Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (born Majel Leigh Hudec, February 23, 1932 – December 18, 2008) was an American actress and producer. She was also the widow of television director/producer/writer and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
As a result of her marriage to Gene Roddenberry and her ongoing relationship with Star Trek – participating in some way in every series to date – she is sometimes referred to as "the First Lady of Star Trek". She and Gene Roddenberry were married in Japan on August 6, 1969, after the cancellation of the original Star Trek series.
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.
She appeared as Primus Dominic in Roddenberry's 1973 post-apocalyptic TV drama pilot, Genesis II. After Roddenberry's death, Barrett took material from his archives to bring two of his ideas into production. She was executive producer of Earth: Final Conflict (in which she also played the character Dr. Julianne Belman), and Andromeda.
In a gesture of goodwill between the creators of the Star Trek franchise and of Babylon 5 (whose fans often engaged in a rivalry), she appeared in the latter series' episode "Point of No Return", as Lady Morella, the psychic widow of the Centauri emperor, a role which foreshadowed major plot elements in the series.
Parodying her voice work as the computer for the Star Trek series, Barrett performed as a guest voice on Family Guy as the voice of Stewie Griffin's ship's computer in the episode "Emission Impossible".
The Union Pacific Railroad also enlisted her voice talents for their track-side defect detector devices, used in various locations deployed west of the Mississippi River. When a defect is identified, the system responds with her recorded voice announcing information to the train's head-end crew.
Barrett died on December 18, 2008, at her home in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California as a result of complications from leukemia. She was 76.
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