- Gene Roddenberry
Infobox actor
name = Gene Roddenberry
image_size = 250px
caption = Roddenberry in 1976
birthname=Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry
birthdate = birth date|mf=yes|1921|8|19
birthplace =El Paso, Texas
deathdate = death date and age|mf=yes|1991|10|24|1921|8|19
deathplace =Santa Monica, California
occupation =Television producer and writer
spouse = Eileen-Anita Rexroat (1942–1969)Majel Barrett (1969–1991)Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry, (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American
screenwriter and producer. He became best known as the creator of what would become thescience fiction universe of "Star Trek ". He would also become one of the first people to be "buried" in space. Roddenberry was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in theU.S. Army Air Corps in thePacific Theatre of World War II. Roddenberry was sometimes referred to as the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" in reference to his role in "Star Trek". [cite web|url=http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/creative/69095.html|accessdate=2007-12-18|title=Gene Roddenberry Biography|publisher=startrek.com]Personal life
Born in
El Paso, Texas , to Eugene Edward Roddenberry and Caroline Glen, Roddenberry spent his boyhood inLos Angeles, California , where his family had moved so his father could pursue a career with theLos Angeles Police Department . Following in his father's footsteps after high school, Roddenberry took classes in police studies atLos Angeles City College , and headed that school's Police Club. In that role, he was a liaison with the FBI, thanking them for sending speakers and securing copies of the FBI Code and publications for club use, and took fingerprint records of the college community for the FBI's Civil Identification Division.Following his graduation from Los Angeles City College, Roddenberry attended
Columbia University , theUniversity of Miami , and theUniversity of Southern California .He later transferred his academic interest to
aeronautical engineering and qualified for a pilot's license. Roddenberry joined theU.S. Army Air Corps in 1941 and became an aviator. He flew many combatB-17 Flying Fortress missions in thePacific Theatre with the 394th Bomb Squadron (H), 5th Bomb Group, whose members called themselves the "Bomber Barons." Roddenberry was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and theAir Medal .After leaving the service, he was a commercial pilot for
Pan American World Airways . He received a Civil Aeronautics commendation for his efforts following a June 1947 crash in the Syrian desert, while on a flight toIstanbul fromKarachi .Roddenberry left Pan Am to pursue writing for television in Los Angeles. In order to provide for his growing family, he fell back on his early training and joined the Los Angeles Police Department on February 1, 1949, when he took an oath of office and was assigned LAPD badge number 6089. [David Alexander.(1994) "Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry," Roc, p.104] During his seven-year service with the
LAPD , Roddenberry would rise to become a police sergeant. He resigned from the police force to concentrate on his writing career on June 7, 1956.Alexander, op. cit., p.141]In his brief letter of resignation, Roddenberry wrote: : "I find myself unable to support my family at present on anticipated police salary levels in a manner we consider necessary. Having spent slightly more than seven years on this job, during all of which fair treatment and enjoyable working conditions were received, this decision is made with considerable and genuine regret."
Family
Roddenberry married twice and had three children, two of whom were daughters, by his first wife, Eileen Rexroat, to whom he was married 27 years; these were Dawn Roddenberry and the late Darleen Roddenberry. He became involved with actress
Nichelle Nichols during the early to mid 1960's, then later began having an affair in the late 1960s with actressMajel Barrett whom he cast in various roles in "Star Trek". He left his first wife and married Barrett in Japan in a traditionalShinto ceremony on August 6, 1969. Together they had one child, his only son, Eugene Wesley, Jr. [cite book|title=Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry|author=David Alexander|publisher=Roc|year=1994|id=ISBN 0-451-45440-5]Beliefs
Although he had been reared as a Southern Baptist, Roddenberry did not embrace the faith of his parents, coming to blame organized religions for many wars and much suffering in human history.Fact|date=November 2007 Instead, he became a humanist [cite journal |author= |year=1991 |month=March/April |title=Roddenberry Interview |journal=The Humanist |volume=51 |issue=2] .
