star trek characters played by majel barrett roddenberry

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• Film performers
• TNG performers
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Majel Barrett Roddenberry

Barrett was the only performer to have had a role on the first six Star Trek series – usually not as a character but as the voice of the various computers used throughout those series. She also supplied the voice of the Enterprise computer in five of the Star Trek films – spanning all three film series ( Original Series , The Next Generation Series, and the Alternate Reality Series)

Her most frequent portrayal in Star Trek , besides the computer, was that of Christine Chapel on Star Trek: The Original Series , Star Trek: The Animated Series , and in two of the films. She also voiced M'Ress and several other characters on The Animated Series and later played Betazoid Ambassador Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Her first filmed appearance was in the original Star Trek pilot episode " The Cage " as Number One in 1964 .

• 1 Early life and career
• 2.1 The 1960s
• 2.2 Marriage and continued collaboration
• 2.3 Post-TOS Trek work
• 2.4 Continuing the legacy
• 3 Other acting credits
• 5.1 Appearances as Christine Chapel
• 5.2 Federation computer voice
• 5.3 Appearances as Lwaxana Troi
• 5.4 Narrator
• 6 Writing credit
• 7 Star Trek interviews
• 8 External links

Early life and career [ ]

Barrett was born Majel Leigh Hudec in Cleveland, Ohio. She enrolled in an acting workshop when she was ten years old but later attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida with the intention of becoming a legal clerk. She attended law school for a year, but, after failing a class in contract law, opted to move to New York to try her luck in acting. She landed parts in several stage plays, including Models by Season and The Solid Gold Cadillac , the latter of which toured across the country for nine months. During this time, her father, a police officer in Cleveland, was killed while out on patrol. [1]

Believing the competition in New York to be too stiff, Barrett moved to California in the 1950s where she won parts in stage plays as well as films. She had a bit part in the 1957 film Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? , after which she made an uncredited appearance in the 1958 Paramount Pictures release The Black Orchid . She then landed a supporting role in the 1958 Paramount film As Young As We Were , along with Original Series guest actor Barry Atwater . She also had a brief role in Paramount's The Buccaneer that same year.

One of Barrett's earliest television appearances came in 1959 in an episode of the syndicated adventure/drama series Whirlybirds , which starred Kenneth Tobey . She then made an uncredited appearance as a waitress in a 1960 episode of Desilu 's The Untouchables , which aired on NBC . That same year, she guest-starred on the ABC family comedy series Leave It to Beaver , which starred Tony Dow .

In 1961, Barrett was seen in a supporting role in Paramount Pictures' Love in a Goldfish Bowl This was followed by a supporting role in the 1963 war drama The Quick and the Dead . She also continued making appearances on television shows, including Cain's Hundred (with Anthony Caruso ) and a 1962 episode of Bonanza with her future Original Series co-star James Doohan , entitled "Gift of Water."

In 1962, Barrett met actress Lucille Ball at an acting class and was signed to a contract with Desilu . Soon thereafter, she appeared with Lucy in an episode of Desilu's The Lucy Show .

History with Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek [ ]

The 1960s [ ].

Barrett first met Gene Roddenberry in 1961. ( Star Trek Memories , p. 14) In late 1963, she was cast in an episode of his Marine Corps drama, The Lieutenant , which starred Gary Lockwood . Incidentally, the episode in which Barrett appeared – titled "In the Highest Tradition" – also featured future Original Series regular Leonard Nimoy . In addition, the episode was directed by Marc Daniels , who later directed fifteen episodes of The Original Series .

Barrett's relationship with Roddenberry, who was married and had two children, developed into her becoming his mistress. She later remembered, " We weren't lovers at the very beginning, that sort of developed after we'd become friends. " Barrett had doubts that Roddenberry was ready to end his marriage. " Up until Gene actually left his wife, I really couldn't anticipate spending my life with him, " she explained. " I felt I would spend the rest of my life loving him, but not necessarily with him. " ( Star Trek Memories , p. 14)

In 1964 , Roddenberry began developing " The Cage ", which became the first of two pilots for Star Trek . Roddenberry selected Barrett to portray Number One , the first officer and helm officer of the Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike (played by Jeffrey Hunter ). The role was specifically written for Barrett from the start. ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One ) Barrett filmed her scenes between Monday 30 November 1964 and Thursday 3 December 1964 , Tuesday 8 December 1964 and Wednesday 9 December 1964 , and Wednesday 16 December 1964 and Thursday 17 December 1964 at Desilu Culver Stage 15 and 16.

Barrett during early makeup tests

Barrett along with Leonard Nimoy had her first day for "The Cage" at the Desilu Culver Stage 15 on 17 November 1964 . Barrett was present for the green color makeup tests for "The Cage", a task she completed for no monetary compensation. Of note, she was credited in this unaired pilot as "Majel Barrett", but was credited as " M. Leigh Hudec " for the same appearance in "The Menagerie" cut of the episode.

NBC ultimately rejected "The Cage," but they gave Roddenberry the chance to produce a second pilot. However, the network asked that he drop both the devilish-looking Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy) and Barrett's Number One character, asserting that audiences would never accept a woman being second-in-command of a ship. Roddenberry insisted on keeping Spock but agreed to drop Number One. Barrett jokingly stated that Roddenberry "kept the Vulcan and married the woman, 'cause he didn't think Leonard [Nimoy] would have it the other way around." [2]

In their book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , Herb Solow and Robert H. Justman claimed that the account of NBC rejecting the female first officer was a myth created by Roddenberry. In their version, NBC was proud of gender and race diversity in its shows, and even insisted on having a strong female leading character, but they felt that Barrett was not a leading-type actress with strong screen presence suitable for playing such a role, nor did they like her being forced on them by Roddenberry. Apparently not wanting to hurt his mistress' pride, Roddenberry purportedly came up with this story in the 1970s-1980s Star Trek convention circuit, which he toured extensively with his by-then wife.

Although her character was dropped from the second pilot, " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", after Star Trek was picked up as a series, Barrett, disguised as a blonde, was given the role of Nurse Christine Chapel in the episode " The Naked Time " by Roddenberry. Her appearance was surreptitiously introduced, according to Justman and Solow, because the network did not like her role in "The Cage". For this, Barrett donned a blond wig for her role, in a rather bold-faced effort of sneaking her back into the Star Trek production against the express wishes of NBC.

The ruse initially failed, and turned out to be one of the reasons for Lucille Ball, after she was informed of this, to ordain the firing of the pair of them on the spot, as a moral propriety-valuing Ball could not abide with nepotism. Concurrently, she had become aware that a married Roddenberry conducted an illicit affair with Barrett, which was an even stronger reason for her wanting them to be gone from her studio; Ball's own marriage with Desi Arnaz had fallen apart in no small part due to his philandering. It was Herb Solow who, through an intermediary, managed to convince Ball otherwise, though he had the toughest of times doing so. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , 1997, p. 223; These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One , 1st ed, pp. 25-27)

Ultimately, Barrett was allowed to return, and in total, was featured as Nurse Chapel in twenty-five of the seventy-nine episodes of Star Trek , from the first season 's " The Naked Time " to the last episode of the series, " Turnabout Intruder ". She also supplied the Computer Voice for the USS Enterprise in several episodes of the series.

Barrett filmed her scenes for "The Naked Time" between Thursday 30 June 1966 and Tuesday 5 July 1966 at Desilu Stage 9 . She filmed her scenes for " What Are Little Girls Made Of? " between Thursday 28 July 1966 and Tuesday 9 August 1966 at Stage 9 and Stage 10 , and her scenes for " Operation -- Annihilate! " between Friday 17 February 1967 and Wednesday 22 February 1967 at Stage 9.

She filmed her scenes for " Amok Time " between Friday 9 June 1967 and Tuesday 13 June 1967 , her scenes for " The Changeling " on Wednesday 12 July 1967 , her scenes for " The Deadly Years " on Thursday 3 August 1967 , and between Monday 7 August 1967 and Friday 11 August 1967 . She filmed her scenes for " Journey to Babel " on Wednesday 27 September 1967 and Thursday 28 September 1967 , her scenes for " Obsession " on Friday 13 October 1967 and Monday 16 October 1967 , her scenes for " The Immunity Syndrome " on Thursday 26 October 1967 and Wednesday 1 November 1967 , and her scenes for " By Any Other Name " on Wednesday 15 November 1967 . All of the above were filmed at Stage 9.

Barrett filmed her scenes for " Elaan of Troyius " on Thursday 6 June 1968 at Stage 9. She filmed her scenes for " The Paradise Syndrome " on Thursday 13 June 1968 on location at the Franklyn Reservoir . She filmed her scenes for " The Enterprise Incident " on Friday 21 June 1968 , her scenes for " And the Children Shall Lead " on Thursday 27 June 1968 , her scenes for " Spock's Brain " on Monday 8 July 1968 , her scenes for " The Tholian Web " on Monday 7 August 1968 and Tuesday 8 August 1968 , and her scenes for " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky " on Wednesday 13 August 1968 , all at Stage 9. She filmed her scenes for " Plato's Stepchildren " on Monday 16 September 1968 and Tuesday 17 September 1968 at Stage 10. She filmed her scenes for " Wink of an Eye " on Thursday 19 September 1968 and Friday 20 September 1968 , her scenes for " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield " on Tuesday 8 October 1968 and Wednesday 9 October 1968 , her scenes for " The Lights of Zetar " on Wednesday 6 November 1968 , her scenes for " The Way to Eden " on Tuesday 26 November 1968 , and her scenes for " Turnabout Intruder " between Tuesday 31 December 1968 and Friday 3 January 1969 , all at Stage 9.

Marriage and continued collaboration [ ]

Majel and Gene

Barrett and Gene Roddenberry married on 6 August 1969 , two months after the final episode of Star Trek was aired. Since they were both in Japan at the time, and because Roddenberry did not adhere to any particular religion, they decided to have a Shinto-Buddhist wedding. Roddenberry's divorce from Eileen Anita Rexroat had not yet been finalized, requiring the pair to make the marriage legal with a civil ceremony held on 29 December 1969 . A brief filed with the California Court of Appeal on 30 September 1994, docket number B074848, by attorneys for Barrett confirms that Roddenberry's divorce was not final until December 24, 1969. [3] Their son, Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry, Jr. , was born on 5 February 1974 .

Barrett and Roddenberry continued working together throughout the 1970s. They both ran the catalog company Lincoln Enterprises , which they founded in 1967 . In addition, Barrett acted in many of the unsold TV pilots Roddenberry wrote and produced, the first of which was Genesis II in 1973. In addition to Barrett, this project also featured performances by Star Trek alumni Ted Cassidy , Mariette Hartley , Harvey Jason , and Percy Rodriguez .

