MAJEL BARRETT RODDENBERRYMajel Barrett Roddenberry, who died on 18 December, 2008, aged 76, was an American actress known as the 'First Lady of Star Trek' because of her marriage to Gene Roddenberry.She married him in August 1969 shortly after the original Star Trek was axed from television schedules - but repeats of the show gained cult popularity and films and spin-off series followed.Majel had the distinction of appearing in every television incarnation of the show as well as several of the movies. Gene died in 1991 but his widow played a central part to the realisation of several of his visions.She was born Majel Lee Hudec on 23 February, 1932, in Cleveland, Ohio and took acting classes as a child. After a failed attempted to study law, she pursued a career in acting, first in New York, then California. There she worked on popular shows like The Lucille Ball Show (1962), Bonanza (1962 & 1966) and a handful of films.She met Gene Roddenberry while working on his series The Lieutenant in 1964. They struck up a relationship and Gene cast her as a leading officer in the Star Trek pilot The Cage (1964). But it was as Nurse Christine Chapel that she would be remembered in the three seasons that followed.She reprised the role in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). But in future incarnations of the show, beginning with The Next Generation in 1987, she played the voice of the Enterprise's onboard computer, as she did in Deep Space Nine (1993-99) and Voyager (1995-2001) and the subsequent big budget films.During the 1990s she also appeared in the rival sci-fi series Babylon 5 (1996), the Spider-Man animated series (1996-98) and Earth: Final Conflict (1997-99), a show based on a Gene Roddenberry concept. She was credited as an executive producer on that and Andromeda (2000-02).She was one of the few members of the original cast to feature in the 2009 Star Trek remake, again playing the ship's computer, and had completed her work just a few days before her death in Bel Air, Los Angeles. She was survived by her son Eugene.Her family released a statement saying: "Over the course of their more-than quarter-century love affair, she became not only Gene's partner, but also his creative muse. Majel Roddenberry helped Gene expand the Star Trek universe and was an integral part of its continued legacy after his death."
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