User:FrancesO/roddenberry

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Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American screenwriter and producer. He is arguably best known as the creator of Star Trek.

Roddenberry was sometimes called the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" because he helped start Star Trek. [1] He was one of the first people to have his ashes "buried" in space. [2]

Personal life[change | change source]

Gene Roddenberry was born in El Paso, Texas in 1921. His parents were Eugene Edward Roddenberry and Caroline Glen. He grew up in Los Angeles, California, where his father worked in the police. He became interested in engineering and got a pilot's license. In 1941, he joined the United States Air Force. He flew many combat missions and was awared the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. [3]

After he left the military, he became a commercial pilot (which means he flew passenger aircraft) with Pan American World Airways. He then stopped flying in 1949 so he could write television shows. While writing he also worked in the police so he could provide for (look after) his family. In 1956, he quit his job as a policeman to write full time.

Roddenberry was married twice and had three children. He married Eileen Rexroat first, and they were married for 27 years. They had two daughters, Darlene (1947-1995) and Dawn (1953-). In the 1960s, he also started romantically seeing Nichelle Nichols [4] and Majel Barrett (1932-2008). He divorced Rexroat and married Barrett in Japan in a traditional Shinto ceremony on August 6, 1969. They had a son, Eugene Wesley, Jr. Roddenberry's marriage to Barrett lasted until his death in 1991.

He died in 1991 of heart failure. He was 70 years old. In 1992, some of his ashes were sent into space on board the Space Shuttle Columbia. In 2012, some more of his ashes will be sent into space with his wife Majel's ashes. [5]

Film and television career[change | change source]

While Roddenberry was working in the police, he wrote scripts for television shows. He used the pen name Robert Wesley. [6] He wrote for shows like Highway Patrol and Have Gun, Will Travel. He won a Writers Guild of America Award for an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel called "Helen of Abaginian" in 1957. [7]

Norway Corporation[change | change source]

In 1963, Gene Roddenberry started a company called the Norway Corporation. He started the company because he wasn't happy with how he had to write shows for other people. With the Norway Corporation, he made a television show called The Lieutenant. This was a show about the military. It asked questions about issues like racism. One episode, "To Set It Right" was never shown because of this.

Star Trek[change | change source]

Roddenberry sold Star Trek as a Western, but set in space. He compared it to the television show Wagon Train. [8] The series was a Norway Corporation production. The Original Series was cancelled after three seasons because it was not very popular.

Other projects[change | change source]

In 1971, Roddenberry made the film Pretty Maids All in a Row. It was a sexploitation film, based on a book by Francis Pollini.

With the Norway Corporation, Roddenberry made pilot (test) episodes for other science fiction television programs - The Questor Tapes, Genesis II, Planet Earth and Strange New World. [9]

After so many unsuccessful attempts, Norway Corporation was nearing bankruptcy. In this time, he supported his family by giving lectures (talking to people at colleges). [10]

Legacy[change | change source]

Sources[change | change source]

  1. Biography of Gene Roddenberry - URL accessed 15 March, 2009
  2. The New York Times - "A Final Turn-On Lifts Timothy Leary Off" - URL accessed 15 March, 2009
  3. "SOLDIERS OF VISION: We Don't Stop When We Take off the Uniform" - URL accessed 15 March, 2009
  4. Nichelle Nichols, Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories, G.P. Putnam & Sons, New York, 1994.
  5. Ashes of 'Star Trek' Creator's Widow to Fly in Space - URL Accessed 15 March, 2009
  6. IMDB - Gene Roddenberry - URL accessed 15 March, 2009
  7. Gene Roddenberry on Hollywood.com - URL accessed 15 March, 2009
  8. Star Trek first draft - created by Gene Roddeberry. URL accessed March 08, 2009
  9. Gene Roddenberry - Museum of Broadcast Communications - URL accessed 15 March, 2009
  10. Gene Roddenberry 1970's TV Pilots - "For a couple of years our only income was lecture fees I got from colleges where kids still loved Star Trek, even though it was not a commercial success." - URL accessed 15 March, 2009