The First Lady of Star Trek: Majel Barrett-Roddenberry

I was so excited to learn that The First Lady of Star Trek would be the voice of the computer of the Starship Enterprise spaceship in the new Star Trek movie to be released in 2009. I was stunned today to learn that Majel Barrett died yesterday at the age of 76. She worked at Desilu Studios and received comedy training from Lucille Ball, who, as I mentioned in another post, had been responsible for giving the green light to Star Trek because Ball was the president of Desilu at the time. Barrett never thought that when she became involved with the Star Trek series she would begin a trek that would take us all on a fantastic ride. Everytime I heard her voice as the computer, I admired her work and I will continue to do so into the future. So I will go ahead and make the post I had planned before I knew she had passed on.

I admire actors that take on a role in a certain genre and give their all to it. Majel Barrett has been involved with the Star Trek franchise since its inception. She appeared in all five series (TOS,TNG,DS9,Voyager, and Enterprise) and was the computer voice in all five series as well as supplying voices for several Star Trek movies. Talk about being committed to Star Trek. I know you might say that she was, after all, married to Gene Roddenberry, but she did have a career of her own as a promising young actress who worked for Desilu Studios and had roles in very significant television series such as Bonanza, The Untouchables, and The Lucy Show. She accepted a role as Nurse Chapel on Star Trek and as the computer voice as well. What a great idea, a computer that talks to you! From then on out, if you heard the computer, and actors worked with the computer, you heard the lovely voice of Majel Barrett. She played the exotic Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation. She brought so much humor and fun with her mother daughter relationship with Deanna Troi. She loved what she did and became a corner stone in the Star Trek universe. How appropriate that she will be the voice in the new motion picture to be released in 2009. What an appropriate choice and the fact that she wanted to do the part speaks volumes to her commitement to Star Trek and its legacy. I look forward now more than ever to seeing this new movie and now it will be bitter-sweet to hear the familiar computer voice from the Enterprise.
Here is a wonderful clip of Majel Barrett as Lwaxana Troi.
RIP.