Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Wife of ‘Star Trek’ creator dies at 76

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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Mark Felt, Watergate's `Deep Throat,' dies at 95

William Mark Felt, Sr. (August 17, 1913 – December 18, 2008 was an agent of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, who retired in 1973 as the Bureau's Associate Director. After thirty years of denying his involvement with reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Felt revealed himself on May 31, 2005 to be the Watergate scandal whistleblower called "Deep Throat."

Felt worked in several FBI field offices prior to his promotion to the Bureau's Washington headquarters. During the early investigation of the Watergate scandal (1972–74), Felt was the Bureau's Associate Director, the second-ranking post in the FBI. While Associate Director, Felt provided Washington Post reporter Woodward with critical leads on the story that eventually saw the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon in 1974. In 1980, Felt was convicted of the felony of violating the civil rights of people thought to be associated with members of the Weather Underground by ordering FBI agents to search their homes as part of an attempt to prevent bombings. He was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine but was pardoned by President Ronald Reagan during his appeal. In 2006, he published an update of his 1979 autobiography, The FBI Pyramid. His new book, written with John O'Connor, is titled A G-Man's Life.


William Mark Felt was born on August 17, 1913 in Twin Falls, Idaho, the son of a Jewish carpenter and building contractor Mark Earl Felt and his wife, the former Rose Dygert. After graduating from Twin Falls High School in 1931, he received a BA from the University of Idaho in 1935, and was a member and president of the Gamma Gamma chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

He went to Washington, D.C. to work in the office of U.S. Senator James P. Pope (D-Idaho). In 1938, Felt married Audrey Robinson of Gooding, Idaho, whom he had known when they were both students at the University of Idaho. She had come to Washington to work at the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and they were wed by the chaplain of the United States House of Representatives, the Rev. Sheara Montgomery. Felt and Audrey, who died in 1984, had two children, Joan and Mark.

Felt stayed on with Pope's successor in the Senate, David Worth Clark (D-Idaho).[Felt attended The George Washington University Law School at night, earning his law degree in 1940, and was admitted to the District of Columbia bar in 1941.

Upon graduation, Felt took a position at the Federal Trade Commission but did not enjoy the work. His workload was very light. He was assigned a case to investigate whether a toilet paper brand called "Red Cross" was misleading consumers into thinking it was endorsed by the American Red Cross. Felt wrote in his memoir:

My research, which required days of travel and hundreds of interviews, produced two definite conclusions:
1. Most people did use toilet tissue.
2. Most people did not appreciate being asked about it.
That was when I started looking for other employment.
He applied for a job with the FBI in November 1941 and was accepted. His first day at the Bureau was January 26, 1942.


Vanity Fair magazine revealed Felt was Deep Throat on May 31, 2005 when it published an article (eventually appearing in the July issue of the magazine) on its website by John D. O'Connor, an attorney acting on Felt's behalf, in which Felt said, "I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat." After the Vanity Fair story broke, Benjamin C. Bradlee, the key editor of the Washington Post during Watergate, confirmed that Felt was Deep Throat. According to the Vanity Fair article, Felt was persuaded to come out by his family, who wanted to capitalize on the book deals and other lucrative opportunities that Felt would inevitably be offered in order, at least in part, to pay off his grandchildren's education.

Public response varied widely. Felt's family called him an "American hero", suggesting that he leaked information for moral or patriotic reasons. G. Gordon Liddy, who was convicted of burglary in the Watergate scandal, said Felt should have gone to the grand jury rather than leak. Some have contrasted Felt's media treatment with that of other whistleblowers.

Nixon chief counsel Charles Colson, who served prison time for his actions in the Nixon White House, said Felt had violated "his oath to keep this nation's secrets"[80], but a Los Angeles Times editorial argued that this argument was specious, "as if there's no difference between nuclear strategy and rounding up hush money to silence your hired burglars." Ralph de Toledano, who co-wrote Felt's 1979 memoir, said Mark Felt Jr. had approached him in 2004 to buy Toledano's half of the copyright. Toledano agreed to sell but was never paid and attempted to rescind the deal, threatening legal action. A few days before the Vanity Fair article was released, Toledano finally received a check. He later said:

I had been gloriously and illegally deceived, and Deep Throat was, in characteristic style, back in business — which given his history of betrayal, was par for the course.
Speculation about Felt's motives at the time of the scandal has varied widely as well. Some suggested it was revenge for Nixon choosing Gray over Felt to replace Hoover as FBI Director. Others suggest Felt acted out of institutional loyalty to the FBI. Publishers were interested in signing Felt to a book deal after the revelation. Weeks after the Vanity Fair article was released, PublicAffairs Books, whose CEO was a Washington Post reporter and editor during the Watergate era, announced that it signed a deal with Felt. The new book was to include material from his 1979 memoir with an update. The new volume was scheduled for publication in the spring of 2006. Felt sold the movie rights to his story to Universal Pictures for development by Tom Hanks's production company, Playtone. The book and movie deals were valued at US $1 million.

In the summer of 2005, Woodward's longtime publisher, Simon and Schuster, swiftly issued Woodward's account of his contacts with Felt, The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat (ISBN 0-7432-8715-0). The book received mixed reviews.


At 12:45pm on December 18, 2008, Felt died in his sleep at a hospice care facility in Santa Rosa, California. He was 95 years old. No cause of death was released immediately to the press, but it was known that Felt had suffered from congestive heart failure in recent years. His death was reported in the Washington Post by Bob Woodward.

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Justine Levens A mixed martial arts fighter and his wife have been found shot to death in a Laguna Niguel condominium in what authorities say was an a

LOS ANGELES — A mixed martial arts fighter and his wife have been found shot to death in a Laguna Niguel condominium in what authorities say was an apparent murder-suicide.

Orange County sheriff's officials say the bodies of Justin Levens and his wife Sarah McLean-Levens were found Wednesday afternoon.

The 28-year-old Levens competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and other fighting federations.

Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino says the couple were found by the woman's mother, who called 911.

Lt. Mike Jansen says further

Celine Cawley, died she was 46

A former Bond girl was murdered after grappling with an intruder whom she caught in her home in Dublin Monday.

Celine Cawley, 46, who appeared in “A View to Kill” with Roger Moore was found bludgeoned to death on the patio of her multi-million dollar home on December 15. She was rushed to the hospital where she died an hour later.

Her husband, Eamonn Lillis, who had just dropped their daughter off at school and taken their dog for a walk, returned home to find his wife lying unconscious on the property. He later chased away the man he said was in his early 20s to 30s and of slight but strong build, The Daily Mail said.

There was no sign of a forced entry, no murder weapon was found and there were no other witnesses, the Mail said.

Cawley played a party girl in the 1985 Bond film. She later became a successful advertising executive and film maker in the U.K.

Paul Scofield died he was 85

David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was an English award-winning actor of stage and screen. Noted for his distinctive voice and delivery, Scofield received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his performance as Sir Thomas More in the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons, a reprise of the role he played in the stage version at the West End and on Broadway for which he received a Tony Award. He is considered by many to be one of the best British actors of the 20th century.

Scofield was born in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, and began attending the Varndean Secondary School in Brighton at the age of 12 where he took various roles in school plays.

He went up to Oxford in 1939, where he famously shared digs with Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin[4] before leaving university to pursue his acting career. Scofield began his stage career in 1940 with a debut performance in Desire Under the Elms at the Westminster Theatre, and was soon being compared with Laurence Olivier. In 1947, he starred in Walter Nugent Monck's revival of Pericles, Prince of Tyre at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford.


An actor of extraordinary intelligence, Scofield was noteworthy for his striking presence and distinctive voice, and for the clarity and unmannered intensity of his delivery. His versatility at the height of his career is exemplified by his starring roles in theatrical productions as diverse as the musical Expresso Bongo (1958) and Peter Brook's celebrated production of King Lear (1962). In his memoir Threads of Time, Peter Brook wrote about Scofield's versatility: "The door at the back of the set opened, and a small man entered. He was wearing a black suit, steel-rimmed glasses, and holding a suitcase. For a moment we wondered who this stranger was and why he was wandering onto our stage. Then we realized that it was Paul, transformed. His tall body had shrunk; he had become insignificant. The new character now possessed him entirely."