The following year, Barrett acted in Roddenberry's The Questor Tapes , which was directed by Richard Colla and which starred Robert Foxworth . That same year, Barrett performed in Roddenberry's Planet Earth , along with Diana Muldaur and the aforementioned Ted Cassidy. This project was directed by the aforementioned Marc Daniels. In 1977, Barrett appeared in one more Roddenberry pilot, entitled Spectre .

Post-TOS Trek work [ ]

Barrett voiced Nurse Chapel, as well as M'Ress and numerous other characters, on Star Trek: The Animated Series from 1973 through 1975 . Barrett reprised her role of Christine Chapel, now a doctor, in 1979 's Star Trek: The Motion Picture . She again played Doctor Chapel in 1986 . Barrett then recurred Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , appearing in six episodes of the former and three episodes of the latter. Barrett also co-wrote the story for the DS9 episode " The Muse ", along with René Echevarria . For the episode "Half a Life", Barrett filmed her scenes between Wednesday 27 February 1991 and Friday 8 March 1991 on Paramount Stage 8 and 9 . For the episode "Cost of Living", she filmed her scenes between Tuesday 4 February 1992 and Monday 10 February 1992 and Wednesday 12 February 1992 and Thursday 13 February 1992 on Paramount Stage 8, 9, and 16 . Her makeup in this episode was applied by Michael Westmore . Barrett cited the TNG episode "Half a Life" as one of her favorite Star Trek episodes. ( TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Special Profiles Year Seven" ("From Comedy To Drama") )

In addition, Barrett voiced Starfleet computers in many episodes of TNG, DS9, and Star Trek: Voyager . As a result of providing the USS Defiant 's computer voice in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II ", she became the only actress to work on the first five live-action Star Trek television series. Along with Joseph Ruskin , Clint Howard , Jack Donner , and Vince Deadrick , she was one of only five actors to appear in both The Original Series and Enterprise .

She was also heard as the Enterprise computer voice in five of the feature films: Star Trek Generations , Star Trek: First Contact , Star Trek: Insurrection , Star Trek Nemesis , and Star Trek . She also voiced the Federation computer in the video games Star Trek: Judgment Rites , A Final Unity , Star Trek: Borg , and Star Trek Generations , in Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual , in the television documentary To Boldly Go , and in the DVD-ROM editions of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion - A Series Guide and Script Library , the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion - A Series Guide and Script Library , and the Star Trek Encyclopedia . She even voiced the ship's computer for the "World Enough and Time" episode of the fan-made internet series Star Trek: New Voyages , produced by James Cawley . Her son, Rod Roddenberry, was a consulting producer on this series at the time. She also voiced the ship's computer of the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald (NCC-85107-A) in the fan-made series Star Trek I: Specter produced by Brandon Bridge. ( credits )

On 10 December 2008 , it was announced that Barrett had again recorded a voiceover as the Enterprise computer for 2009 's Star Trek . She had completed her voice work on the film sometime the previous week. The announcement that she was reprising her role as the computer voice came just eight days before her death. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Continuing the legacy [ ]

Barrett's association with the Star Trek franchise and her love affair with creator Gene Roddenberry has earned her the title "The First Lady of Star Trek ." After Gene Roddenberry's death on 24 October 1991 , Barrett became an integral part of Star Trek 's continued legacy and that of Roddenberry himself. She continued to operate Lincoln Enterprises with their son, Rod, and attended at least one major Star Trek convention every year, in addition to making continued appearances and contributions to the Star Trek spin-offs.

Following Roddenberry's death, Barrett took material from his archives and used his ideas to develop two Canadian-produced science fiction television series. The first was Earth: Final Conflict , which ran from 1997 through 2002. The second was Andromeda , which aired from 2000 through 2005. Barrett served as executive producer on both of these shows until 2002 and had a recurring role as Julianne Belman on Earth: Final Conflict , but Roddenberry was credited as the creator of both shows, going as far as having the title logos for the programs proclaiming them as " Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict " and " Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda ".

Other acting credits [ ]

In addition to her commitment to Gene Roddenberry and to Star Trek , Barrett continued acting in unrelated projects. She made an uncredited appearance in the 1965 Paramount film Sylvia , which was followed by a major role in a 1966 musical film called Country Boy . In 1967, she had supporting roles in A Guide for the Married Man and Track of Thunder .

Barrett also continued appearing on television. She made a return visit to Bonanza in 1966, after which she appeared in such shows as The Second Hundred Years (which starred Monte Markham ) and Here Come the Brides , starring Original Series guests Robert Brown , Mark Lenard , and David Soul .

Barrett portrayed Miss Carrie in Michael Crichton 's 1973 science fiction classic Westworld . Alan Oppenheimer also had a role in this film. Barrett then appeared in Stanley Kramer 's 1977 film The Domino Principle , playing the wife of a character played by Ted Gehring .

" Errand of Mercy " director John Newland directed Barrett in the 1979 made-for-TV movie The Suicide's Wife , which also starred Don Marshall . That same year, veteran Trek director Corey Allen directed Barrett in another TV movie, The Man in the Santa Claus Suit . In 1983, Barrett was briefly on the soap opera General Hospital .

Barrett appeared in two 1995 independent films: Mommy and Teresa's Tattoo . The latter film also featured one-time TNG guest actor Diedrich Bader .

In 1996, Barrett guest-starred as the widow of the Centauri emperor in the episode of the cult science fiction series Babylon 5 entitled " Point of No Return ". She took the role as a goodwill gesture in hopes of calming the rivalry between the Trek franchise and the burgeoning new competitor. [8] In addition to series regular Andreas Katsulas , the episode also featured Vaughn Armstrong and Marshall R. Teague . From 1996 through 1998, Barrett voiced Anna Watson, the aunt of Mary Jane Watson, in the animated Spider-Man series based on the Marvel Comics characters. In 1998, Barrett, along with her Star Trek co-stars Walter Koenig , George Takei , and Grace Lee Whitney and Trek alumni Bill Mumy and Wil Wheaton , made gag appearances in the episode of Diagnosis Murder called "Alienated."

As an in-joke, Barrett was brought in by Trekkie writer and producer Seth MacFarlane to participate on his animated series, Family Guy . In the episode called "Emission Impossible," Barrett supplied the voice of Stewie's "sperm" ship, a nod to her four-decade role as a computer voice on Star Trek . The episode also featured the voice of DS9 alumnus Wallace Shawn .

Barrett died at her home in Bel Air, California, at 12:27 am on 18 December 2008 following a short battle with leukemia. She was surrounded by family, friends and her son, Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry, Jr. She was 76 years old. [9]

The trust documents obtained after Barrett's death disclosed that her pet dogs were left a US$4 million trust and the rights to live in one of her mansions until they die. Barrett's employee, Reinelda Estupinian, was left US$1 million and the right to live and care for the pets in the same house. Son Eugene was left the family's Bel Air mansion, US$60 million and US$10 million bonuses when he turns 35, 40, and 45. [10]

Star Trek appearances [ ]

Appearances as Christine Chapel [ ]

• " The Naked Time "
• " What Are Little Girls Made Of? "
• " Operation -- Annihilate! "
• " Amok Time "
• " The Changeling "
• " Journey to Babel "
• " The Deadly Years "
• " Obsession "
• " The Immunity Syndrome "
• " A Private Little War "
• " Return to Tomorrow "
• " By Any Other Name "
• " Spock's Brain "
• " The Enterprise Incident "
• " The Paradise Syndrome "
• " And the Children Shall Lead "
• " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "
• " The Tholian Web "
• " Plato's Stepchildren "
• " Wink of an Eye "
• " Elaan of Troyius "
• " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield "
• " The Lights of Zetar "
• " The Way to Eden "
• " Turnabout Intruder "
• " Beyond the Farthest Star "
• " The Lorelei Signal "
• " The Survivor "
• " The Magicks of Megas-Tu "
• " Mudd's Passion "
• " The Terratin Incident "
• " The Ambergris Element "
• " The Pirates of Orion "
• " Albatross "
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Federation computer voice [ ]

