Majel Barrett
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Majel Barrett-Roddenberry | |
|---|---|
 Majel Barrett sits as she signs autographs at Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 2, 2007. | |
| Born | Majel Leigh Hudec |
| Other names | M. Leigh Hudec |
| Occupation(s) | TV, film, voice actor |
| Spouse | Gene Roddenberry (1969–1991) |
| Website | http://www.roddenberry.com/ |
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (23 February 1932 - 18 December 2008) (born Majel Leigh Hudec in Columbus, Ohio) was an American actress, and producer. She was also the widow of television director/producer/writer and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
As a result of her marriage to Gene Roddenberry and her ongoing relationship with Star Trek – participating in some way in every series to date – she is sometimes referred to as "the First Lady of Star Trek". She and Gene Roddenberry were married in Japan on August 6, 1969, after the cancellation of the original Star Trek series.
Biography
Barrett attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. She came to Hollywood in the 1950s. She worked at the Desilu Studios on several TV shows, including Bonanza, The Untouchables, The Lucy Show, and The Lieutenant. She received training in comedy from Lucille Ball. In 1960, she played Gwen Rutherford on Leave it to Beaver. She was also briefly seen in the film Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? at the very beginning, in an ad parody.
Majel Barrett has been in every incarnation of the popular science fiction Star Trek franchise. She first appeared in Star Trek's initial pilot, "The Cage", as the USS Enterprise's unnamed First Officer, "Number One". Barrett is said to have been cast as Number One in part because of her romantic involvement with Roddenberry. The idea of having an otherwise unknown woman in a leading role with a position of authority, because she was his girlfriend, is said to have infuriated NBC network executives who insisted that Roddenberry give the role to a man.[1] In Star Trek Memories, which he dictated to Chris Kreski, William Shatner corroborated this, but he added that female viewers at test screenings hated the character as well.[2] Shatner notes that women viewers felt she was "pushy" and "annoying" and also thought that "Number One shouldn't be trying so hard to fit in with the men."[3] Majel often said that Gene, given the choice between keeping Mr. Spock (whom the network also hated) or the woman character, "kept the Vulcan and married the woman, 'cause he didn't think Leonard [Nimoy] would have it the other way around."[4]
Her role in subsequent episodes of Star Trek was altered to that of Nurse Christine Chapel. In an early scene in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, viewers are informed that she has now become Doctor Chapel, a role which she reprised in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Barrett provided several voices for Star Trek: The Animated Series, including those of Nurse Chapel and the communications officer M'Ress, the felinoid officer who served alongside Uhura. Years later, she would return in Star Trek: The Next Generation, cast as the outrageously self-deterministic, iconoclast Betazoid Ambassador Lwaxana Troi, who appeared as a recurring character in the series. Her character often vexed the Captain of the Enterprise, Jean Luc Picard, who spurned her amorous advances. Barrett later appeared as Ambassador Troi in several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
She provided the regular voice of the onboard computers of Federation starships for Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and most of the Star Trek movies, including the upcoming film by J.J. Abrams.[5] She reprised her role as a shipboard computer voice in the two episodes of the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise that involved an earlier time period– a century before the time of Kirk and Spock aboard the USS Enterprise NCC-1701. She has also lent her voice to various computer games and software related to the franchise.
As a result of her providing the computer voice in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly", Barrett became the only actor to participate in all six Star Trek TV series, as well as in both the TOS and TNG film series.
Less than 10 days before her death, on December 9, 2008, Roddenberry Productions announced that Barrett-Roddenberry would be providing the voice of the ship's computer once again, this time for the 2009 motion picture relaunch of Star Trek. It is not clear, however, whether she had already recorded the voiceover at the time of the announcement, or had been scheduled to do so.[6]
After Star Trek
She appeared as Primus Dominic in Roddenberry's 1973 post-apocalyptic TV drama pilot, Genesis II. After Roddenberry's death, Barrett took material from his archives to bring two of his ideas into production. She was Executive Producer of Earth: Final Conflict, and later Andromeda. Barrett also played the character Dr. Julianne Belman in Earth: Final Conflict.
In a gesture of goodwill between the creators of the Star Trek franchise and of Babylon 5 (whose fans often engaged in a rivalry),[7] she appeared in the latter series' episode "Point of No Return", as Lady Morella, the psychic widow of the Centauri emperor, a role which foreshadowed major plot elements in the series.
Parodying her voice work as the computer for the Star Trek series, Barrett performed as a guest voice on Family Guy as the voice of Stewie Griffin's ship's computer in the episode "Emission Impossible".
Union Pacific railroad engineers enlisted her voice talents for their track-side defect detector devices, used in various Union Pacific railroad locations deployed west of the Mississippi River. When a defect is identified, the system responds with her voice announcing information to the train's head-end crew.[8]
Barrett died December 18, 2008 as a result of complications from leukemia. She was 76.
References
- ^ Solow, Herbert F. (1996). Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0671896288.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Star Trek Memories, dictated by William Shatner and transcribed by Chris Kreski, which HarperCollins published, with the ISBN 0-06-017734-9, in 1993, made this claim in the chapter on "The Cage".
- ^ William Shatner, Star Trek Memories, Harper Collins, 1993. p.65
- ^ Bio and interview of Majel Barrett, "Creation presents Majel Barrett", New York City, August 25-26, 1990
- ^ http://trekmovie.com/2008/12/10/majel-barrett-roddenberry-to-play-computer-voice-in-new-star-trek-movie/
- ^ Roddenberry Productions press release, December 11, 2008; accessed December 18, 2008
- ^ http://www.ntua.gr/lurk/countries/co/guide/053.html
- ^ "Live Railroad Radio Communications". RailroadRadio.net. Retrieved 2007-02-12.Select UP San Francisco Bay Area for real-time communications feed.
External links
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