In a career mainly devoted to the classical theatre, Scofield starred in many Shakespeare plays and played the title role in Ben Jonson's Volpone in Peter Hall's production for the Royal National Theatre (1977). Highlights of his career in modern theatre include the roles of Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons (1960), Charles Dyer in Dyer's play Staircase, staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, the definitive Laurie in John Osborne's A Hotel in Amsterdam (1968), and Antonio Salieri in the original stage production of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus (1979). He was subsequently the voice of the Dragon in another play by Robert Bolt, a children's drama The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew. Expresso Bongo, Staircase and Amadeus were filmed with other actors, but Scofield starred in the screen versions of A Man for All Seasons (1966) and King Lear (1971). Other major screen roles include the obsessed Nazi Colonel in The Train (1964), Strether in a 1977 TV adaptation of Henry James's novel The Ambassadors, Tobias in A Delicate Balance (1973), Professor Moroi in the film of János Nyíri's If Winter Comes (1980), for BBC Television, Mark Van Doren in Robert Redford's film Quiz Show (1994), and Thomas Danforth in Nicholas Hytner's film adaptation (1996) of Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

Scofield was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1956 New Year Honours. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for A Man for All Seasons and was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Quiz Show. Theatrical accolades include a 1962 Tony Award for A Man for All Seasons. In 1969, Scofield became the sixth performer to win the Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Male of the Species. He was also one of only eight actors to win both the Tony and the Oscar for the same role on stage and film. He was appointed a Companion of Honour (CH) in the 2001 New Year Honours. In 2002 he was awarded the honorary degree of D. Litt by the University of Oxford. In 2004 a poll of actors of the Royal Shakespeare Company, including Ian McKellen, Donald Sinden, Janet Suzman, Ian Richardson, Antony Sher and Corin Redgrave, acclaimed his Lear as the greatest Shakespearean performance ever. Scofield appeared in many radio dramas for BBC Radio 4, including in later years plays by Peter Tinniswood: On the Train to Chemnitz (2001) and Anton in Eastbourne (2002). The latter was Tinniswood's last work and was written especially for Scofield, an admirer of Anton Chekhov. He was awarded the 2002 Sam Wanamaker Prize.


Scofield married actress Joy Parker in 1943. The couple had two children; Martin (born 1944), a lecturer in 19th-century English literature at the University of Kent, and Sarah (born 1951).

He declined the honour of a knighthood on three occasions, but was appointed CBE in 1956 and became a Companion of Honour in 2001.

Scofield died on 19 March 2008 at the age of 86 at a hospital near his home in Sussex, England, from leukemia. more

Richard Widmark died he was 93

Richard Widmark (December 26, 1914 – March 24, 2008) was an American actor of films, stage, radio and television. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Widmark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6800 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2002, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.


Widmark was born in Sunrise Township, Minnesota, grew up in Princeton, Illinois, and also lived in Henry, Illinois for a short time. He attended Lake Forest College, where he studied acting and also taught acting after he graduated.

Widmark was a guest on What's My Line? in 1954. The following year, he made a rare foray into comedy on I Love Lucy, portraying himself when a star-struck Lucy trespasses onto his property to steal a souvenir. Widmark finds Lucy sprawled out on his living room floor underneath a bear skin rug.

Returning to television in the early 1970s, Widmark received an Emmy nomination for his performance as the U.S. President in the TV movie Vanished (1971), a Fletcher Knebel political thriller. In 1972-73, he reprised his detective role from Madigan (1968) with six 90-minute episodes on the NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie. The mini-series Benjamin Franklin (1974) was a unique experiment of four 90-minute dramas, each with a different actor performing the title role: Widmark, Beau Bridges, Lloyd Bridges, Eddie Albert, Melvyn Douglas and Willie Aames (Franklin at age 12). The series won a Peabody Award and five Emmys. During the 1980s, Widmark returned to TV with a half-dozen TV movies.


From 1942 until her death in 1997, Widmark was married to playwright Jean Hazlewood. The marriage produced a daughter, Anne Heath Widmark, an artist and author who was married to baseball legend Sandy Koufax from 1969 to 1982. In 1999, Widmark married socialite Susan Blanchard, who had been Henry Fonda's third wife.

Green City is the site of Widmark Airport in extreme northeastern Missouri. Towns the size of Green City (pop. 688 in 2000) usually do not have airports, but Richard Widmark owned a cattle ranch in the area during the 1950s and 1960s. Widmark contributed funds to the construction of an airport which led to it being named in his honor.