• " Mudd's Women " as USS Enterprise Computer (uncredited)
• " The Conscience of the King " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Galileo Seven " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " Court Martial " as Starbase 11 recorder voice and Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Menagerie, Part I " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " Tomorrow is Yesterday " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " A Taste of Armageddon " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " Wolf in the Fold " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Deadly Years " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Tholian Web " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " Day of the Dove " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " Wink of an Eye " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " That Which Survives " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Lights of Zetar " as Enterprise computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Lorelei Signal " as Enterprise computer voice
• " The Survivor " as Enterprise computer voice
• " The Infinite Vulcan " as Enterprise computer voice
• " The Pirates of Orion " as Enterprise computer voice
• " The Practical Joker " as Enterprise computer voice
• " 11001001 " as USS Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Home Soil " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Skin Of Evil " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " We'll Always Have Paris " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Conspiracy " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Neutral Zone " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Child " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Where Silence Has Lease " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Elementary, Dear Data " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Outrageous Okona " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Schizoid Man " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Unnatural Selection " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Measure Of A Man " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Contagion " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Royale " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Icarus Factor " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Pen Pals " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Q Who " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Samaritan Snare " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Up The Long Ladder " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Manhunt " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Emissary " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Evolution " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Booby Trap " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Price " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Vengeance Factor " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Defector " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Hunted " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Deja Q " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " A Matter of Perspective " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Yesterday's Enterprise " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Sins of The Father " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Tin Man " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Hollow Pursuits " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Most Toys " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Transfigurations " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Best of Both Worlds " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Suddenly Human " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Brothers " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Family " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Remember Me " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Reunion " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Future Imperfect " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Final Mission " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Loss " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Data's Day " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Wounded " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Clues " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Galaxy's Child " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Identity Crisis " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Nth Degree " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Qpid " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Host " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Mind's Eye " as Enterprise -D & Onizuka computer voice
• " In Theory " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Redemption " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Darmok " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Ensign Ro " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " The Game " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Unification I " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " New Ground " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Violations " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Conundrum " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Power Play " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Cost Of Living " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " The Perfect Mate " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Time's Arrow, Part II " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Realm Of Fear " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Man Of The People " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Relics " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Schisms " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Rascals " as Enterprise -D and Fermi computer voice
• " A Fistful of Datas " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " The Quality of Life " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Chain Of Command, Part I " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Chain Of Command, Part II " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Ship In A Bottle " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Aquiel " as Relay Station 47 computer voice / Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Face Of The Enemy " as Enterprise -D computer voice (credited but in a deleted scene )
• " Tapestry " as Starbase Earhart computer voice
• " Starship Mine " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Lessons " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " The Chase " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Suspicions " as Enterprise -D and Justman computer voice
• " Rightful Heir " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Timescape " as Enterprise -D and Runabout computer voice (uncredited)
• " Descent " as Enterprise -D computer voice (uncredited)
• " Force of Nature " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Parallels " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Homeward " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Thine Own Self " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Eye of the Beholder " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Genesis " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Firstborn " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Bloodlines " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " All Good Things... " as Enterprise -D computer voice
• " Emissary " as USS Saratoga 's computer voice
• " Babel " as runabout computer voice (uncredited)
• " The Passenger " as USS Rio Grande computer voice (uncredited)
• " Vortex " as USS Ganges computer voice
• " Battle Lines " as USS Rio Grande computer voice
• " Melora " as USS Orinoco computer voice (uncredited)
• " Whispers "
• " Paradise "
• " Playing God "
• " Tribunal "
• " The Jem'Hadar "
• " The Search, Part II " as USS Defiant computer voice
• " Defiant " as USS Defiant computer voice/Federation computer voice
• " Fascination "
• " Heart of Stone "
• " The Adversary " as USS Defiant computer voice
• " The Visitor " as USS Defiant computer voice
• " The Assignment "
• " Blaze of Glory "
• " Valiant " as USS Valiant computer voice
• " Penumbra " as USS Gander computer voice
• " The Dogs of War " as Federation computer voice
• " Caretaker " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Phage " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " State of Flux " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Heroes and Demons " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Cathexis " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Jetrel " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Learning Curve " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Projections " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Initiations " as type 8 shuttlecraft computer voice
• " Non Sequitur " as Starfleet Headquarters and USS Yellowstone computer voice
• " Parturition " as type 8 shuttlecraft computer voice
• " Persistence of Vision " as USS Voyager computer voice
• " Tattoo " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Maneuvers " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Threshold " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Meld " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Dreadnought " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Investigations " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Deadlock " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Basics, Part I " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Basics, Part II " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " The Swarm " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Remember " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Future's End, Part II " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Warlord " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Alter Ego " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Coda " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Darkling " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Distant Origin " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Displaced " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Worst Case Scenario " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Day of Honor " as Cochrane and EV suit computer voice
• " The Raven " as Cochrane computer voice
• " Year of Hell " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Concerning Flight " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Message in a Bottle " as the USS Voyager computer voice/ USS Prometheus computer voice
• " Waking Moments " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " The Killing Game, Part II " as the USS Voyager computer voice (credit only)
• " Vis à Vis " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " The Omega Directive " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Demon " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " One " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Hope and Fear " as the USS Voyager computer voice/ USS Dauntless computer voice
• " Drone " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Extreme Risk " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Once Upon a Time " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Nothing Human " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Timeless " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Thirty Days " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Infinite Regress " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Counterpoint " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Latent Image " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Bride of Chaotica! " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " The Fight " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Bliss " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " The Disease " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Dark Frontier " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Course: Oblivion " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Juggernaut " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " 11:59 " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Equinox " as the USS Voyager /USS Equinox computer voice
• " Equinox, Part II " as the USS Voyager /USS Equinox computer voice
• " Survival Instinct " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Dragon's Teeth " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " One Small Step " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " The Voyager Conspiracy " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Pathfinder " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Fair Haven " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Collective " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Spirit Folk " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Ashes to Ashes " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Child's Play " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Good Shepherd " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Fury " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Muse " as Delta Flyer computer voice
• " Life Line " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " The Haunting of Deck Twelve " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Imperfection " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Drive " as Delta Flyer computer voice
• " Repression " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Inside Man " as Communications Research Center computer voice / USS Voyager computer voice
• " Flesh and Blood " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Body and Soul " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Shattered " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Lineage " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Prophecy " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Workforce " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Workforce, Part II " as Narrator
• " Human Error " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Q2 " as USS Voyager computer voice
• " Author, Author " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Natural Law " as class 2 shuttle computer voice
• " Homestead " as Delta Flyer computer voice
• " Renaissance Man " as the USS Voyager computer voice
• " Endgame " as the SC-4 / USS Voyager / Communications Research Center computer voice
• " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II " as USS Defiant (NCC-1764) 's computer voice
• " These Are the Voyages... " as USS Enterprise -D computer voice
• Star Trek Generations as USS Enterprise -D computer voice
• Star Trek: First Contact as USS Enterprise -E 's computer voice
• Star Trek: Insurrection as USS Enterprise -E computer voice
• Star Trek Nemesis as USS Enterprise -E computer voice (credited as "Majel Barrett Roddenberry")
• Star Trek as Enterprise computer voice (credited as "Majel Barrett Roddenberry")
• " Võx " as Enterprise -D computer voice (archive audio)
• " The Last Generation " as Enterprise -D computer voice (archive audio)

Appearances as Lwaxana Troi [ ]

• " Manhunt "
• " Ménage à Troi "
• " Half a Life "
• " Cost Of Living "
• " Dark Page "
• " The Forsaken "
• " The Muse "

Narrator [ ]

• " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II " (uncredited)
• " Redemption II " (uncredited)
• " Unification II " (uncredited)
• " Time's Arrow, Part II " (uncredited)
• " Chain Of Command, Part II " (uncredited)
• " Birthright, Part II " (uncredited)
• " Descent, Part II " (uncredited)
• " Gambit, Part II " (uncredited)
• " The Circle " (uncredited)
• " The Maquis, Part II " (uncredited)
• " The Search, Part I " (uncredited)
• " Past Tense, Part II " (uncredited)
• " A Time to Stand " (uncredited)
• " Sacrifice of Angels " (uncredited)
• " Image in the Sand " (uncredited)
• " Shadows and Symbols " (uncredited)
• " 'Til Death Do Us Part " (uncredited)
• " Strange Bedfellows " (uncredited)
• " Caretaker " (uncredited)
• " Cold Fire " (uncredited)
• " Scorpion "
• " Scorpion, Part II "
• " Year of Hell, Part II "
• " The Killing Game, Part II "
• " Unimatrix Zero, Part II "

Writing credit [ ]

• DS9 : " The Muse " (story, credited as "Majel Barrett Roddenberry")

Star Trek interviews [ ]

• Launch of Star Trek: Voyager – Host ( 1995 )
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry" ("Gene Roddenberry Building Dedicated to Star Trek's Creator", "Gene's Final Voyage"), interviewed on 4 February 2002
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Special Profiles Year Seven" ("Lwaxana Troi", "From Comedy To Drama"), interviewed on 4 February 2002
• The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 2 , pp. 18-20, "Majel Barrett – Lwaxana Troi", interviewed by Bill Florence

External links [ ]

• Majel Barrett's biography (X) at Roddenberry.com (X)
• Majel Barrett Roddenberry at the Internet Movie Database
• Majel Barrett Roddenberry at the Notable Names Database
• Majel Barrett Roddenberry at the Earth: Final Conflict Wiki
• Majel Barrett at Wikipedia
• Majel Barrett Roddenberry at TriviaTribute.com
• Obituary by Ian Spelling at SciFi.com
• Obituary at Legacy.com
• 1 Alyssa Ogawa
• 2 Daniels (Crewman)

