# Whitney Blake
The American actress, director, and producer Nancy Ann Whitney, who used the stage name **Whitney Blake** and lived from February 20, 1926 until September 28, 2002, played Dorothy Baxter for four seasons on the 1960s sitcom *Hazel* and later helped create and write the sitcom *One Day at a Time*.[1](https://www.valeorine.com/reference/whitney-blake) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Nancy Ann Whitney, February 20, 1926, Eagle Rock, California (one database gives 1925)[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086756/bio/) • [4](https://nndb.com/people/129/000161643/) |
| Died | September 28, 2002, at her home in Edgartown, Massachusetts, aged 76, after a long illness; IMDb lists esophageal cancer[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086756/bio/) |
| Signature acting role | Dorothy Baxter ("Mrs. B"), wife of Don DeFore's George Baxter, on *Hazel*, 1961–1965[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) |
| Signature creative work | Co-creator, with husband Allan Manings, of *One Day at a Time*, CBS, 1975–1984, 205 episodes[5](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/one-day-at-a-time-1975-84) |
| Training | Pasadena City College; began acting at the Pasadena Playhouse[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) |
| Family | Mother of actress Meredith Baxter; married to Allan Manings from August 24, 1968, until her death[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086756/bio/) |
## Early life and stage training
Blake was born in Eagle Rock, California, the oldest child of Martha Mae Wilkerson and Harry Whitney.[6](https://new.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php?title=Archive%3AObituary_of_Whitney_Blake%2C_2002) Her family moved around the country extensively in her early years, and she attended 16 schools in as many different cities before her high school years, but she considered herself a Californian and completed her education at Pasadena City College.[6](https://new.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php?title=Archive%3AObituary_of_Whitney_Blake%2C_2002) Her performing career began at the [Pasadena Playhouse](https://www.edgepedia.org/pasadena-playhouse), which she described as her arena of choice, and she returned to it and other stages whenever she had a hiatus in film work, playing roles as varied as Ophelia opposite [John Carradine](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-carradine)'s Hamlet.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) • [6](https://new.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php?title=Archive%3AObituary_of_Whitney_Blake%2C_2002)
## Television and film acting
Blake became best known during the [Golden Age](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-age) of television, guest-starring on anthology and Western series including *Playhouse 90*, *Zane Grey Theater*, *Maverick*, *Bonanza*, and *Route 66*.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) She appeared in the first episode of *Perry Mason* in 1957, playing Evelyn Bagby in "The Case of the Restless Redhead," and returned as the defendant Diana Reynolds in "The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde" in 1958.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) • [1](https://www.valeorine.com/reference/whitney-blake)
Her film work was small in number but included notable parts: she starred in *My Gun Is Quick* (1957), the screen adaptation of a [Mickey Spillane](https://www.edgepedia.org/mickey-spillane) novel; played [Jack Webb](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-webb)'s wife in the 1959 newspaper drama *-30-*; and two decades later appeared opposite [Laurence Olivier](https://www.edgepedia.org/laurence-olivier), Robert Duvall, and Tommy Lee Jones in Harold Robbins' *The Betsy* (1978).[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html)
**Hazel.** From 1961 to 1965 Blake played Dorothy Baxter, the wife of corporate lawyer George Baxter ([Don DeFore](https://www.edgepedia.org/don-defore)), in the sitcom *Hazel*, starring [Shirley Booth](https://www.edgepedia.org/shirley-booth) as the live-in maid who effectively ran the Baxter household.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) • [7](https://dev.sonypictures.com/tv/hazel) The series was based on Ted Key's *Saturday Evening Post* cartoons about the mouthy maid.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) Blake told *The Los Angeles Times* in 1963 that the show succeeded because "we make people happy," adding, "We don't deal with deep problems. We have happy problems."[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) She and DeFore left the series after the fourth season and were replaced by Ray Fulmer and Lynn Borden.[8](https://watch.plex.tv/sv/person/whitney-blake)
In the late 1960s, when television and film work became less plentiful, Blake co-hosted the daytime show *Boutique* on KCBS-TV Channel 2 in Los Angeles, interviewing guests and offering opinions on fashion, books, and home decor.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html)
## One Day at a Time
In the early 1970s Blake and her husband, the writer-producer Allan Manings, developed the concept for a sitcom about a divorcée raising two teenage daughters on her own.[9](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/emmy-winner-allan-manings-creator-one-day-time-passes) The idea was based on Blake's own experience as a divorced parent, and she was determined to depict a single-mother household: she had been raised by her divorced mother and was herself a divorced mother bringing up three children before marrying Manings.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) Manings, then executive producer of *Good Times*, pitched the idea to [Norman Lear](https://www.edgepedia.org/norman-lear), who approved a pilot; CBS liked the show but had it rewritten by [Jack Elinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-elinson) and Norman Paul before buying it.[10](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Other-Documments/Broadcast-Programming-Production/Broadcast_Programming_Production_1977_Nov.pdf)
