In Memoriam: Majel Leigh Hudec Barrett Roddenberry, 1932-2008

[thatcrazycajun]

It is with an exceedingly heavy heart that I must report the loss of another member of the Star Trek family, perhaps one of the most beloved and central to it. Majel Barrett Roddenberry, widow of Original Series creator Gene and portrayer of several pivotal acting roles in the original and its spinoffs, has died of leukemia at 76 in her Bel Air, CA home. MSNBC.com has the obit here.

No one who reads this blog regularly needs to be reminded of Majel's vital and varied roles in the franchise—both in front of and behind the camera. If you happened upon this page by sheerest chance and do need this information, go here. I would only add that my own personal experience of her, admittedly extremely limited, was of a kind, gracious and generous lady (in every sense of that fine old word). She passed peacefully at home, with her and Gene's son Eugene by her side. And as a fitting sendoff, reports are that the new film being released by Paramount next May features her one last time providing the voice of the ship's computer.

With DeForest Kelley, Mark Lenard, James Doohan and Gene, Majel makes the fifth major player among those who were present at the creation to leave us. The sorrow of those of us who discovered the wider world of science-fiction fandom through the door marked "Star Trek" is beyond words to encompass. Goodbye, ma'am, and thank you for helping so much to make Gene's vision the reality tens of millions of us share.

Comments

[tovahs.livejournal.com]

I met Majel Barret at ICon. All I can remember about her other than she loved acting was that she was VERY tall. Even sitting down she was tall.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I got to chat with her face-to-face once and I was surprised how *short* she was. I'm 5'4", she was maybe 5'6", tops.

And I'll never forget that chat. She happened to wander up to the same display table at a con art show that I was viewing, and we were alone in a corner for a few silent moments. I didn't want to intrude, but when she turned to leave, I plucked up my courage and told her that there was something I always wished I'd always wished I'd gotten to tell her husband, but would like to tell her: that I was 9 when TOS premiered and it was the very 1st evidence I'd ever had that I wasn't crazy & I wasn't alone.

Now, she had surely heard such statements hundreds of times, but she teared up and hugged me(!), then thanked me and told me how much such comments always meant to Gene.

She was a kind & classy lady, and we shall all miss her.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

I met her back in the 1970's at one of the Equicons. I ran into her again in the late 1980's at whatever the convention was, and I asked her, "How do you feel playing the ultimate Jewish mother?" She thought about it, smiled, and said, "I LOVE IT!"

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

As some others can tell better, she took it upon herself to rescue a fan convention to get replacement guest actors to attend when one or more needed to back out. She knew what they all meant to us.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

One thing this Babyloniac will remember that a lot of Trekkers and Trekkies won't is that back in the 90's when there was all this rancor towards a certain *other* very popular TV franchise, it was Majel who reached out and unified things, praising the show to the Trekkies, and then playing Lady Morella in "Point of No Return", one of the more momentous of the Babylon 5 episodes, being immediately before "Severed Dreams"...

So, yeah, given that... she was all that, and she was a fan herself, too.

And about the music: Damn right. There *is* no other sendoff appropriate for her than Scotty on the pipes. Wonder if they'll fire her into space, too...

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[dsthomas.livejournal.com]

She was such a great addition to the Trek world. She was def NOT just Gene's wife. She was so much more.