Majel Barrett Bio - Biography

Name Majel Barrett
Height 5' 9"
Naionality American
Date of Birth 23 February 1932
Place of Birth Columbus, Ohio, USA
Famous for
Born Majel Lee Hudec on February 23, 1932, in Cleveland, Ohio, Roddenberry began taking acting classes as a child. She attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, then had some stage roles and came to Hollywood. In the late 1950s and 1960s, she had bit parts in a few movies and small roles in TV series.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? in an ad parody at the beginning of the film. Barrett was the mother of Eugene Wesley "Rod" Roddenberry, Jr.In various roles, Barrett has been in every dramatic incarnation of the popular science fiction Star Trek franchise, including live-action and animated versions, television and cinema, and all of the time periods in which the various series have been set.

She first appeared in Star Trek's initial pilot, "The Cage", as the USS Enterprise's unnamed first officer, "Number One". Barrett was romantically involved with Roddenberry, and the idea of having an otherwise unknown woman in a leading role with a position of authority, because she was the producer's girlfriend, is said to have infuriated NBC network executives who insisted that Roddenberry give the role to a man.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.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.Barrett often joked that Roddenberry, 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.

Her role in subsequent episodes of Star Trek was altered to that of Nurse Christine Chapel, a frequently recurring character, known for her unrequited affection for the emotionless Spock. 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 briefly 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. She would return years later 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. She reprised her role as a shipboard computer's voice in the two episodes of the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise. She has also lent her voice to various computer games and software related to the franchise. Roddenberry had also made a point of attending a major Star Trek convention each year in an effort to inspire fans and keep the franchise alive.

Less than 10 days before her death, on December 9, 2008, Roddenberry Productions announced that she would be providing the voice of the ship's computer once again, this time for the 2009 motion picture relaunch of Star Trek.Sean Rossall, Roddenberry family spokesman, stated that she had already completed the voiceover work, approximately December 4, 2008.

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