Death and funeral
Roddenberry died on October 24, 1991, of
heart failure . He was 70 years of age when he died. In 1992 his ashes flew in space (round trip) aboard theSpace Shuttle Columbia on theSTS-52 mission as part of commanderJames Wetherbee 's personal effects. In 1997, a lipstick-sized capsule of his ashes was sent into space to orbit Earth for approximately six years, after which it burned up in Earth's atmosphere [cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9704/20/space.ashes/|accessdate=2008-05-10|title=CNN - Space final frontier for Timothy Leary - Apr. 20, 1997|publisher=cnn.com] .Television and film career
Before "Star Trek", Roddenberry wrote scripts for many of the popular television series of the 1950s, such as "Highway Patrol", to which he contributed his scripts, written while still a cop, under the pen name Robert Wesley because of the LAPD's inflexible policy against moonlighting, and later "
Have Gun, Will Travel ". His first-season episode "Helen of Abajinian" won aWriters Guild of America Award .Norway Corporation
Roddenberry's frustrations with his work as a free-lance writer for "
Have Gun, Will Travel " and the difficulty he faced in adding anything substantial to his stories led him to attempt to produce his own tv shows. His first attempt,APO 923 , was not picked up by the networks. In 1963, he organized a company calledNorway Corporation . Under this banner, he produced "The Lieutenant ," a 1963-1964 NBC and MGM Television series about theUnited States Marine Corps that starredGary Lockwood as Lieutenant William Rice. During this period, Roddenberry was also trying to get science fiction series on the air, mostly without success. Many future cast members of "Star Trek" first worked with Roddenberry as regular, or guest, cast members of "The Lieutenant."But even as an independent producer, Roddenberry continued to have problems; NBC refused to broadcast, or even pay for, an installment of "The Lieutenant" dealing with racism in the Corps, forcing MGM Television to eat the production costs. Thoroughly disgusted, Roddenberry drew the conclusion that he could only get messages across, if he wanted to include them, by disguising them in out-of-the-ordinary situations, or as
satire . The credits for this episode include, "IntroducingNichelle Nichols ". The entire episode is available for viewing atThe Paley Center for Media inNew York City ."Star Trek"
With this in mind, Roddenberry developed his idea for "
Star Trek " in 1964 after looking for material to rivalBuck Rogers andFlash Gordon . The series was finally picked up byDesilu Studios when Gene sold the idea as a "Wagon Train " to the Stars". The original $500,000 pilot received only minor support from NBC and its production went over budget, but the network commissioned an unprecedented second pilot. The series, aNorway Corporation production, premiered on September 8, 1966 and ran for three seasons. Although it was canceled due to low ratings, the series gained wide popularity in syndication. In the third and final season of "Star Trek", Roddenberryndash who had offered to demote himself to the position ofline producer in a final attempt to ensure the show's success if the program was given his desired timeslotndash effectively resigned when these demands were not met (George Schlatter had demanded that "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In " not be rescheduled from its Monday-night lead-in timeslot, and "his" demands were met) and accepted a staff producer position with MGM.His first project with the studio, "
Pretty Maids All in a Row ", was asexploitation film adapted from the Francis Pollini novel by Roddenberry and directed byRoger Vadim . With a cast including established stars (Rock Hudson ,Angie Dickinson ,Telly Savalas ,Roddy McDowall ) alongside "Star Trek" regulars (James Doohan and William Campbell), and beautiful unknowns (among them Gretchen Burrell, the wife of country-rock pioneerGram Parsons ), the film was expected to be one of the biggest blockbusters of 1971. But even with the support of a "Playboy Magazine" pictorial featuring Burrell, the film only managed to break even at the box office. Roddenberry's relationship with MGM was strained by this, although he did continue there until 1972.Following the cancellation of "Star Trek" and the relative failure of his first feature film, Roddenberry pitched, through Norway Corporation, four sci-fi TV series concepts that were all produced as pilots but were not picked up as series: "
The Questor Tapes ", "Genesis II", "Planet Earth", and "Strange New World ". He also co-wrote and was executive producer on the made-for-television movie, "Spectre" (1977), which was designed as abackdoor pilot .After "Trek"