Widmark died after a long illness on March 24, 2008 at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. more

Hazel Court died she was 82

Hazel Court, born on February 10, 1926, in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, was a talented English actress best known for her roles in horror films during the 1950s and early 1960s. Her father, G.W. Court, was a renowned cricketer who played for Durham CCC. From an early age, Hazel showed a keen interest in acting and, at the age of fourteen, began studying drama at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and the Alexander Theatre, both located in Birmingham.

At the age of sixteen, Hazel's acting career took off when she met director Anthony Asquith in London. This encounter led to her landing a brief role in the 1944 film Champagne Charlie. Over the years, Hazel continued to hone her craft and gained recognition for her performances, ultimately winning a British Critics Award for her portrayal of a crippled girl in Carnival (1946).

Her early career also saw her appear in films like Holiday Camp (1947) and Bond Street (1948). However, her first foray into the realm of fantasy and horror films came with her role in Ghost Ship (1952). Hazel continued to build a name for herself in the genre, taking on memorable roles in campy films such as Devil Girl from Mars and Doctor Blood's Coffin.

In the 1957-1958 television season, Hazel co-starred in a CBS sitcom filmed in Britain called Dick and the Duchess, playing the role of Jane Starrett, a refined British woman married to an insurance claims investigator (Patrick O'Neal). Throughout her career, she traveled frequently between North America and Britain, even making appearances in four episodes of the critically acclaimed series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Hazel Court's career was marked by her ability to take on diverse roles in different genres, although she always maintained a special connection to horror films. In 1957, she starred in the first color Hammer Horror film, The Curse of Frankenstein, a role that came to define her career.

With her impressive body of work, Hazel Court solidified her place as a talented actress and a beloved figure in the world of horror films.

Hazel Court's desire to explore comedy led her to take on roles in comedic projects, such as the TV comedy series Dick and the Duchess, which aired from 1957 to 1958. Despite this shift in genre, she continued to make a significant impact on the horror film industry. Her role in the 1957 film The Curse of Frankenstein earned her the status of a "cult siren," partly due to her memorable display of cleavage.

As her career progressed, Hazel traveled frequently between Hollywood and her native England. During this period, she made notable appearances in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock's acclaimed TV series. She continued to build her filmography with roles in movies like A Woman of Mystery (1958) and The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), further cementing her position as a versatile and talented actress.

By the early 1960s, Hazel had permanently relocated to the United States. Her association with horror films continued as she was featured in several Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, including The Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963), and The Masque of the Red Death (1964), the latter two of which starred fellow horror icon Vincent Price.

Hazel Court's personal life included a marriage to Irish actor Dermot Walsh from 1949 to 1963. The couple had a daughter named Sally Walsh, who shared the screen with her mother in The Curse of Frankenstein. Hazel's dedication to her craft, as well as her ability to adapt to different genres, resulted in a career that left an indelible mark on the world of cinema, particularly in the realm of horror films.

Following her marriage to American actor Don Taylor in 1964, Hazel Court chose to retire from film acting to focus on her family life. The couple first met while filming an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and together they had two children, Jonathan and Courtney. Hazel's dedication to her family led her to create a nurturing and loving environment for her children and husband until his passing in 1998.

Although Hazel stepped away from the film industry, she occasionally returned to the screen. In 1981, she made a brief, uncredited appearance in the third Omen film, The Final Conflict. She also appeared in various TV series, such as Mission: Impossible, Dr. Kildare, Twelve O'Clock High, Burke's Law, Sam Benedict, and The Twilight Zone.

Beyond her acting career, Hazel Court was a talented artist with a passion for painting and sculpting. She furthered her skills by studying sculpting in Italy, demonstrating her commitment to artistic growth and exploration. In December 2007, Hazel published her autobiography, Hazel Court - Horror Queen, in the UK. The book was later released in the US in 2008 by Tomahawk Press.

Hazel Court's life was a fascinating blend of dedication to her family, artistic expression, and memorable contributions to the world of film. Her legacy as a versatile actress and a beloved figure in the horror genre continues to inspire fans and aspiring performers alike.

Court died of a heart attack at her home near Lake Tahoe, California on April 15, 2008, aged 82. She was survived by her three children, and two stepdaughters, Anne Taylor Fleming and Avery Taylor.

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