About the character Christine Chapel:
Christine Chapel is the nurse aboard the USS Enterprise NCC-1701,
where she is working with doctor McCoy.
About the character Lwaxana Troi:
Lwaxana Troi is betazoid married to Ian Andrew fom Earth. Together
they have Kestra and Deanna. But
as infant Kestra dies and later on her husband dies as well. She
never finds a new man to marry - though she tries.
In her capacity as ambassador for the planet Betazed between
whiles she visits USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, where she - thanks
to her eccentric appearance - often is a torment in the officer
lines. Already during her first visit on Enterprise ("Haven" (11))
she gets a little hot for captain Jean-Luc
Picard, who also fears a visit from the woman. And then she
cannot help herself from looking for husband to her daughter. Lwaxana
Troi is always seen in the company of her faithful servant, Mr.
Humn.
Lwaxana Troi is as betazoid capable of sensing others' emotions,
hears what they are thinking and communicating non verbal (telepathy)
with beings, mastering that form of communication.
About the character computer voice:
The Federation uses the same informative and pleasant female computer
voice on all their space ships and space stations.
About the actor:
Majel Lee Hudec is born 23 February 1939 in Columbus, Ohio in USA
and is names after her mothers best friend. But soon the family
moves to Cleveland, where she later on begins her acting career
on the Cleveland Playhouse.
She passes from Shaker Heights High School and subsequent wants
to go on the University of Miami with principal subject in radio/drama/television.
But then an uncle suggests she read for lawyer and Majel, who do
not really know what she wants, chooses that instead.
She fails the exams and realizes that lawyer really is not her
strong point. But then she takes a rehearsal a theater have on the
university looking out for new talents, and she passes and gets
a part in a play, which brings her to Bermuda for 10 weeks.
Back in USA Majel moves to New York City, where she gets a part
in a play set for production on Broadway. Unfortunately it is not
a success and cancelled after the first week. But she continues
to work theater that also brings her to Los Angeles.
It is the end of the 1950's when Majel Lee Hudec meets Gene
Roddenberry on Screen Gems, where he works creating TV series.
By her own she looks up the producers for better selling herself
and Gene Roddenberry is impressed by her handling that part of her
career instead of getting an agent to do it. They fall in love though
he is a married man with two children.
When Gene Roddenberry creates the TV series "The Lieutenant"
for MGM, he gives a part to Majel, but only after one season the
production is cancelled.
She stays active and when Gene Roddenberry during hard work has
gotten green light to produce a pilot for his "Star Trek", he has
already Majel Lee Hudec in his mind for the part as first officer.
The pilot episode is called "The Cage", but when it is showed for
the board of directors in the NBC building in February 1965, they
for instance do not like it is a woman, who is first officer aboard
Enterprise. With any rejection in a pilot episode one is excluded
from appearing in the next, which Gene Roddenberry gets permission
to make.
But Majel Lee Hudec deals herself with that barrier:
She dyes her hair blond and sits down in the production office,
where Gene Roddenberry comes out to greet her and the secretary
and walks into his office again. When he after a while comes out
with some papers he hands them to the secretary and turns aound
to return to the office again but then stops and turns slowly around.
"Majel?"
"If I can fool you, I can fool anyone", Majel says, who by this
has convinced Gene of, that she now has a new chance to play a character
in "Star Trek". The transformation is complete, when she changes
her name from Majel Lee Hudec to Majel Barrett and nor the NBC nor
Desilu Studios have got a clue she is aboard for the second time.
The character, Majel Barrett chooses for herself in this new pilot
episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before", is the nurse aboard. Majel
Barrett herself comes up for the name for her character, who she
calles Christine Chapel. In a play she has recently played a part
whose name is Chapel and chooses that name because she thinks it
is pretty. With Christine in front of Chapel the character is born.
It is the deal that "Star Trek" is to be produced for the next
five years to come, but NBC cancels the production after season
3 in the early summer of 1969.
In fall 1969 Majel Barrett and Gene Roddenberry experiences a
shinto Buddhist wedding ceremoni, but plans a real wedding, when
he has divorced his wife. That is going through 27 December and
two days after the marry. Both has lived together since 1968. The
wedding takes place in their home in Los Angeles with a small reception
for family and friends.
In the years after "Star Trek" Majel Barrett is a good support
for Gene Roddenberry, who has problems with various producers in
Hollywood, who do not like his ideas. All while she has the energy
to nurture her own career, for example doing "Westworld" in 1973,
which is Michael Crichton's debut as director.