Majel Barrett

• Born February 23 , 1932 · Cleveland, Ohio, USA
• Died December 18 , 2008 · Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, USA (leukemia)
• Birth name Majel Leigh Hudec
• The First Lady of Star Trek
• First Lady of Star Trek
• Height 5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
• Majel Barrett (born Majel Leigh Hudec) was an American actress, known for her long association with Star Trek. She had multiple Star Trek-related roles, though she is mostly remembered for her roles as Nurse Christine Chapel in Star Trek, The Original Series (1966-1969) and as Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek, The Next Generation (1987-1994) and Deep Space Nine (1993-1999). Due to her status as the second wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991), Barrett was nicknamed "the First Lady of Star Trek". In 1932, Barrett was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father was police officer William Hudec (d. 1955), who was eventually killed while on duty. Barrett had aspirations of becoming an actress since childhood, and took acting classes as a child. She received her secondary education at the Shaker Heights High School, a public high school located in a suburb of Cleveland, and graduated in 1950 at the age of 18. She then enrolled at the University of Miami, a public research university located in Coral Gables, Florida. Following her graduation from university, started a career as a theatrical actress. In 1955, she was on tour with an off-Broadway road company. She had her first film role in the satirical film "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1957), which parodied the advertising industry, among other targets of satire. Barrett appeared in an uncredited bit part in a satirical advertisement within the film. Barrett's first credited film role was that Joyce Goodwin, a novice teacher depicted in the high school drama film "As Young as We Are" (1958). The film focuses on a male student who falls in love with his young, female teacher, and resorts to kidnapping her. In the early 1960s, Barrett had small roles in the romantic comedy "Love in a Goldfish Bowl" (1961) and the World War II-themed war film "The Quick and the Dead" (1963), and appeared in guest star roles in then-popular television series, such as "Leave It to Beaver", "The Lucy Show", and "Bonanza". She was often employed by the television production company Desilu Productions, which at the time was owned by veteran actress Lucille Ball (1911-1989). One of the television shows she appeared in was an episode of "The Lieutenant" (1964). This short-lived series created and written by Gene Roddenberry provided his first meetings and workings with many of the actors who would later become regulars and guest stars of Star Trek, including its two pilots. Barrett and Roddenberry befriended each other, and eventually started a romantic relationship. Roddenberry was still married to Eileen-Anita Rexroat, but often pursued relationships with other women. In 1964, Roddenberry was working on the original pilot for Star Trek. He cast Barrett in the role of "Number One", the unnamed first officer of the star-ship USS Enterprise. Number One was depicted as exceptionally intelligent and strictly rational, but seemingly unemotional. The episode hinted at a mutual attraction between Number One and her captain, Christopher Pike (played by Jeffrey Hunter). The alien Talosians try to force them to mate with each other, as part of a breeding project. This pilot was rejected by NBC executives, who complained about several aspects of the episode. One of them was the characterization of Number One, who was disliked for being overly assertive. In the subsequent retooling of the series, Number One was written out. Her character traits were added to that of a male character, Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy). Spock went on to become one of the franchise's most popular characters, due in large part to his coldly rational behavior. Still determined to cast Barrett in the series, Roddenberry later created a more traditionally feminine role for her. The role was that of Nurse Christine Chapel, depicted as the main assistant of Dr. Leonard McCoy (played by DeForest Kelley). Chapel was one of the main recurring characters in the series for three years. She was one of the earliest prominent female characters in Star Trek. In 1969, "Star Trek" was canceled. Barrett and Rodenberry briefly parted ways. Later that year, Rodenberry was in Japan on business. He realized that he missed Barrett and invited her to join him in Japan. On August 6, 1969, the two had a traditional Shinto wedding ceremony. This wedding was unofficial, as Roddenberry's divorce had not been finalized yet. Following the end of the divorce process, the two were officially married on December 29, 1969. Barrett served as a stepmother to Dawn Roddenberry (b.1953), Gene's teenage daughter. Dawn moved into the new couple's residence, and Barrett helped in her upbringing. Already known for her science fiction roles, Barrett was cast as female android Miss Carrie in the science fiction-Western "Westworld". Her character was the madame of the Westworld bordello. Barrett also had roles in the post-apocalyptic television film "Genesis II" (1973) and the science fiction television film "The Questor Tapes" (1974), both created and scripted by her husband. Star Trek was revived with the sequel series "Star Trek: The Animated Series" (1973-1974), which used much of the main cast from the original series. Barrett voiced two of the series' main female characters, Christine Chapel and M'Ress. The new character M'Ress was depicted as a female alien in feline form, who served as an officer on the Enterprise. Barrett also voiced many of this series' female guest characters. Barrett had a small role in the neo-noir film "The Domino Principle" (1977). The film depicted a secretive organization first helping a prisoner escape, and then trying to force him to serve as their newest assassin. When the escaped man refuses, a lethal struggle begins. This film was poorly received due to its convoluted plot. Barrett's next notable role was the housekeeper Lilith in the horror film "Spectre" (1977). Her character is depicted as a practicing witch, who manages to cure the alcoholic tendencies of one of the main characters. The plot of film depicts the demon Asmodeus assuming a human form and identity, while two occult detectives attempt to stop the demon's scheme. The film was intended as the pilot of a television series, but was rejected. Barrett played Christine Chapel again in the film "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979), depicting older versions of the characters from the original series. While Chapel was not one of the film's main characters, she was now depicted as a doctor instead of a nurse. Barrett's last appearance in the 1970s was a minor role in the Christmas television film "The Man in the Santa Claus Suit" (1979). The film depicted Santa Claus (played by Fred Astaire) subtly helping a number of adult characters in resolving their personal problems. The film is mainly remembered as Astaire's last television role. Barrett played Christine Chapel for the last time in the film "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986). She had a supporting role in the film, which depicted the former nurse as having achieved the rank of Commander. A year later, a third Star Trek television series was launched: "Star Trek: The Next Generation", which featured entirely new characters. Barrett guested in a few episodes as alien ambassador Lwaxana Troi, the eccentric mother of counselor Deanna Troi (played by Marina Sirtis). Barrett would play this role several times in this and the next Star Trek series, "Deep Space Nine", from 1987 to 1996. A subplot involving the character was that Lwaxana's other daughter had died young in an accident, causing Lwaxana to be overly protective of Deanna. Another subplot centered on her love relationship with Deep Space 9's shape-shifting security chief Odo. In 1991, Gene Roddenberry died from natural causes. Barrett never remarried. In the 90s, she lent her voice talents to several Star Trek video games and the animated Spider Man TV series, and had roles in two theatrical movies. As Roddenberry had left behind archives with unfinished projects, Barrett further developed one of these projects into the science fiction television series "Earth: Final Conflict" (1997-2002). She served as the series' executive producer and acted as one of the main characters, Dr. Julianne Belman, in 11 episodes in the first three seasons. The premise of the series was that a group of seemingly benevolent aliens share their advanced technology with the people of Earth. Many humans suspect that the aliens have ulterior motives, and consequently form a militant resistance organization which opposes the aliens. The series lasted 5 seasons and 110 episodes. Barrett fleshed out another of Roddenberry's unfinished projects into the space opera television series "Andromeda" (2000-2005). The series started in a distant future, where three galaxies are unified under the control of the Systems Commonwealth. When the Commonwealth attempts to resolve a war with another space-faring civilization by ceding territory to them, an uprising against the Commonwealth begins. In an early part of the conflict the spaceship "Andromeda Ascendant" is frozen in time. It emerges from stasis 303 years later, to find that the Commonwealth has collapsed and civilization has considerably declined. Main character Dylan Hunt (played by Kevin Sorbo) has the mission of restoring the Commonwealth. Like the previous Roddenberry series, "Andromeda" also lasted 5 seasons and 110 episodes. It was canceled largely due to a change of ownership of the production company Fireworks Entertainment. It was Barrett's last effort as an executive producer. In her last years, Barrett was suffering from leukemia. She died in December 2008, at her home in Bel Air, Los Angeles. She was 76-years-old. Her funeral was held in early January 2009, with about 250 people in attendance. Several of her former co-stars from Star Trek attended the funeral. Prior to her death, Barrett had recorded a number of voice roles in several Star Trek fan films and series, resulting in some posthumous releases of her last roles. She is still remembered as a major figure of Star Trek. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Dimos I
• Spouse Gene Roddenberry (December 29, 1969 - October 24, 1991) (his death, 1 child)
• Parents William Hudec Gladys V. Cotterman
• The computer voice on the Star Trek television series and five of the Star Trek films
• In addition to her voice-over work, she also provided the voice of automated railroad-defect detectors for the Union Pacific and other railroads. Her voice can be heard on railroad radio channels throughout the nation.
• Majel Barrett and Gene Roddenberry had a Shinto-Buddhist wedding on August 6, 1969. They regarded this as their real wedding, but his divorce was not yet final and they made it legal with a civil ceremony on December 29, 1969. They had one child, Rod Roddenberry . Barrett was the stepmother of actress Dawn Roddenberry and of actress Darleen Anita Roddenberry -Bacha (died on October 29, 1995 in a car accident). Her grandson, Zale Eugene Roddenberry, was born on August 6, 2013, 10:40 p.m. PT, and weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces.
• Along with Leonard Nimoy , she was one of only two actors to appear in both the first and last episodes of the original Star Trek (1966) series. Is one of only 32 actors or actresses to have starred in both the original Star Trek (1966) (up to and including Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) ) and then in one of the spin-offs. She was the only actor to appear in all five live-action "Star Trek" series ( Star Trek (1966) , Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) , Star Trek: Voyager (1995) and Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) ). In addition to this, she supplied various voices on Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) . Along with Joseph Ruskin , Clint Howard , Jack Donner and Vince Deadrick Sr. , she was one of only five actors to appear in both Star Trek (1966) and Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) . Shortly before her death, she completed voice-over work as the voice of the Enterprise's main computer for J.J. Abrams ' Star Trek (2009) remake.
• Best known for her roles as Nurse Christine Chapel on the original Star Trek (1966) series and as Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) . She played the mother of two Enterprise crew members: Lwaxana Troi and on Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) , she played Amanda Grayson as Jane Wyatt was unavailable.
• Attended and graduated from Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio (Class of 1950). Attended and graduated from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.
• On Gene Roddenberry : Well, he was a very tall and imposing-looking man, first off. He was a very adamant man. He was also very kind and sweet. He had a lot of sides to him. Our life together was wonderful. It just didn't go on long enough. (September 2006)
• On how Gene Roddenberry would have felt about digitally remastering all the Star Trek (1966) episodes: You know what? He wouldn't have been bothered by it at all. Gene did the best work he could at the time, but he was also all about the future. I think he'd have thought it was terrific that the show was being made to look better because of new technology. (September 2006)
• What's nice is you know a Star Trek movie is still one that everybody wants. It remains Paramount's cash cow, so there's no danger of it going away anytime soon. (September 2006)
• On what inspired Gene Roddenberry to create a television series set in space: It was the studio (Desilu) mainly. They wanted a show set in space. Gene wanted to do one that was more science fiction. So he decided to combine them both and see what happens. (September 2006)
• On how Gene Roddenberry felt about Star Trek revival movies and the Next Generation series: He was never really satisfied with the way any of them came out. It was just his own frustration at wanting everything to be perfect. It was nothing against the people he worked with. (September 2006)

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Eugene ‘Rod’ Roddenberry on Majel Barrett’s Ongoing STAR TREK Legacy

In this unprecedented time of Star Trek abundance (five shows and a movie!), let’s honor Majel Barrett for her many contributions. Proudly wearing the “First Lady of Star Trek ” mantle, she supported Gene Roddenberry’s creation and ensured its legacy. Majel Barrett acted in every iteration of Star Trek between 1965 and 2009. (Barrett died in 2008.) She played Number One in the original pilot, which only aired in part as an episode of the reimagined show, and later became Nurse Christine Chapel and Lwaxana Troi. Roddenberry and Barrett married and had a son, Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, who continues their legacy to this day.

The Comic-Con Museum in San Diego is in the Star Trek spirit. The exhibit “Gene Roddenberry: Sci-Fi Visionary” has everything a fan could want: costumes, a captain’s chair for photo ops, as well as scripts, concept art, and even rejection letters. There’s also a timeline of Star Trek ‘s journey from idea to the ultimate science fiction franchise. Majel Barrett’s contributions are highlighted, beginning in 1961 when she first met Gene.

Her role behind the scenes, championing Star Trek with the studio and the fans, repeats over the decades covered by the timeline. Her annotated script from the original Star Trek pilot, in which she played Number One, is also on display. Some of Barrett’s most memorable Lwaxana Troi costumes add color just in time for Women’s History Month . In honor of this stunning display, Rod Roddenberry spoke with Nerdist about his mother’s tireless effort, spirit, and humor and how she saved Star Trek time and again.

Who Wears the Pants?

The Number One character is back in Star Trek: Discovery and the upcoming series Strange New Worlds. It’s exciting for many longtime Trek fans as well as Rod Roddenberry. “ I’m thrilled that they have Number One,” says Roddenberry, who is an executive producer on all of the current Star Trek shows. “ I can hear my m om saying to Rebecca Romijn, ‘Go get em .’ I never like to actually speak on behalf of my parents, but that’s exactly what my mother would say.”

The new Star Trek show will also feature Christine Chapel, the role Majel Barrett took on when the original series was reworked. Audiences and studio executives in the 1960s were likely more comfortable with her as a nurse in a minidress than a lieutenant commander in pants. Over the years though, Chapel worked her way from nurse to doctor and even commander by Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . “I know she loved being Number One in ‘The Cage,'” he confirms. “I know she didn’t love being knocked down to Nurse Chapel, but then I know my father got to make it up to her with Lwaxana Troi.”

The Mother of All Roles

Lwaxana Troi is one of the most memorable recurring guest spots in all of Star Trek . Characters and fans alike may have rolled their eyes at her antics, but she always showed heart, tolerance, and humor. It turns out this wasn’t a stretch for Majel Barrett. “ Instead of casting her for the role, they cast her and then designed the role around her,” Roddenberry reveals. “ So if anyone really wants to know who my mother was, 100% like Lwaxana Troi. She had the strength that Lwaxana Troi had, spoke her mind like Lwaxana Troi, but was also tender and loving as she was with Alexander, Worf’s son, and with Odo. She had all of those qualities.”    

Roddenberry also confirmed that Lwaxana was her favorite character to play. “There wasn’t a director saying, ‘Okay, now be more over the top.’ No, that was her,” he says. “If anything, they might have said, ‘Oh, you might want to bring it back in, back in a bit.'” There aren’t many portrayals of women who go through the range of human (or Betazoid) emotions and still get to have as much fun as Lwaxana Troi. She, and her costumes, bring such an energy boost to the screen in those nine episodes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine . If only she could reprise the role in Picard or Lower Decks . No doubt she would fit right in with either tone.