Unable to find work in the television and film industry, facing the possible
bankruptcy of Norway Corporation, and fearful that he would be unable to support his family, Roddenberry heeded the advice of his good friendArthur C. Clarke and began to find steady employment on the college lecture circuit, where contemporaries in a similar predicament,William Shatner andTimothy Leary , had both found success. He amused the fandom attendees with anecdotes from the "Star Trek " set, spoke of his visions of the future and showed the "Star Trek Blooper Reels," a collection of outtakes from the original series. He also exhibited a black and white print of unaired first series pilot "The Cage". The screenings of the blooper reel drew criticism and ire fromLeonard Nimoy , who felt that Roddenberry was exploiting his mistakes for money and eventually sued the writer-producer and Paramount for the blooper reel screenings and uncompensated use of his image in aHeineken promotional campaign. The matter would not be resolved until shortly before production of "".New "Star Trek" projects
Beginning in 1975, the go-ahead was given by Paramount for Roddenberry to develop a sequel "Star Trek" television series including as many of the original cast as could be recruited, which was to be called "". This series was to be the anchor show of a new network (the ancestor of
UPN , which is now part ofThe CW Television Network ), but plans by Paramount for this network were scrapped and the project was reworked into a "Star Trek" feature film.The resulting ' received a lukewarm critical response, but it performed well at the box office and saved Norway Corporation. As a result, several motion pictures and a new television series, ', were created in the 1980s.
When it came time to produce the obligatory theatrical sequel, Roddenberry's story submission, in which a time-traveling "Enterprise" crew got involved in the
John F. Kennedy assassination , was rejected, and he was removed from direct involvementndash effectively hobbling the power of Norway Corporationndash and replaced byHarve Bennett .cite book|author=Susan Sackett|title=Inside Trek: My Secret Life With Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry|publisher=HAWK Publishing Group|id=ISBN 1-930709-42-0|year=2002] He continued as executive consultant on the next four motion pictures: ', ', ', and '. In this position Roddenberry was allowed to view and comment upon all scripts and dailies emanating from the production, although the creative team was free to disregard Roddenberry's advice as Bennett almost always elected to do.Roddenberry was deeply involved with creating and producing "Star Trek: The Next Generation", although he ultimately only had full control over the show's first season. The WGA strike of 1988 prevented him from taking an active role in production of the second season, forcing him to hand control of the series to producer Maurice Hurley. While Roddenberry was free to resume work on the third season of the show, his health was in serious decline by this point, and over the course of the season he gradually ceded control to
Rick Berman andMichael Piller . "Star Trek " also spawned the television series ', ', and "".The last film based on the original "Star Trek" series, "", was dedicated to Roddenberry's memory; he reportedly viewed a version of the film a few days before his death at the age of 70. [In "Star Trek Movie Memories", which
William Shatner dictated and whichChris Kreski transcribed, the chapter in which Shatner told Kreski about the sixthStar Trek motion picture ended with Roddenberry viewing the version in a private screening and promptly drafting a list of changes he wanted made. But by the time his attorney submitted that list, Shatner informed Kreski, Roddenberry himself was dead.]In addition to his film and TV work, Roddenberry also wrote the novelization for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", which was published in 1979 and was the first of hundreds of "Star Trek"-based novels to be published by the
Pocket Books unit ofSimon & Schuster , whose parent company also ownedParamount Pictures Corporation . It has been claimed by some thatAlan Dean Foster was theghostwriter of the book, but this has been debunked by Foster on his personal website and is a classic instance of thebroken telephone game, as Foster "did" ghostwrite the novelization of George Lucas' "" and wrote the original treatment of the "Star Trek" film. Roddenberry talked of writing a second "Trek" novel based upon his original rejected 1975 script for the motion picture, but he died before he was able to do so.Controversy concerning Roddenberry