From 1973-1974 she is the voice of her character Christine Chapel
in the continuation of "Star Trek", "Star Trek: The Animated Series",
but the series only runs for two seasons based upon bad ratings.
But there is much happiness at home when "Star Trek: The Animated
Series" was in production, as Majel Barrett, after several years
of trying gives birth to the boy Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Jr. 5
February 1974.
In 1979 the first Star Trek movie is arriving, "Star Trek: The
Motion Picture", where she plays her character as Christine Chapel,
now promoted to doctor. The next two movies she skips but returns
in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" in 1986.
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" aires from September 1987 and
Majel Barrett is the unique voice for the computer aboard USS Enterprise
NCC-1701-D. But she is specially loved for her guest appearance
as the eccentric ambassador for Betazed, Lwaxana Troi, who is the
mother of the ships counsellor. It is again a character Gene Roddenberry
specially has created for her.
"When I played Lwaxana Troi, people said
I'd done more for women over 40 than any movement in America."
Majel Barrett says, and from time to time she returns to make her
guest appearance as Lwaxana Troi.
In 1990 Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett moves to the Bel Air
part of Los Angeles in a house, where many american famous people
has lived since it was build in the 1930's. In this house Gene Roddenberry's
health is slowly deteriorating and Majel often watches over him
in the night.
The 24 October 1991 Gene Roddenberry dies 70 years old. He leaves
behind his wife Majel Barrett, their son Eugene Wesley Roddenberry
Jr. who is 17 years old and the two grown-up sisters, Darlene and
Dawn (Dawn dies in 1995), from his first marriage with Eileen Rexroat.
But Majel Barrett is not left alone to overcome her grief, as
the exwife, Eileen Rexroat, disputes the will of Gene Roddenberry.
She wants control over everything, from estate to income, in spite
of her decent divorce arrangement giving her half of what "Star
Trek" collects in profit. Majel and her lawyers does all they can
to ensure the will of Gene is fulfilled and wins over the greediness
of the first wife. A case that runs the next five years and in the
meantime Majel Barrett cannot spent the money from their joint fortune.
For that reason Majel Barrett's appearances is what she and her
son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr., is living of.
Two years after Gene Roddenberry's death in 1991 Majel Barrett
tries together with Gates McFadden
(doctor Beverly Crusher in the TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation")
to gain control of the rights over Gene Roddenberry's unused ideas
by that to ensure his visions. But not until the rights expires,
as the producer Rick Berman, who since Gene Roddenberry's death
has taken over his universe, in the meantime has ensured, that they
stay whithin Paramount.
Majel Barrett has later on said about her late husband:
"In his own view of himself, Gene was a
storyteller. He had a story for all occasions and as self-effacing
as he was, it wasn't uncommon for him to create a convenient story
to dramatize some aspect of his life or career to divert attention
away from his innate shyness... Gene was a complex man with a penchant
for life, for love, and mostly for humanity, but a man who needed
to be loved in return."
March 1994
Halfway through season 6 of "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
a new TV series is airing in January 1993, "Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine", in which Majel Barrett also is the voice of the computer
and makes a guest appearence a couple of times as Lwaxana Troi.
When "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is ended in 1994, she is continuing
her involvement in the universe of Gene Roddenberry.
In 1994 she is the computer voice in the movie "Star Trek: Generations"
and also the computer voice in "Star Trek: Voyager", a new TV series,
airing from January 1995. She is by that the voice of the computer
in both "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager".
In the movies from "Star Trek: Generations" (1994) it is also
Majel Barrett, who is the voice of the computer.
When "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" as prearranged is ended with
season 7 in May 1999, she only performs in "Star Trek: Voyager".
In 1996 Majel Barrett is going through her husbands papers and
finds the basis for a TV series, he developed in the mid 1970's
with the title "Battleground Earth". But the renewal of Star Trek
with the movie "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" makes him abandon
the idea in the drawer. Majel Barrett shows the papers to the producer
David Kirschner and they agree to take the idea further. They contact
Alliance-Atlantis Films and Tribune Entertainment, who wants to
produce the TV series and sell it for syndication, that means not
only one but a lot of american TV stations can get to air the show,
that gets the title "Earth: Final Conflict".
Not to let the idea of Gene Roddenberry to be changed during
the production, she looks after Gene Roddenberry's vision by ensuring
herself the job as Executive Producer on the show. But she also
finds the time to make guest appearances as doctor Julianne Belman.
"Earth: Final Conflict" is airing from the 11 October 1997 and
is ended with its season 5 in 2002. |
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
1963
- 1964: "The Lieutenant" - tv series