Hello Computer

Majel Barrett’s voice acting role as the Federation computer guaranteed her work even after her last on-screen appearance in 1996. She contributed to the movies and hundreds more episodes of TV, until her death in 2008. Barrett also voiced the computer in video games and the RPG Star Trek Online . She even provided the voice in parody form for an episode of The Family Guy . “ I did not know she had done that until I saw that episode,” says Roddenberry. “ I absolutely loved it. I think it’s incredibly important for her to continue to do that. Sure that one’s sort of in jest, but still it’s always honoring Star Trek . It’s always honoring the role.”

Barrett resumed her roles as Nurse Chapel and the ship’s computer back in the 1970s when the original five year mission continued in animated form . She also voiced Lt. M’Ress, Amanda Grayson, and more than a dozen other characters.

The 2009 reboot Star Trek movie is the last time we heard Majel Barrett’s voice as the computer. Both she and her son intended it to continue even after her death . “We do have a library of sounds. We tried to get all the correct phonetic sounds as well as some key Star Trek terms,” he reveals. “ We found out that we didn’t have every sound, and at the time the technology wasn’t there to fill in the gaps. But it has been roughly 15 years since we’ve had that conversation. ”

Generations grew up associating Barrett’s voice with technological marvels. The engineers at Google cite her as inspiration for their virtual assistant. “We need to find the people out there who can artificially fill those gaps to make her voice come back to life so she can be the voice of the computer,” affirms Roddenberry. “So sure, there’s a chance.  100% in the next 100 years it’ll happen. I’m just hoping it happens in the next five.”

The Star Trek Mission Succeeds

While we wait for the day we hear Barrett’s computer voice again, we can remember the time she dedicated to keeping Star Trek alive during the lean years. Neither she nor Gene ever gave up hope that it would persist. They fought to get it on the air in the first place, to keep it on the air, and for the movies. After Gene’s death in 1991, Barrett continued the work.

“After my father passed away, there were lawsuits and the courts froze up the accounts,” says Roddenberry. “I was in college. And my mother, without me really knowing, was kind of fighting. S he rolled up her sleeves and got my father’s old speeches and edited them. She modernized them. She put some of her words into them and she kind of went on the lecture circuit, the conventions. And that’s how she made money, doing what my father did when Star Trek went off the air. I’ve got to give my mother tremendous credit for not just sitting around and wondering what to do. She did what had to be done. And that was something that I never really got to thank her for and something I didn’t really appreciate at the time, but now I realize is incredible.”

Roddenberry affirms that his mother was utterly devoted to both Gene and his vision. “ She did not create Star Trek , but she was certainly the power behind the throne,” says Roddenberry. “My father couldn’t have done it without her. So as cliché as it is, she was the woman behind the man in this particular case and that’s just the way it was.”  

Fans can see the Star Trek exhibit “Gene Roddenberry: Sci-Fi Visionary” at the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego through June 2022.

Featured Image: Paramount Pictures

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Published Dec 18, 2023

The Retro Interview: Majel Barrett

In an interview from 1988, Barrett details her hopes for 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' and more.

StarTrek.com

Many — too many — of the people who helped make Star Trek the phenomenon that it is today are sadly no longer with us. But what they helped create, and what they said about doing so, remains out there in the ether, and on the pages of many official licensed Star Trek publications. Today, we're pleased to present a conversation with Majel Barrett, written by Bill Florence for Star Trek: The Next Generation — The Official Magazine Series, Vol. 2, which was released in January 1988.

Sitting behind her Lincoln Enterprises table at a convention dedicated to Star Trek: The Next Generation , Majel Barrett takes a break from signing autographs and talking with fans. Interested television viewers have joined diehard Star Star fans for the two-day event, eager to get their first glimpse of the show.

Earlier in the day, Barrett introduced slides, character descriptions, and live footage from the first segment of The Next Generation , " Encounter at Farpoint ." She has even brought various props from the show’s set and delighted audiences with demonstrations of a "working" tricorder and phaser weapon.

Barrett is eager to discuss something she is very excited about — her role in The Next Generation .

"The Naked Time"

"I don’t see much of a future for Christine Chapel," she notes of her previous Star Trek character. "I really see much more of a future for Majel Barrett playing Lwaxana Troi." Troi, her character in the new series, is an alien — a Betazoid — and the mother of Enterprise Counselor Deanna Troi.

"Lwaxana is sort of the Auntie Mame of the galaxy," Barrett says. "She’s a much more fun character, and I can play her forever, because I’m at an age where that’s totally believable. I would like to continue to do that. I could leave Chapel very easily. However, if somebody gave me the chance to do her again, of course I would."

"Haven"

Barrett, as Troi, first appears in the episode, “ Haven ,” in which she beams aboard the ship to pressure her daughter into an arranged marriage. "Gene [Roddenberry] had said that he thinks there will be another script down the line,” which would feature the character again. But I would like to have more than one script," Barrett says. She will be trying very hard to make the part a recurring one. "I would like to put a little pressure on Gene. But the idea of nepotism sticks in his craw sometimes and people tell him, 'Gee, it looks funny.' So he’s listening to that more than to my pleas and tears.

"If the audience likes my character in the episode, however, they should write the studio. If they write to Gene, he’ll say, 'Oh, another one of these,' and into the wastebasket it goes. I would like the other people involved in Star Trek to find out that, yes, there is some interest out there for me."

The cast of The Next Generation garners high praise from Barrett. "These people are not Hollywood stars, they aren’t faces, they aren’t pretty boys and pretty girls," she says. "These people have a background of mostly stage, and with the exception of LeVar Burton, Patrick Stewart, and Wil Wheaton, they’re not widely known. They have been working actors, and they have been doing their thing." She completes the thought with great emphasis, "They have paid their dues, and they are good ."

For Barrett, the decision to become an actress was gradual one. "When I was 10 years old, my mother put me in the Cleveland Playhouse, just because I was a backward child," she recalls. "As I went through school, I felt that this was what I wanted to do, but it was more of an avocation than a vocation. Then, when I graduated from college, I went to law school for a year, but I had been doing acting all the way through. I finally decided that, after flunking Contracts, a six-credit course, I really didn’t want to take it again, and I wasn’t going to be a very good lawyer anyway. So, I went up to New York and gave professional acting a try."

She attended Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University (now Case Western University) for one year before transferring down to the University of Miami. "I always kid everybody and say I majored in Underwater Basket Weaving," Barrett laughs, "but I actually had a major and minor in Radio & Drama/TV."

There was no specific actress that Barrett tried to emulate as she trained to become a professional. "I just wanted to be a damn fine actress," she says. "I saw stardom, fame, and notoriety, but mostly I saw work and ability. I can’t honestly say that I had an idol at that time. I loved Katharine Hepburn. I still do. But I would like to be great on my own, in my own way, and do the best that I possibly can."

The year 1969 saw both the cancellation of the first Star Trek TV series and the marriage of Barrett and Roddenberry. They had met some years before Star Trek , as Barrett explains. "I knew him when I went over to Screen Gems for the first time on interviews. I was introduced to him, and we just became friends for two or three years. I would stop by when I was on the studio lot, and we would have coffee or something. There were no romantic interludes. We became good friends before we ever managed to start dating. And from that point on, it was kismet."

Barrett credits the creation of Star Trek entirely to her husband’s powerful imagination. "The expression 'Behind every great man is a great woman' does not work out here," she laughs. "If there was any inspiration to give, maybe I inspired him a little. The creativity and the imagination are all his. And as far as writing is concerned, I’m lucky I can sign my own name to the bottom of a check."

The couple have a 12-year-old son, Rod Jr. who is interested in "girls and wasting time," according to his mother. Barrett would love to see him follow his parents’ footsteps into show business, "because it has been very good to us," she says.

A golfer for 17 years, Barrett has played with such people as Harvey Korman, Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott, and others. She also attends Star Trek conventions frequently. "It’s not very difficult to come to a place where people look at you adoringly, and where there’s such adulation showered upon you," Majel Barrett observes. "People here are so nice, so friendly and so warm, and I get so much love that I love to give some of it back."

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Remembering Majel Barrett Roddenberry

December 18, 2008 By Mike Hickerson 7 Comments

According to reports, she was surrounded by her family friends and her only son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr. Gene Roddenberry died in 1991.

Roddenberry was cast as the original Number One in the pilot of “Star Trek”, “The Cage.”  When NBC wanted the series retooled, Barrett Roddenberry’s character was one of those written out of the series, but the actress returned to play Nurse Chapel, who harbored a crush on the Vulcan, Mr. Spock.  Roddenberry also served as the computer voice for each starship named Enterprise in “Star Trek” and all of its spin-offs.  We will have news on this week’s show about Roddenberry’s continued involvement in that role in the upcoming J.J. Abrams reboot.

Her romance with Roddenberry earned her the title The First Lady of “Star Trek” .

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Roddenberry family during this time.

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December 19, 2008 at 5:24 am

Tears are streaming down my face….another one of my Heros is gone. Such sadness i can not continue to write…. My prayers for her son and other family members. She will be missed in my household.

December 19, 2008 at 5:38 am

What a great lady. I named my car’s GPS system after her; cuz it talks to me.

I’ve always enjoyed seeing her on the small and big screen. She’ll be missed.

December 19, 2008 at 5:56 am

I’m very sad to hear of her passing. Hopefully the Great Bird of the Galaxy and his First Lady are reunited once again.

December 19, 2008 at 7:43 am

Wow. Somehow it never occurred to me that this day would come. She loved the work and the fans with so much energy it’s hard to imagine that she is gone. She will always hold a special place in my heart.

December 19, 2008 at 7:54 am

I was very impressed with her as a person.She was totally devoted to Gene and her son.When I saw her at cons,you could always tell when she was in the room,she just gave off so much energy, it was infectious.She loved the fans and they loved her.I am very sorry that I will no longer get to experience her presence.

December 19, 2008 at 2:54 pm

While we have lost another great one, the universe is the richer now that the Great Bird and his Great Lady have been reunited for eternity. Live Long and Prosper and you both continue boldly going where no one has gone before.

December 22, 2008 at 7:51 pm

Wow. This is so sad. I had no idea she was ill. I’m sitting here at work, stunned to read this news. My condolences, thoughts and prayers go out to her family and to her family of fans. Some day, and very soon, someone will crack the code that will either cure this disease or at least make it manageable until a cure is found. One of the reasons that person will have gone into medicine is because of being intrigued by Star Trek’s cool sick bay with the medical technology of the future. (And because Nurse Chappel was cool, too!)

I have no other words except: Sam, you nailed it.

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Majel Barrett Roddenberry was the “First Lady of Star Trek” — to me, she was mom

In an Inverse exclusive, Rod Rodenberry reflects on the legacy and life of his mother.

Most people don’t know that my mother — “The First Lady of Star Trek” — loved horror movies.

