[Infowarrior] - OT: "Voice of The Enterprise" dies at 76

[Richard Forno]

"Program Complete. You May Enter When Ready."  ---rf



Majel B. Roddenberry dies at 76; wife of 'Star Trek' creator was voice  
of the Enterprise

By Dennis McLellan
December 19, 2008

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-roddenberry19-2008dec19,0,1017655.story

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.

dennis.mclellan at latimes.com