Majel Roddenberry, "First Lady of Star Trek," Dies at 76

• Dec 18, 2008 07:49 PM

Majel Barrett Roddenberry

An era has ended for Star Trek. Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of the franchise's creator, Gene Roddenberry, has died. She was 76 and was suffering from leukemia.

Majel Roddenberry was an actress and appeared in many of the Star Trek TV shows and films. She died at her Bel-Air home, the AP reports, with friends and her son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr., at her side. Gene Roddenberry passed away in 1991.

"My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that Star Trek fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years," her son said, in a statement on the Roddenberry Productions website. "It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed away."

To many of those fans, Majel Roddenberry was known as the "First Lady of Star Trek." She had roles in many of the Trek productions, starting with the part of "Number One" in the original series' pilot, "The Cage," which never aired. Her other 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 most of the spin-offs of the series.

Most recently, she recorded the Enterprise computer's voice for J.J. Abrams' forthcoming Trek movie.