When I was a very young kid in the ‘70s, my mom, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, took me to see the movies American Werewolf in London and Amityville Horror. She also loved the camp and horror of TV shows like Elvira because they were so over the top.

As I explained in my documentary, Trek Nation , I didn’t grow up a Star Trek fan, despite the fact that my father created it. I was way more into Star Wars as a child. My father, Gene Roddenberry, didn’t often come to the movies with me and my mom. He was a good, present father, don’t get me wrong. I know he saw Star Wars and was supportive of it and complementary of George Lucas, but I don’t have a memory of my father taking me to see it. Watching movies was an experience I shared with my mom. She was the person next to me as I was guided into the possibilities of other worlds.

Majel with her son Rod.

Today, I’m equally a fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars (I really love The Mandalorian ), But again, my love of Star Wars comes from my mom, who took me to see the first film in 1977, when I was just 4-years-old. She did things like that a lot, and not just as a mother. She often bridged the gap between different fandom cultures. My mother cultivated all sorts of interest in science fiction, horror, and fantasy, and in spite of — or perhaps because of — her close association with Star Trek, she kept an open mind and an open heart about all sorts of things happening in the genre.

In 1996, she guest-starred in an episode of Babylon 5 , a series that some fans felt was in direct competition with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Imagine that! It’s almost impossible to think of someone doing something like that today; to attempt to bridge two fandoms with an open-hearted act of generosity.

But that was my mother. She was a pillar of the science fiction community and treated the cast of The Next Generation — especially Marina Sirtis, who played her daughter on the show — like family. When she came on set, not just the cast, but the crew and everyone sort of felt like mom was there. Royalty is too flamboyant of a term. She was a true den mother. This was the woman who was taking on the mantle. She is the protector. And they were right. She protected my father’s image and reputation up until his death and beyond that, up until her own.

“Today, I’m equally a fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars.”

When Star Trek fans think of Majel Barrett Roddenberry, they might think of her many characters. Nurse Chapel. Lwaxana Troi. Number One. Hell, if you’re re-watching the 1973 Westworld , you might recognize her as the robot madame running the saloon. All of these roles are different, and all of them are over-the-top. She had an over-the-top acting style, full of camp, which is why she was so good as Lwaxana, a role utterly created for her and pretty much the embodiment of her actual personality.

My mother was a versatile actress, capable of several different kinds of roles. But the one role that gets forgotten is that of a poignant speaker and lecturer.

Majel with Spock actor Leonard Nimoy.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry in Westworld (1973).

All families have dysfunction, and mine is no different. Unfortunately, when my father passed away, there were lawsuits. People contested the will and those sorts of things. The family accounts were briefly frozen through these legal proceedings. We weren't living in squalor on the streets or anything like that, but bills needed to be paid. And so my mother stepped up.

In the ‘70s, after The Original Series was canceled, my father made a partial living lecturing at colleges, talking about the ideals and dreams of Star Trek. And when he died, my mother took out all of his old speeches and rewrote them so she could give them. And in that way, she paid our family's bills. She paid for my college because she had the grace and intelligence to improve upon my dad’s old speeches about Star Trek and his dreams for the future. She wasn't some helpless producer's wife who couldn't manage things on her own. She not only took care of herself, but all of Star Trek, and her son, too.

“She always gave me the impression [Star Trek] would last forever .”

These are things about my mother that people will never truly understand that I’m just beginning to grasp myself. She was a champion for women’s rights and a voice for representation across all the versions of Star Trek that she worked on. But when it was just us, we rarely talked about Star Trek. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, it was just a topic we didn’t discuss.

My mother passed away slightly before the 2009 J.J. Abrams film was released, which featured her final performance as the voice of the Enterprise ’s computer. Again, we almost never spoke about the Final Frontier. It was almost like I didn’t need to ask. But, occasionally, when I did ask her about what she thought would happen to Star Trek, she always gave me the impression that it would last forever. The question is, could it have survived all of those years without her? Just like my mom lifted herself up by her Starfleet bootstraps to save her family, she also lifted the entire franchise. For all the generations of Star Trek fans, and the generations yet to come, all of us are still living in a world that my mother cared about, and kept safe.

Rod Roddenberry is the son of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry. He’s also an executive producer on all current Star Trek TV series, including “Discovery”, “Lower Decks,” and “Strange New Worlds.” Starting in March 2022, Majel (aka, “The First Lady of Star Trek”) was honored as part of an exhibit focused on her husband at the San Diego Comic-Con Museum.

To commemorate this moment, Rod Roddenberry took time to reflect on who his mother was, from a very personal point of view. This is his story, as told to Inverse writer Ryan Britt.

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Majel Roddenberry, ‘Star Trek’ Actress, Dies at 76

By The Associated Press

• Dec. 19, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Majel Barrett Roddenberry, an actress who was the widow of the “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry but who is probably best remembered as Nurse Chapel in the original “Star Trek” series, died Thursday at her home in Bel-Air. She was 76.

The cause was leukemia, a family spokesman, Sean Rossall, said.

Ms. Roddenberry was involved in the “Star Trek” universe for more than four decades. She played the dark-haired Number One in the original pilot then metamorphosed into the blond, miniskirted Nurse Christine Chapel in the original show, which ran from 1966 to 1969.

The character had abandoned a career in bio-research to join the starship Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) in the hope of reuniting with a fiancé who had gone missing in deep space. She served as the loyal head nurse under the chief medical officer, Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and harbored an unrequited infatuation with the first science officer, Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy).

Ms. Roddenberry had smaller roles in all five television successors of the original series and in many of the “Star Trek” movie incarnations.

She was frequently the voice of the ship’s computer, and about two weeks ago she completed the same role for the forthcoming J.J. Abrams movie “Star Trek,” Mr. Rossall said. She was a regular participant at “Star Trek” conventions for fans.

Ms. Roddenberry was also the executive producer for two other television science fiction series, “Andromeda” and “Earth: Final Conflict.”

Majel Lee Hudec was born on Feb. 23, 1932, in Cleveland. After a number of stage roles she earned small parts during the late 1950s and ’60s in movies and in television series like “Leave It to Beaver” and “Bonanza.”

She met her husband in 1964 during a guest role for a Marine Corps drama he produced called “The Lieutenant.” They married in Japan in 1969 after “Star Trek” was canceled. Mr. Roddenberry died in 1991.

Ms. Roddenberry’s survivors include her son, Eugene Jr.

The Untold Truth Of Star Trek's Majel Barrett

If you watch "Star Trek ," you may have heard a familiar female voice across most of its different incarnations. Every time a computer is used in the series, viewers hear a woman's voice acknowledge commands or read out data. Starship computers are voiced by actress Majel Barrett, a role that has made her beloved to the Trek fandom and one that she reprised over the years before her death. Barrett also has a different, more personal relationship with the franchise: She also happens to be the wife of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry.

Cleveland.com reported Barrett was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1932, as Majel Hudec. Her family had moved to the Cleveland area when she was a year old and grew up there. She left Ohio to go to the University of Miami. Ever since she was a child, she had taken acting classes and even starred in plays at regional theaters.

The official website of "Star Trek"  said that even though Barrett loved acting, she was initially going to school to become a legal clerk. She went to law school for a year before deciding to pursue acting full time after getting a bad grade in contract law. Barrett moved to New York but thought the competition for roles was too stiff. It wasn't until she moved to Los Angeles that her career took off.

She worked with Lucille Ball

Today, Barrett is most famous for "Star Trek," but the show is not the only iconic series where she performed. After moving to Los Angeles, Barrett worked at the Pasadena Playhouse, where she was cast in the play "All for Mary." But this was Hollywood, not New York, and the real money was to be found onscreen.

She signed with Paramount and was cast in several movies as well as the popular shows of the time. Barrett had roles in films like "Black Orchid," "Young As We Are," and "The Buccaneer." Barrett also appeared in seminal TV shows like "Leave It to Beaver," "Dr. Kildare," and "Bonanza."

According to Star Trek.com , a chance meeting with comedy legend Lucille Ball during an acting class changed Barrett's trajectory. Ball signed her to an exclusive contract with her production company Desilu. This allowed Barrett to be in an episode of "The Lucy Show." After she left Desilu and worked on the MGM show "The Lieutenant," she met the man who would change her life.

She had an affair with Roddenberry

Barrett first met Gene Roddenberry on the set of "The Lieutenant," an hour-long drama that lasted one season, 1963-64, on NBC. Roddenberry was the creator and executive producer of the series.

It wasn't until a few years later that Roddenberry and Barrett married. Roddenberry was married when they first met, but he chose to pursue a relationship with Barrett anyway, explained The National Review . Their affair was an open secret (and Roddenberry was known as a serial womanizer who would be absolutely canceled for the way he ran his shows) and lasted for years before he divorced his first wife.

Roddenberry cast Barrett in the first pilot of the original "Star Trek" series as Number One, but Star Trek.com noted NBC, where the show aired, didn't like that a woman was second in command of a starship, and they reshot the pilot with a different Number One. Barrett was cast again as Nurse Christine Chapel when the show was picked up.

Barrett and Roddenberry married in Japan in 1969 and the two stayed together until his death in 1991. They had a son together.

Trek was not her only gig

Barrett is most well-known to fans as the computer voice, but real "Trek" fans know Barrett has had a far more significant role than that. She's so tied to the show, beyond her relationship with its creator, that fans called her the First Lady of Star Trek, wrote the Los Angeles Times .

Aside from the Nurse Chapel, who appeared in the original series, Barrett also starred as another character on the show. When the spin-off "Star Trek: The Next Generation "  came out, Barrett was tapped to play Lwaxana Troi, the domineering, loud, and gregarious mother of Deanna Troi. IMDb said Barrett appeared in 104 episodes of "TNG" and 33 episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

As for her best-known contribution, Barrett provided the computer voice for all starships in most "Star Trek" programs. Before her death in 2008, Barrett recorded lines to voice the computer for the reboot movies. And Barrett wasn't just in "Trek"; she was also in an episode of the sci-fi series "Babylon 5."

Barrett also provided the voice-over for another form of present-day transportation. Per the Times of UK , Union Pacific Railways used her voice for their trains.

She loved space

As befitting the First Lady of Star Trek, Barrett had an interest in promoting science. One way this manifested is by serving on the board of governors of the National Space Society (NSS). She also served on the NSS board of directors.

The NSS is a non-profit group that helps create programs to prepare people for spacefaring. Their goal is to work towards resettlement in space and educate people on why the study of space is essential.

Barrett, along with Roddenberry, was also honored by the Space Foundation for contributions to space exploration. Their work on "Star Trek" has inspired so many to see the beauty of space and become engineers and astronauts.

Barrett was also a fierce advocate for land-based animals. The Los Angeles Times said she was dedicated to animal rescue. On her death, the Roddenberry family asked mourners to make a donation to two animal rescue charities in her name.