*One Day at a Time* premiered on CBS in December 1975 and ran until 1984, totaling 205 episodes, with [Bonnie Franklin](https://www.edgepedia.org/bonnie-franklin) as Ann Romano and [Mackenzie Phillips](https://www.edgepedia.org/mackenzie-phillips) and [Valerie Bertinelli](https://www.edgepedia.org/valerie-bertinelli) as her daughters.[5](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/one-day-at-a-time-1975-84) Like other Lear comedies, it mixed topical, even controversial material with comedy, dealing on screen with such subjects as divorce, rape, suicide, and religion.[5](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/one-day-at-a-time-1975-84) • [10](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Other-Documments/Broadcast-Programming-Production/Broadcast_Programming_Production_1977_Nov.pdf) The Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television credits the series as created by Blake while noting that it bore the imprint of Lear, its producer.[5](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/one-day-at-a-time-1975-84) Blake remained involved enough in the scripts to have reservations about the superintendent character Schneider; her husband recalled her objection that a mother would not allow him to walk unannounced into the apartment.[11](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Storytellers-to-the-Nation-Stempel-1992.pdf) Manings left as producer after the first season.[9](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/emmy-winner-allan-manings-creator-one-day-time-passes)
## Documentary work and later career
In the 1980s Blake wrote, directed, and produced her own low-budget documentary, *Reno's Kids: 87 Days Plus 11*, about Daly City teacher Reno Taini and his Wilderness Class for troubled teenagers.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) The film received honors from the International CINE Council and the Chicago International Film Festival, and Blake described her cinema verite approach as "trying to edit real life into a form of theater."[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) Her peers elected her to the board of directors of Women In Film.[6](https://new.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php?title=Archive%3AObituary_of_Whitney_Blake%2C_2002)
Blake's name returned to opening credits decades after her death: the 2017 Netflix reimagining of *One Day at a Time*, developed by Lear with Gloria Calderón Kellett and Mike Royce around a Cuban-American family in Los Angeles, credits Blake and Manings as creators of the original series.[12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5339440/fullcredits/) • [13](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-one-day-at-a-time-returns-20170102-story.html)
## Personal life
Blake married John Thomas Baxter Jr. in April 1944; the marriage, which ended in divorce in January 1956, produced three children, including the actress [Meredith Baxter](https://www.edgepedia.org/meredith-baxter).[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086756/bio/) She was married to Jack Fields from April 1957 until their divorce in 1967, and to Allan Manings from August 24, 1968, until her death.[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086756/bio/) She was survived by her husband, three children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html) According to IMDb trivia, the singer-actress [Whitney Houston](https://www.edgepedia.org/whitney-houston) was named after her.[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086756/bio/) One date is recorded inconsistently between sources: NNDB gives her birth year as 1925 while IMDb and most obituaries give 1926.[4](https://nndb.com/people/129/000161643/) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086756/bio/)
## References
1. [Whitney Blake, VALÉORINE reference page](https://www.valeorine.com/reference/whitney-blake)
2. [Myrna Oliver, "Whitney Blake, 76; Star of 1960s' 'Hazel' Helped Create 'One Day at a Time'," Los Angeles Times, October 2, 2002](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-02-me-blake2-story.html)
3. [Whitney Blake biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086756/bio/)
4. [Whitney Blake, NNDB](https://nndb.com/people/129/000161643/)
5. ["One Day at a Time (1975-84)," Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television, via Television Academy Interviews](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/one-day-at-a-time-1975-84)
6. ["Whitney Blake, 76, Was Actress and Filmmaker," Vineyard Gazette obituary, October 2002 (WRG archive)](https://new.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php?title=Archive%3AObituary_of_Whitney_Blake%2C_2002)
7. [Hazel, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://dev.sonypictures.com/tv/hazel)
8. [Whitney Blake, Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/sv/person/whitney-blake)
9. ["Emmy Winner Allan Manings, Creator of One Day at a Time, Passes," Television Academy, August 11, 2010](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/emmy-winner-allan-manings-creator-one-day-time-passes)
10. [Michael Carruthers, "The Production of One Day at a Time," Broadcast Programming/Production, November 1977](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Other-Documments/Broadcast-Programming-Production/Broadcast_Programming_Production_1977_Nov.pdf)
11. [Storytellers to the Nation (Stempel, 1992), worldradiohistory.com](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Storytellers-to-the-Nation-Stempel-1992.pdf)
12. [One Day at a Time (2017) full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5339440/fullcredits/)
13. ["Norman Lear reboots 'One Day at a Time' for a new generation," Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2017](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-one-day-at-a-time-returns-20170102-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames A to Bo*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license