Majel Barrett Dies | The Hooded Utilitarian

Since I’m on a Star Trek kick.

I think Barrett was pretty good. I’ve been watching a bunch of the old episodes and thought she was fine in “Amok Time” (Nurse Chapel’s big episode). Also in the first pilot, “The Cage,” as Number One, a very different role. Never saw her in NextGen, but I gather her part there was broad comedy, again different.

In Star Trek Memories William Shatner says something catty about her along the lines of “Majel was basically a proficient actress.” (Quote to be corrected when I have the book with me.)

The AP reports:

NEW YORK (AP) — Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, has died. She was 76. Roddenberry, an actress who appeared in numerous “Star Trek” TV shows and movies, died Thursday of leukemia at her home in Bel-Air, Calif., her representative said.

At Roddenberry’s side were family friends and her only son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr. Gene Roddenberry died in 1991.

Her romance with Roddenberry earned her the title “The First Lady of Star Trek.” A fixture in the “Star Trek” franchise, her roles included Nurse Christine Chapel in the original “Star Trek,” Lwaxana Troi in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the voice of the USS Enterprise computer in almost every spin-off of the 1966 cult series. She recently reprised the voice role in the upcoming “Star Trek” film directed by J.J. Abrams.