Her final frontier

In 2021, William Shatner became the oldest person to go to space and the first actor playing a Federation starship captain to reach the edge of space, at least momentarily, in real life. But Shatner, the first to play Captain James T. Kirk in the "Trek" franchise, is far from the first person from the "Star Trek" universe to think about traveling to space.

After inspiring an entire generation of space travelers, both Roddenberry and Barrett will have a chance to boldly go, too, after a fashion. Their ashes will be aboard the Celestis memorial flight dubbed, fittingly, Enterprise. The company said its tentative launch date is June 2022. Roddenberry's ashes had already been to space before, back in 1997, per Space Daily . When the Enterprise flight launches, it will be the culmination of a long journey into space for Barrett.

Barrett's influence stretches beyond space travel. Her work voicing the Enterprise, Voyager, and basically most of the shows' computers inspired the creation of voice assistants on our phones and homes . Not bad for the First Lady of Star Trek, who is more than the voice that calls out the self-destruct sequence.

Majel Barrett

Majel Barrett (aka Majel Barrett Roddenberry) was the only actor to appear in every Star Trek series to date [1] . Several of her characters, as well as the actor herself, are beloved by fans.

She married to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry on August 6, 1969 in a traditional Buddhist-Shinto ceremony in Tokyo, Japan. However, Roddenberry's divorce from his first wife Eileen was not yet finalized, so they made it legal with a civil ceremony on December 29, 1969.

In addition to being the ubiquitous computer voice in several of the series, she played Christine Chapel in the original series and Lwaxana Troi in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine .

She also voiced characters in the animated series and appeared in the the original unaired pilot ("The Cage") as Number One , the Enterprise's first officer. Footage of her appearance in the pilot was incorporated into the Star Trek TOS first season episodes, "The Menagerie", parts 1 and 2.

Barrett also produced two television series based on concepts originated by Gene Roddenberry: Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda .

Majel Barrett died on December 18, 2008. [2] Her final contribution to "Star Trek" was a computer voice cameo in the 2009 motion picture by Bad Robot.

She headed the Lincoln Enterprises mail order firm specializing in Star Trek -related items from 1968 to her death in 2008.

In 1993, Barrett took out a full-page ad in several fanzines:

GENE RODDENBERRY NEEDS YOU AGAIN! You Saved the Future Once -- Help Do It Again! A Plea from Majel Barrett Roddenberry: Remember when NBC wanted to cancel Star Trek and you saved it with a massive letter writing campaign ? WE DESPERATELY NEED YOUR HELP AGAIN! The Space Station, our critical first step into the future of Gene Roddenberry's vision, is an danger of cancellation by the Senate. If we lose the Station we will lose all of our human spaceflight program. NOW IS THE TIME! We need your calls and letters and those of your friends and relatives as well. Pass the word. Get as many copies of this flyer to those who will act as soon as you can. Write or call your two Senators, Senator Barbara Mikulski, and Congressman Louis Stokes. Tell them we need the Space Station as a first step toward insuring that future generations will be able to realize Gene's dreams of a kinder more gentle world. Or tell them that space technology is crucial to continue our economic leadership. Or just say, "I support the Space Station. Please vote for it." Use your own words — whatever matters most to you... [snipped] Gene Roddenberry showed you the future. Make it so.

Conventions

Barrett attended hundreds of Star Trek and media conventions large and small for 30 years, from the 1970s to the mid-2000s. Just a few of these included Equicon/1973 , Equicon/1974 , and Equicon/1976 ; as well as Phoenix Fan Convention , DixieTrek , Satellite One , and PortlandTrek . She would often bring merchandise from her mail order business Lincoln Enterprises to offer for sale at these cons.

• Majel Barrett Fan Association

Links and Resources

• Majel Barrett at Wikipedia
• ^ Majel Barrett-Roddenberry , Memory Alpha (2009)
• ^ Majel B. Roddenberry, wife of 'Star Trek' creator, dies , LA Times , December 19, 2008
• Star Trek Actors

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‘Star Trek’ creator’s wife, actress, voice of Enterprise

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Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and an actress whose longtime association with the “Star Trek” franchise included playing Nurse Christine Chapel in the original series, died early Thursday morning. She was 76.

Roddenberry died at her home in Bel-Air after a battle with leukemia, said family spokesman Sean Rossall.

“She was a valiant lady,” Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on “Star Trek,” told The Times. “She worked hard, she was straightforward, she was dedicated to ‘Star Trek’ and Gene, and a lot of people thought very highly of her.”

Once dubbed “The First Lady of ‘Trek’ ” by the Chicago Tribune, Majel (sounds like Mabel) Barrett Roddenberry was associated with “Star Trek” from the beginning.

In the first TV pilot, she played a leading role as Number One, the first officer who was second in command.

But at the request of various executives, changes were made, and she did not reprise her role in the second TV pilot. Instead, she played the minor role of Nurse Chapel when the series began airing on NBC in September 1966. Roddenberry had another distinction: Beginning with the original series, she supplied the coolly detached voice of the USS Enterprise’s computer -- something she did on the various “Star Trek” series.

She also was the voice of the Starship Enterprise for six of the 10 “Star Trek” movies that have been released, as well as the 11th, which is due out next year.

Roddenberry also played Dr. Christina Chapel in two of the “Star Trek” movies, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and “Star Trek: The Voyage Home.”

And she played the recurring role of the flamboyant Lwaxana Troi on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”

Roddenberry, whose pre-”Star Trek” acting career included guest appearances on series such as “The Untouchables” and “The Lucy Show,” had no idea she was establishing a career path in science fiction when she took her first “Star Trek” role.

“Not at all,” she said in a 2002 interview with the Tulsa World. “I certainly didn’t have any idea that I’d be doing it this long, for so many different shows and films -- especially as a product of a series that was a flop. The original was only on for three years. It wasn’t considered a success by anyone’s standards.”

The show took off as a pop-culture phenomenon after it went into syndication, however, and Roddenberry, who was married to Gene Roddenberry from 1969 until his death in 1991, attended her first “Star Trek” convention in 1972.

“You know, when the conventions started out, I’d attend four or five a month,” she said in the 2002 interview. “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.”

Rossall said both Gene and Majel Roddenberry maintained warm relationships with “Star Trek” fans. And as late as August, he said, Majel Roddenberry attended a “Star Trek” convention in Las Vegas.

As she told the Buffalo City News in 1998, “It’s been a hell of a ride.”

Born Majel Hudec in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 23, 1932, she attended the University of Miami and acted in regional theater before heading to Hollywood in the late ‘50s.

Several years after her husband’s death, Roddenberry discovered a pilot script and notes he had written for a series in the ‘70s.

And in 1997, with Majel Barrett Roddenberry as an executive producer and playing a recurring role, “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict” began airing in syndication. She later was an executive producer of the syndicated “Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda.”

She is survived by her son, Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr.

Roddenberry had a love of animals and was dedicated to animal rescue. Instead of flowers, the family suggests donations in her name to Precious Paws, www.preciouspaws.org, or CARE (Cat & Canine Assistance, Referral and Education), www.care4pets.org.

Funeral and memorial service details are pending.

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Star Trek: Rod Roddenberry Honors His Mother Majel Barrett's Legacy

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Among all the figures that turned Star Trek into a global phenomenon for over 55 years, one of the most enduring ones is Majel Barrett, the First Lady of Star Trek . The actor portrayed the Enterprise's first officer Number One in the original pilot for the series, "The Cage," before being recast as the ship's head nurse Christine Chapel. Barrett, who married Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry after The Original Series ' run, later portrayed Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: TNG  while maintaining her voice role as the ship's computer through the 2009 Star Trek reboot, recording lines before her passing in 2008. Behind the scenes, Barrett diligently kept  Star Trek alive for the fans that saved the franchise on more than one occasion.

With Barrett being honored at the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego  with a line of outfits worn by the actor as part of a tribute for Women's History Month, her son Rod Roddenberry, the founder and CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment sat down for an exclusive interview with CBR. Highlighting his mother's life and career, both as part of Star Trek and beyond, Roddenberry shared insight on the Majel Barrett the fans never knew. He reflected on helming the documentary Trek Nation and teases what fans can expect in the future.

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With this museum exhibit, and all the Star Trek presence planned for the year, how did you want to honor your mother Majel Barrett?

Rod Roddenberry: The truth is, she deserves a whole lot more. There are two sides to this. There's celebrating my mother and her contributions to Star Trek  fandom and my father, but there's, of course, the very personal side of the woman I saw that very few people got to see. It's hard not to mix the two. She had a relatively impressive career before Star Trek:  she was on Bonanza and Leave It to Beaver . She had a very interesting and decent career but, of course, her contributions to Star Trek are hard to ignore, as the voice of the computer, Lwaxana Troi, Nurse Chapel, and Number One on "The Cage."

I really felt like she needs to be celebrated, and there's also the personal side I also saw when my father passed away. On many levels, my mother stepped in to really pick up the mantle and fill the gap of the Roddenberry relationship with fandom. There are certain things that people don't know but are public if you go searching for it. Our family, unfortunately, went through a bunch of lawsuits at that time. We're just as dysfunctional as all families and we have those sorts happen as well. They locked down our accounts and while we weren't living in squalor, there were still bills to pay and no access to money.

My mother went on the lecture circuit like my father did, took some of his old speeches, and modernized them a bit. Her father was a tough man and she grew up working and showed me how much she could do that. I was a seventeen-year-old kid at the time and, in order to keep me in college and pay the bills, she did this and did it so I wouldn't really have to notice it. Personally, there's a really strong fondness, especially since we didn't really get along at the time. She was a tough broad who stepped up when she needed to step up and didn't ask for any compensation or thanks. That's who she was as a person.

She was a strong woman and a member of a golf club and, back in the early '80s, they still had a men's grill on Wednesday afternoons, no women were allowed. Not because she was a modern-day woman, but she was one of the boys, and she would go in there not a single one would tell her to leave because she was just as fucking dirty as they were. She sat with the guys sitting there smoking their cigars, and she would tell the dirtiest jokes just alongside them and they invited and welcomed her. She really is incredible on many levels, not just in her acting career.

If I had to compare her to any character, I think the character of Lwaxana is really her because they didn't just create the character and happened to cast my mother. They knew my mother was going to be there so they made the character like her. She was crazy flamboyant, would speak her mind, would never let man or woman take her for granted and when it came to being sensitive and soft in the episodes with Odo and Worf's son Alexander, she could do that too. She's an incredible woman of many talents.

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If I can ask, was there a moment where you two came back together?

We always loved each other. We just couldn't have a discussion. It's typical of all families and relationships. We'd talk about something being red except I would come at from this side and she would come about from that side and we'd argue about it the whole way through -- both agreeing that it was red but we just couldn't see or listen to the other person's point-of-view, neither one of us could. It was that stupidity you'd look at in hindsight and realize was dumb. But there was no hatred or animosity but we couldn't clearly communicate.

