Gene Roddenberry facts for kids
Gene Roddenberry
Roddenberry in 1976
Eugene Wesley Roddenberry
October 24, 1991(1991-10-24) (aged 70)
Television producer and writer
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 is best known as the creator of Star Trek, an American sci-fi series. He was sometimes called the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" because he helped start Star Trek. He was one of the first people to have his ashes "buried" in space.
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 Army Air Force. He flew many combat missions as a bomber pilot and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal.
After he left the military, he became an airline pilot 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 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.
Images for kids
Gene Roddenberry, during his senior year at high school
Leonard Nimoy first worked with Roddenberry on The Lieutenant.
Gene Roddenberry appearing in an advertisement for MONY in 1961
William Shatner and Sally Kellerman, from "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second pilot of Star Trek
Some of the main cast of Star Trek during the third season
Gene Roddenberry at a Star Trek convention in 1976
Gene Roddenberry (third from the right) in 1976 with most of the cast of Star Trek at the rollout of the Space Shuttle Enterprise at the Rockwell International plant at Palmdale, California
Majel Barrett at a Star Trek convention in 2007
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry and Rod Roddenberry in 2008
Roddenberry's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Gene Roddenberry Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.