Thursday, December 18, 2008

R. I. P.:Majel Barrett Roddenberry

She's dead, Jim.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry has passed away at the age of 76, of complications from leukemia. She was in just about every incarnation of the Star Trek franchise, from her role as Number One in the first unaired pilot (later adapted as the two-parter episode "The Cage") to her recently announced reprise as the voice of the Enterprise's computer in the new Trek film. She was also involved in most of her husband Gene Roddenberry's projects and in many other sci-fi works.

I don't know if it was a transference from my own desire to be Mr. Spock, but I had a kind of crush on her in her incarnation as Nurse Chapel. She has always come across in her acting as being more attractive than a cold assessment of her features might be evaluated; she projected such vivacity and warmth that she acted more beautifully than she looked, and it convinced you.

I sincerely hope she had completed her voice tracks for the new movie before her passing. It would be a fitting final memorial for a beloved figure in popular culture.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

She was even pretty hot as Deanna Troy's Mom!