with Claude Akins in two 1959 episodes, "Cattle Drive" and "Border Incident," of the CBS Western The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun.[citation needed]
In 1959, Blake guest-starred in the first episode, "The Good Samaritan," of the syndicated Western series Pony Express. That same year, her guest appearance in the short-lived series The D.A.'s Man garnered her an Emmy nomination.[1]
She appeared in a Gunsmoke episode called "Wind" in March 1959 and one in 1973 called "A Game of Death...and of Life". Blake played a gambler's lady who tried to shoot Matt Dillon in the back. She also guest-starred on an episode of the detective series 77 Sunset Strip.
Blake appeared in the 1959 film -30-, with Jack Webb, as a childless couple wanting to adopt a baby. The "-30-" comes from the symbol at the end of a newspaper story, as Webb played a newspaperman in the film. Appeared in the first season of the serie Bonanza, chapter 12.
In 1960, she played Callie Carter in the Rawhide episode "Incident Of The Murder Steer" (Season 2, Episode 28).
Blake guest-starred on
Blake is best remembered for her portrayal of Dorothy Baxter, an interior designer and the wife of George Baxter (Don DeFore), a lawyer, on the NBC sitcom Hazel (1961). Following the show's cancellation by NBC in 1965, DeFore and Blake were dropped from the series when CBS picked up the show for one more season. They 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, Blake guest-starred in an episode of the ABC Western series The Legend of Jesse James. In 1966, she appeared in the episode "Nice Day for a Hanging" of Chuck Connors' NBC Western series, Branded.[1] In 1968, she appeared in a final season episode of The Andy Griffith Show as an attractive lawyer in Raleigh named Lee Drake, who Sheriff Andy Taylor has to give a deposition to on a case in Mayberry involving a Raleigh resident. She guest-starred in a 1974 episode of Cannon and in a 1978 episode of Family, a series in which her daughter, Meredith Baxter, co-starred.
Later career
As demand for her work in network television and films waned, Whitney Blake became a Los Angeles television talk-show host. Later, Blake moved into directing and producing.[4]
Blake co-created the television series
Personal life
Blake married Tom Baxter in early 1944.[citation needed] They had three children: sons, Richard Whitney Baxter and Brian Thomas Baxter and daughter, Meredith Ann Baxter. In 1988, her son Brian began co-ownership (with Blake) of a Minneapolis bookstore, Baxter's Books, which closed in 1998. Her daughter, Meredith, became an actress, starring in the 1980s sitcom Family Ties.
In 1957, Blake married talent agent Jack X Fields; they divorced in 1967.
Singer Whitney Houston (1963-2012) was named after Blake, as stated in the 2018 documentary Whitney.[6]
From August 24, 1968, until her death in 2002, she was married to writer/collaborator Allan Manings.[7]
Illness and death
On Whitney Blake's 76th birthday, her children took Blake and Manings to dinner. Later that evening, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. She expressed confidence that she would beat the disease, but died seven months later. She experienced great discomfort during her final months. Manings told Meredith, his stepdaughter, that the most difficult day was when he told Whitney that he had to accept hospice care for her; that’s when she realized that her condition was terminal.[4]
Blake died at her home on September 28, 2002, in Edgartown, Massachusetts. She was cremated, and her ashes were kept by her family.[8] Manings also suffered from esophageal cancer and died eight years later.
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1957 | Perry Mason | Evelyn Bagby/Diana Reynolds | The Restless Redhead/The Black-Eyed Blonde S1, E1 & E37 |
1957 | My Gun Is Quick | Nancy Williams | |
1957 | Collector's Item: The Left Fist of David | Jan Hendrix | TV movie |
1958 | Maverick | Letty French/Molly Clifford | "The Burning Sky"/"The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick" |
1959 | -30- | Peggy Gatlin | |
1959 | Rawhide | Angie | S1:E13, "Incident of the Curious Street" |
1959 | The Restless Gun | Episode "One on the House" | |
1959 | Bonanza | Ann Samuels | Episode: "Vendetta" |
1960 | The Millionaire | Nancy Cortez | Episode: "The Story of Nancy Cortez" |
1960 | Rawhide | Callie Carter | S2:E28, "Incident of the Murder Steer" |
1961-1965 | Hazel | Dorothy Baxter | regular |
1959 | Gunsmoke | Dolly Varden | Season 4 Episode 28: "Wind" |
1967 | The Andy Griffith Show | Lee Drake | Episode: "Andy's Trip to Raleigh" |
1978 | The Betsy | Elizabeth / Loren Hardeman Sr.'s wife | |
1978 | Family | Eve Carson | Episode: "Friend’s Affair, The" |
1981 | A Face in the Crowd | (final film role) |
References
- ^ a b c "Whitney Blake Has Had Career To Be Envied". Lewiston Evening Journal. October 28, 1961. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
- ^ a b Delaney, Jerry (October 17, 1959). "Actors Worry Her". Tucson Daily Citizen. p. 34. Retrieved March 30, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Johnson, Erskine (January 12, 1959). "Hollywood Today". The Evening Standard. Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Newspaper Enterprise Association. p. 2. Retrieved March 30, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-307-71930-0.
- Today.
- ^ 10 revelations from 'Whitney, a new, comprehensive and bleak documentary, July 07, 2018
- ^ McLellan, Dennis (May 15, 2010). "Allan Manings dies at 86; TV comedy writer and co-creator of 'One Day at a Time'". Los Angeles Times. p. AA6.
- ISBN 9780786479924.