Janice was born in London, Canada and raised in New York City and Long Island.
She studied ballet at
Balanchine's School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theater School on a scholarship. When a contract with the
Metropoliton Opera Ballet ended, Janice then preformed in summer stock in the New England area.
She then auditioned for the Goldiggers and joined "The Dean Martin Show". Her favorite highlight
during her stint as a Golddiger was a trip to Vietnam in 1969 to entertain the troops. She also had the opportunity to
perform a dance number "Cloud Hill" to a beautiful ballad co-written by Lee Hale and sung by fellow Digger, Francie Mendenhall.
After
working on "Laugh-in" she joined the cast of "Mame" (with her then husband, Mark Hudson) starring
Lucillle Ball and Robert Preston. She was part of the original dance group on the movie. It was there, at Warner Bros.
that she was approached to appear in tiny part of Mel Brooks "Blazing Saddles" and ended up with pie
in her face. "Great fun", she recalls.
Janice then returned back to television guest starring in an episode of William Conrad's detective series,
"Cannon".
However, her biggest and possibly most memorable role after "The Golddiggers" was guest starring on "The
Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman" three part epic crossover entitled "Kill
Oscar" in which she played the evil cyborg, Katy, Doctor Franklin's (John Housman) fembot
assistant and operative.
Since then Whitby landed another small role in the film, "The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington" and then
the made for TV movie, "The Sophisticated Gents"
After that she had a
very successful modeling career, briefly becoming the face of Merle Norman Cosmetics and Maybelline.
Acting was great
fun, she commented (particularly her guest starring role as on the hit series, "Cannon" and The Bionic Trilogy)
but she left it behind in the early 80s to pursue her first love, art.
She put herself through art school and have been working as a Graphic Designer ever since. Her favorite job as
an artist was her 6 year association with Disney as a freelance artist.
Recently, she expressed desire to get back into acting and we look forward to her once again gracing her presence
on either the big screen or television.
Best of luck to you, Janice !
