Whitney Blake

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 Eagle Rock, Los Angeles. She was the first child of Martha Mae Whitney (née Wilkerson) and Harry C. Whitney, a United States Secret Service agent who had guarded President Woodrow Wilson, his wife, and other political officials. Blake and her younger brother traveled around the country extensively, during which time she attended 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.

Acting Blake gained acting experience with five years of work in little theater productions. In 1953, she was in several productions at the Pasadena Playhouse. she appeared on a number of television series, including the syndicated Johnny Midnight, Sheriff of Cochise, twice on Rod Cameron's State Trooper, and on the David Janssen crime drama Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Her first television appearance was on NBC Matinee Theater.

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 CBS's Perry Mason, "The Case of the Restless Redhead," in the title role of Evelyn Bagby, the defendant. In 1958, she again appeared in the title role as defendant Diana Reynolds in the episode "The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde".

Also in 1957, Blake played Lilli Bridgeman, who hires a professional assassin to murder her husband, Les (Alan Hale Jr.), so she can marry a rival rancher, Kiley Rand (Don Megowan), in the episode "Hired Gun" of the ABC/Warner Bros. Western series Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker.

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.

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.

Blake co-created the television series One Day at a Time with her husband Allan Manings. The sitcom ran for nine seasons on the CBS network and made household names of its stars: Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips, Valerie Bertinelli, and Pat Harrington.

Personal life Blake married Tom Baxter in early 1944. 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 and actress Whitney Houston (1963–2012) was named after Blake, as stated in the 2018 documentary Whitney.

From August 24, 1968, until her death in 2002, she was married to writer/collaborator Allan Manings.

Illness and death On Blake's 76th birthday she told her children she had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. She died seven months later. Approximately 8 years later, Allan Manings (her husband at the time of her death) also was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, before eventually dying.

Filmography