Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand in Star Trek.

Grace Lee Whitney, who played Captain Kirk’s assistant in the original Star Trek series, has died. She was 85.Her son Jonathan Dweck said she died of natural causes in Coarsegold, California, the US, about 80 kilometres north of Fresno.

Whitney played Yeoman Janice Rand in the first eight episodes before being written out of the series. In her autobiography, she 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.

She returned for the film franchise, appearing in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.