Writers who worked for "Star Trek" have charged that ideas they developed were later passed off by Roddenberry as his own, or that he lied about their contributions to the show and/or their involvement with Norway Corporation at "Star Trek" conventions. Roddenberry was confronted by these writers, and apologized to them, but according to his critics, he would continue the behavior. [cite book |last=Engel |first=Joel |year=1994 |title=Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek |publisher=Hyperion Books |isbn=0786860049 Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (1996) commentary by Star Trek Producer
Herb Solow , science-fiction convention talks by Star Trek writer Dorothy C. Fontana, and books and articles byHarlan Ellison .]Roddenberry is occasionally criticised for his treatment of movie and script royalties related to "Star Trek": He alienated composer
Alexander Courage by demanding 50 percent of the royalties which Courage received for the show's theme song whenever an episode of Star Trek was aired. [cite web
url = http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/trek1.htm
title = Unthemely Behavior
accessdate = 2007-05-20
date = 2007-08-08
work =Urban Legends Reference Pages ] Later, while cooperating with Stephen Whitfield for the latter's book "The Making of Star Trek", Roddenberry demandedndash and receivedndash Whitfield's acquiescence for 50 percent of the book's royalties. As Roddenberry explained to Whitfield in 1968: "I had to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not going to get it from the profits of Star Trek." [Herbert Solow &Robert H. Justman , Inside Star Trek: the Real Story, Pocket Books, 1996, p.402]Herbert Solow and Bob Justman observe that Whitfield never regretted his fifty-fifty deal with Roddenberry since it gave him "the opportunity to become the first chronicler of television's most successful unsuccessful series." [Solow & Justman, op. cit., p.402]
In her
autobiography , actressNichelle Nichols , who playedUhura in the first "Star Trek" series, reported having had a love affair with Roddenberry. She felt that his strong and controversial effort to get her on the show had a lot to do with their relationship.Roddenberry's life and work has been chronicled in several works. "Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry," written by friend
David Alexander , is a flattering portrayal of Roddenberry's life that was received favorably by most readers, obscuring many of the troubles Roddenberry encountered in his later years. Much more controversial was "Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry," written bySusan Sackett , his close associate for 17 years. While she displays unwavering affection, respect, and admiration for her employer and apparent lover, Sackett's account is hardly ahagiographic account. Recounted in brutal detail are his elongated dry spells throughout the 1970s, his addiction tococaine ,impotence , inability to finish creative projects, and mental and physical decline from roughly 1989 on.Despite his reduced management of "Star Trek" and the hobbled power of
Norway Corporation near the end of his life, Roddenberry was still respected enough thatParamount Pictures , owners of the various "Star Trek" series, agreed to his request that "" be stripped of its official recognition as canon by the studio. According to the reference work "The Star Trek Chronology", Roddenberry reportedly considered elements of the fifth and sixth "Trek" films to be apocryphal, though there is no indication that he wanted them removed from "Trek" canon.Legacy
After his death in 1991 in
Santa Monica, California , Roddenberry's estate allowed for the creation of two long-running television series based upon some of his previously unfilmed story ideas and concepts. "" and "Andromeda" were produced under the guidance of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. A third Roddenberry storyline was adapted in 1995 as the short-livedcomic book "Gene Roddenberry's Lost Universe" (later titled "Gene Roddenberry's Xander in Lost Universe"). Other projects were developed under the Roddenberry name but never made it to production stage, such as "Gene Roddenberry's Starship", which was being developed by Majel Barrett andJohn Semper for Mainframe Entertainment as a computer-animated series. [cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1998_Oct_20/ai_53099756|date=1998-10-20|accessdate=2007-12-18|title=Mainframe Entertainment Lands Gene Roddenberry's 'Starship' for Computer Animated Television Series|publisher=BNet Research Center]The asteroid
4659 Roddenberry and anImpact crater on Mars are both named in his honor.On October 4, 2002, the El Paso Independent School District Planetarium was renamed the Gene Roddenberry Planetarium. Eugene W. Roddenberry Jr. cut the ribbon at the dedication ceremony.