What part of your mother's life did you really want to shine a light that others may not have been aware of?

I really want to give her credit, not just for her interactions, but for her view on fans. She, as well as my father, knew that the fans saved Star Trek and she never forgot that. At conventions, she sat at her table and she wouldn't just sign and take money. She interacted and it was genuine. It wasn't an act. She knew that every single person who came up and said that Star Trek changed their life and that they loved the show, she sat there, made eye contact, and asked them questions. She'd be there for over three hours at a time -- especially in her slightly older years and that is something I'd truly admire.

My father would also [respond to fans]. He'd do his talk on stage but he wouldn't disappear behind the curtain. He got off stage and talked with everyone. That's something I admired about my parents, in particular my mother. Even if the convention said she needed to sign in the dealer's room, she'd stick to her table [on the main floor], and didn't take shit from anyone. She knew that the fans saved Star Trek and were 100% dedicated to them and my father and I love that about her.

Your mother had the unique perspective of being in the original Star Trek pilot all the way to voicing the ship's computer in the 2009 reboot. Did her perspective on the family business change over the years?

It certainly changed from where it was like "That's Gene's role" to when she stepped into it. I think she understood really quickly because, while she clearly understood Star Trek , I don't think she had ever taken on the mantle like that. I saw her reading my father's speeches, making notes, speaking them and the little twists she would put in. I heard my mother's voice in there too. That was the most interesting collaboration -- to hear her read my father's speeches with her notes on them. It definitely was a learning [experience] for it not to be foreign to her. It's what you would expect trying to fill those shoes. I feel bad that she felt she had to fill those shoes, but she did a good job and did it in her own way, and I think that the fandom really appreciated that.

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Trek Nation has been out for over a decade now. Have you ever considered revisiting that and refocusing on your mother or your evolving relationship with Star Trek now as it gets a new resurgence on Paramount+?

I felt really bad because we had an edit with more of my mother in Trek Nation but we had to cut it out because my mother is a can of worms. I don't mean that to be disrespectful but there were so many layers of the onion to get into there that we wouldn't have enough for 90 minutes to get into my father. We made a decision, midway through, to eliminate my mother's [footage], which was sad. The contradictory part of that is it would be really hard to get information about her. My mother has a very lost past because everyone I knew that knew her and all her family members are gone. I don't know specifically what but my mother went through some serious shit as a kid and, like a lot of people of that era, she went through stuff but I wouldn't be able to tell a comprehensive enough story for a documentary.

I'm deeply involved with Star Trek -- more the idea and philosophy than the storytelling even though I'm involved, on some level, with that as well -- and I don't think I'll do a Trek Nation II but a number of people have reached out to us to do a documentary on Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek . We'll probably do something down the road but I wouldn't call it Trek Nation II or anything like that although, with whatever incarnation this is now, maybe in ten or twenty years, it'll be time to look at Star Trek and its fandom again.

With Number One taking on a major role in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , were there any particulars in making sure the show and character honored the foundation set by your mother?

They've got Nurse Chapel and Number One , which is great and I'm thrilled they decided to reprise both characters. There's nothing specific [in honoring my mother], the reprisals are phenomenal. I just got off a table read call for Episode 5, Season 2, and Number One plays a good role in that. They're doing everything I would want. They're not side characters. My father tells the fun story of "The Cage," when the studio execs told him he couldn't do that, he'd say he kept the Vulcan and married the woman. But I know that bothered [my mother] because that demotion to Nurse Chapel isn't what she wanted. I'm happy now that these characters are being reborn and seen.

In the original Westworld , my mother was the madam and I love the fact that in the [HBO television series] that character has a huge role. She's one of the main characters. I'm happy to see these characters, that people are seeing value in them and bringing them to life more, regardless of whether it has to do with my mother or not. It's nice seeing that small connection.

With Star Trek Mission: Chicago right around the corner, conventions back in swing, and more, what can you tease you've got coming, Rod?

I'm very excited for Strange New Worlds and I'm a huge fan of all the Star Treks , obviously. I'm not just saying that because I'm involved with them and I am -- some more than others -- I absolutely love and adore Prodigy . It is phenomenal. What we're doing internally is celebrating my father, it's still in the middle of his 100th [birthday] and we're working hard to make sure that, whether it's television, a movie or a documentary, or hopefully all three, we'll get something out there that really shows his life during Star Trek and before Star Trek because his life before Star Trek insane. The hope is to do something similar to the movie Unbroken , something of that size, scope, and tone but we'll see. We've got a lot of irons in the fire and positive responses but it's too soon to say something is happening.

KEEP READING:  Stacey Abrams Leans Into Star Trek Fandom in Her Run for Georgia Governor

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Majel barrett roddenberry.

A television actress when she met her future husband, Barrett Rodenberry became the protector of Gene Roddenberry’s creative legacy in the Star Trek universe after his death in 1991. She played Nurse Chapel in the original series (1966-69) and provided the voice of the Enterprise computer through several film adventures.

- Read Majel Barrett Roddenberry's Telegraph Obituary - Read Majel Barrett Roddenberry's Times Obituary

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Star Trek's Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Dies

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, former wife of deceased Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and long time Trek character actor, has died. She was 76. According to the AP and various wire services, cause of death was leukemia. She died earlier today in her Bel-Air, California home.

After Gene’s death Majel found herself charged with protecting the spirit of Trek , and had a big role in protecting her husbands empire. But she’s probably best known to Star Trek fans for her numerous roles in almost all of the various incarnations of the series. In the original, unaired Star Trek pilot she played the Enterprise’s first officer. By the time the show aired in its final Captain Kirk incarnation, she had been relegated to Dr. McCoy’s assistant, Nurse Chapel. In Star Trek: The Next Generation and other Trek series she played the telepath Lwaxana Troi, mother of Deanna Troi, a frequent guest star and without a doubt one of the most beloved and formidable female characters in the history of science fiction.

Majel Barrett’s voice is also the one you usually hear coming out of the Enterprise’s computer. It was only a few days ago that Paramount announced she would again lend her voice to the Enterprise computer in JJ Abrams’ new film, as she has done so many times before. It’s unknown at this time whether her dialogue for the part has already been recorded. If it has been, her last act in Trek will be to launch a whole new universe for Roddenberry’s groundbreaking, decades spanning franchise. I can’t think of anything more fitting.

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Majel Barrett

Actress • Producer • Writer

Birth date: february 23, 1932, death date: december 18, 2008, birth place: columbus, ohio, spouses: gene roddenberry, children: rod roddenberry.

Often known as "The First Lady of Star Trek," Majel Barrett took acting classes as a child and as a young woman she worked on several shows at the Desilu studios. They included the long-running pioneer series "Bonanza," the Prohibition-era crime drama "The Untouchables," and the screwball "The Lucy Show." Barrett appeared in the pilot episode of "Star Trek" in 1964, and she became romantically involved with its creator, Gene Roddenberry, and later married him.

Her character was changed from "Number One," a first officer on board the Starship Enterprise, to Nurse Christine Chapel -- a woman who had a crush on Leonard Nimoy's Spock. In the 1979 film "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," we are informed that Chapel has become a doctor, and this character is also briefly seen in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home." Otherwise, Barrett kept busy on most of the incarnations of the show as the voice of onboard "Star Trek" computers.

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Obscure Facts About the Original ‘Star Trek’ Series

‘Star Trek’: Rod Roddenberry on Keeping His Father Gene’s Vision for the Franchise Alive

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Roddenberry's son explains what majel would've thought about modern star trek.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation Cast & Character Guide

10 reasons why i think spock is star trek's anchor being, star trek is bringing back the 1 species even the borg fear, & i can't wait.

• Rod Roddenberry believes that his late mother, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, would have had strong opinions about the modern Star Trek shows and would have fought for the preservation of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek ideals.
• Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who played the character of Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek, was known for being outspoken and never holding back her opinions in real life. This suggests that if she were still alive, she would have vocalized her thoughts about the current Star Trek series.
• While the modern Star Trek shows may be different from what Gene Roddenberry originally created, Rod Roddenberry and his mother both believed in the optimism and positive values of Star Trek. Majel would have wanted to ensure that these values were present in all Star Trek content.

Gene Roddenberry's son, Rod Roddenberry explains what his late mother, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, would have thought about the current Star Trek series on The Shuttlepod Show . Rod is the CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, and he is an executive producer of the various Star Trek series on Paramount+. Rod and his parents are literally Star Trek royalty, but the franchise is now also markedly different from the Star Trek Gene Roddenberry created in the 1960s and updated in 1987 with Star Trek: The Next Generation .

During an appearance on The Shuttlepod Show hosted by Dominic Keating, Connor Trinneer, and Erica LaRose, Rod Roddenberry answered a fan question about what he thinks his mother, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, would have thought about the modern Star Trek shows . Read his quote and watch the video of The Shuttlepod Show at the 1:10:10 time stamp below:

Well, for those who don’t know, my mother was Lwaxana… When they created the character of Lwaxana, it wasn’t “Oh, we’ve got this character Lwaxana, who are we gonna cast?” It was “Gene is going to put Majel in the show. We need a character. All right, let’s create this obnoxious, kind of crazy, boisterous woman who will be Troi’s mother.” She was like that in real life. She really never held her opinions. She would share…

If she were here today, she would definitely have strong opinions. She also protected the hell out of my father, even when he was wrong. I know she’d be proud of the shows, but I also know she would have very strong opinions. Because, like me, she was close to Star Trek and believed in that optimism, believed in that sort of positive side of Star Trek, believed in us being better humans in the future… And she believed in that future, so she wants to make sure that that would be in all Star Trek.

Star Trek: The Next Generation has one of the most beloved cast of characters in all of science fiction. Here are the major characters of the classic.

Modern Star Trek Is Different But Still Has Classic Star Trek's Values

Star Trek's resurgence on Paramount+ overseen by Alex Kurtzman has made the franchise stronger than it has been since the glory years of the 1990s Rick Berman era, but Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard took hits for veering too far away from classic Star Trek's optimism in favor of serialization and breakneck action and violence. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returned to the episodic exploration of vintage Star Trek but with richer character development, and this seems to be the winning formula Star Trek fans old and new have responded to most favorably.

If Majel Barrett-Roddenberry hadn't passed away in 2008, it's hard to imagine she wouldn't have been invited to join in on Star Trek: Picard season 3's reunion of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast that fans and critics loved. Picard season 3 did honor one of Majel's signature Star Trek roles by bringing her back as the voice of the USS Enterprise-D's computer, just as she was during TNG 's heyday Whatever Majel's "opinions" about Star Trek would be today, her words carried weight, especially with longtime Trekkers, and Majel would always fight for the preservation of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek ideals.

Source: The Shuttlepod Show