12:00PM, Dec 19, 2008
Fans mourn the loss of the First Lady of Star Trek
Majel Barrett Roddenberry - widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and the voice of the Enterprise computer - has died.
The actress who appeared in all five Star Trek series, died yesterday of leukemia in her Bel Air home. She was 76.
Known as the First Lady of Star Trek, her final contribution to the franchise will be providing the voice of the USS Enterprise computer in J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek movie which she completed just before her death.
Born Majel Leigh Hudec in Columbus, Ohio, she appeared in TV shows including Leave it to Beaver, The Lucy Show and Bonanza.
Her film roles included Westworld and The Quick and the Dead. She married Gene Roddenberry in 1969.
At the time NBC executives were unhappy that Rodenberry cast a woman - who was also his girlfriend at the time - as First Officer in the Star Trek series pilot and she was recast as a nurse and then a doctor in subsequent series.
Barrett Roddenberry returned in Star Trek: The Next Generation as headstrong Betazoid amabassador Lwaxana Troi, a role she reprised in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
