Monday, December 22, 2008

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry "The First Lady of 'Trek'"

Actress Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry died in her home in Bel-Air at the age of 76.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was associated with Star Trek from the beginning. In the first TV pilot, she played the role of the first officer, but after executives changes were made, she did not reprise that role in the second TV pilot. She instead played the role of Nurse Christine Chapel and the voice of the USS Enterprise's computer (She also was the voice of the Starship Enterprise's computer for six of the 10 Star Trek movies as well as the 11th movie which is due out next year). Barrett-Roddenberry also played the recurring role of Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Barrett-Roddenberry's acting career also included guest appearances on The Untouchables and The Lucy Show.

Several years after her husband's death, Barrett-Roddenberry discovered a pilot script and notes he had written for a series in the '70s the project became Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict and began airing in syndication in 1997 with Majel Barrett-Roddenberry playing a recurring role and acting as an executive producer. She later was an executive producer of the syndicated Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.



Barrett-Roddenberry attended her first Star Trek convention in 1972 and said "You know, when the conventions started out, I'd attend four or five a month but after a while, it got where there was no time for anything else. You'd just travel from city to city, making the same speech, answering the same questions."

Good Night Mrs. Roddenberry
Now you and Gene can explore "The Undiscovered Country"

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the nicely written piece! All the best.