One of the buildings on the
Paramount studio lot on Melrose Boulevard is the Gene Roddenberry building, housing production and administrative offices.On June 16, 2007, the Science Fiction Museum in
Seattle, Washington inducted Gene Roddenberry into their Science Fiction Hall of Fame, along with directorRidley Scott , artistEd Emshwiller , and authorGene Wolfe . The presentation was made by actorWil Wheaton and accepted on behalf of the Roddenberry Family by his son, Eugene W. Roddenberry Jr.References
*"Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry", by
David Alexander
*"Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation", by Yvonne Fern
*"Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry", bySusan Sackett
*"Great Birds of the Galaxy: Gene Roddenberry and the Creators of Star Trek", by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman
*"The Man Who Created Star Trek: Gene Roddenberry", by James Van Hise
*"Inside Star Trek: The Real Story", byHerbert F. Solow andRobert H. Justman . ISBN 0671896288.
*"Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek", by Joel Engel
*"Star Trek Memories", dictated byWilliam Shatner and transcribed byChris Kreski . HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-017734-9. Published 1993.
*"Star Trek Movie Memories", dictated byWilliam Shatner and transcribed byChris Kreski . HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-017617-2. Published 1994.
*"I Am Not Spock", byLeonard Nimoy . ISBN 9780890871171. Published 1977.
*"I Am Spock", byLeonard Nimoy . ISBN 9780786861828. Published 1995.
*"Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories", byNichelle Nichols . ISBN 1572970111. Published 1995.
*"To The Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei: Star Trek's Mr Sulu", byGeorge Takei . ISBN 0-671-89008-5. Published 1994.
*"Beam Me Up, Scotty: Star Trek's "Scotty" in his own words", dictated byJames Doohan and transcribed byPeter David . ISBN 0-671-52056-3.
*"Warped Factors: A Neurotic's Guide to the Universe", byWalter Koenig . ISBN-10 0878339914; ISBN-13 978-0878339914.
*"The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy", dictated byGrace Lee Whitney and transcribed byJim Denney . ISBN-10 188495605X; ISBN-13 978-1884956058. PublishedExternal links
* [http://www.Roddenberry.com Official Roddenberry family website]
* [http://www.machineslikeus.com/cms/news/gene-roddenberrys-funeral Gene Roddenberry's Funeral]
* [http://www.pathcom.com/~boby/gene.htm Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry]
* [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/R/htmlR/roddenberry/roddenberry.htm The Museum of Broadcast Communication]
* [http://www.trek5.com/lowerdecks/genepitch.html Roddenberry's original March 1964 pitch outline for Star Trek]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070621142925/http://www.philosophysphere.com/humanist.html Originally published in "The Humanist", March/April 1991]
* [http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/web/crj0147a.html Strange New Worlds: The Humanist Philosophy of Star Trek] by Robert Bowman, "Christian Research Journal", Fall 1991, pp. 20 ff.
*imdb name|id=0734472|name=Gene Roddenberry Retrieved on2008-01-24
*isfdb name|name=Gene Roddenberry|id=Gene_Roddenberry Retrieved on2008-01-24
* [http://www.episd.org/Schools/planetarium.html Gene Roddenberry Planetarium]
* [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/creative/69095.html StarTrek.com biography]
* [http://www.insidetrek.com Website of Susan Sackett]
* [http://www.retrovisionmag.com/questor_tapes.htm Retrovisionmag] on Roddenberry'sThe Questor Tapes .
* [http://www.andromedatv.com Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda]
* [http://www.myspace.com/roddenberry The Official Roddenberry Productions Myspace] Maintained by the Roddenberry.Com Team.
*Find A Grave|id=3044
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/712/000023643/ Nichelle Nichols]
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