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Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter and producer who created the science fiction series and fictional universe Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a police officer.
Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon.
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Oct 20, 2024 · Gene Roddenberry, American writer and television and film producer who created and served as executive producer of the popular science-fiction television series Star Trek (1966–69), which spawned other TV series and a string of motion pictures. Learn more about Roddenberry’s life and career.
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Gene Roddenberry (19 August 1921 – 24 October 1991; age 70), sometimes referred to as the "great bird of the galaxy", was an American filmmaker and TV producer, best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Star Trek, beginning the long running Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry's remains (some of his ashes in a small capsule, ab...
"It speaks to some basic Human needs, that there is a tomorrow – it's not all going to be over in a big flash and a bomb, that the Human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans. No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids – Human beings built them because they're clever and they work hard. And Star Trek is about those things."
- Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from the Star Trek 25th Anniversary special, 1991 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)
Early life
Roddenberry was born in El Paso, on 19 August 1921 to Caroline Glen Roddenberry and Eugene Edward Roddenberry (28 August 1896 – 4 December 1969; age 73), and spent his childhood in the city of Los Angeles. His father was a World War I veteran and a police officer, whom he described as a "bigoted Texan". (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 1997, p 14) Still, he had a begrudging respect for his father who, self-taught and stemming from a dirt poor background, possessed a keen intellect and an uncanny ability to see things to come, and only shortly before his father's death, Roddenberry came to see his father in a new light, ironically through Star Trek, "Two elderly ladies wrote from Jacksonville, Florida when the original series was on NBC. They had watched Star Trek, saw my name, and wrote that they could have predicted that I would have done something like Star Trek because I talked of such futuristic things when they had met me on my way to Europe to fight in World War I. They thought they had discovered my father and what he was doing long after he came back from the Great War. They thought I was my father...To have them say about my father – that he held such thoughts when they knew him – was exiting ... It made me proud that, in spite of not being formally educated, he had dreamed such dreams." (The Humanists, Vol. 51, issue 2, March/April 1991, pp. 6-7) Nevertheless, Gene's son, Rod Roddenberry has later related a family story that his grandfather was less than enamored by his son's creation and how he, after Star Trek had aired on 8 September 1966, "(…)went up and down the block, knocking on everybody's door, apologizing for his crazy son, who would put on that ridiculous show." (Star Trek: The True Story) His mother on the other hand, was a devout Baptist and dragged young Roddenberry and his younger siblings, Bob and Doris, to each and every religious gathering she was able to, with the consent of his father, who otherwise was anti-religious. Somewhat traumatized by the experiences, Roddenberry has cited this circumstance as the root cause for his Humanistic world views. (The Humanists, Vol. 51, issue 2, March/April 1991, pp. 6-7) In his high school days, a classmate lent him a copy of Astounding Stories, which was to be the start of Roddenberry's fascination with science fiction. (The Making of Star Trek [page number? • edit]) He studied three years of policemanship and then transferred his academic interest to aeronautical engineering and qualified for a pilot's license. He volunteered for the United States Army Air Forces, and was ordered into training as a flying cadet when the United States entered the Second World War in 1941. Ordered to the South Pacific, Second Lieutenant Roddenberry flew missions against enemy strongholds. In all, he took part in approximately 89 missions and sorties, on one occasion surviving a serious crash upon take-off. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. His pilot days were a source of pride for Roddenberry and, with the exception of Harold Livingston, he famously got along well with others who shared a similar background. Other pilots among Star Trek personnel included James Doohan, Franz Bachelin, Michael Dorn, Matt and John Jefferies, Harold Livingston and Stephen Edward Poe. It was in the South Pacific where he first began writing. He sold stories to flying magazines, and later poetry to publications, including The New York Times. When the war ended, he joined the Pan American World Airways as a commercial pilot. During this time, he also studied literature at Columbia University. Roddenberry married his first wife, Eileen Anita Rexroat on 20 June 1942 in community of property, the latter of which to haunt Roddenberry for the remainder of his life. The marriage turned out to be a very unhappy one, in no small part due to Roddenberry's notorious philandering, both real and imagined. He continued flying until he saw television for the first time. Correctly estimating television's future, he realized this new medium would need writers. He acted immediately, he went to Hollywood. He left his flying career behind, a decision aided by a 1947 incident, when Roddenberry's Pan Am airplane crashed in the Syrian Desert, leaving only him and seven others surviving. (The Star Trek Compendium, p. 7) Although the accident really happened, Roddenberry largely exaggerated it in later life, claiming that he single-handedly rescued the survivors from the wreckage, fought raiding Arab tribesmen, and walked across the desert to the nearest phone and called for help. The tale as recounted by Roddenberry was very reminiscent of the fictional events as depicted in the 1965 movie The Flight of the Phoenix. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 1997, p. 14)
Television
Roddenberry arrived in Hollywood only to find television industry still in its infancy, with few openings for inexperienced writers. He joined the Los Angeles Police Department. While working his way up the LAPD ranks, he wrote his first script in 1951. Later he sold scripts to shows such as Goodyear Theater, The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, Four Star Theater, Dragnet, The Jane Wyman Theater, and Naked City. Established as a writer, Sergeant Roddenberry turned in his badge and became a full-time writer in 1956, much against the wishes of his wife Eileen, who preferred the steady income of a public servant to support a family of four, as two daughters had entered into the fray by that time. (Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry, p. 141) Three years later, on 13 February 1959, Roddenberry established his production company Norway Corporation, through which he from here on end handled his business and legal dealings with the motion picture industry. Roddenberry, hired young attorney Leonard Maizlish, to handle the legal aspects of his production company. From now on Roddenberry's life-long attorney, Maizlish was yet to have his presence felt on Star Trek. At a later point in time Roddenberry also hired newly graduated Mort Kessler to handle the accountancy and taxation aspects for both himself as private person, as well as for his businesses. In the process Morton became a close family friend of Roddenberry and his second wife Majel, and their son Rod, for whom Kessler continued to provide his services after Roddenberry had passed away, until his own retirement. (Trek Nation) In 1963, Roddenberry began producing his first television series, The Lieutenant at MGM. The Lieutenant co-starred Gary Lockwood, and included many future Star Trek-alumni in guest roles, such as Leonard Nimoy, future wife Majel Barrett, Nichelle Nichols, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish and Madlyn Rhue. However, the series lasted only one season, and was canceled in the spring of 1964. It was during this period in time that Roddenberry started his illicit affair with Majel Barret. (Star Trek Memories, p. 14) Already known of having marital problems as well as having been a "ladies man" with the LAPD secretarial staff during his police days, which otherwise remained unsubstantiated (Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry, pp. 123, 163), Roddenberry concurrently started a romantic affair with Nichols, who in her own words therefore became "the other woman to the other woman". Save for Barrett, the Nichols-Roddenberry pair kept their relationship a closely guarded secret (though not closely enough as rumors of his romantic dalliances, including the one he had with Nichols, abounded on the Original Series stages throughout the entire production run, as related in the reference book, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story [page number? • edit]), because of the possible impact their interracial relationship could have had on Roddenberry's career. Ultimately, Nichols decided to break off the relationship at the start of the Original Series, in order to make room for Barrett as well as falling in love with another man herself, even though Roddenberry wanted to continue an "open" relationship with both women at the same time. Nichols remained close friends with Roddenberry, and out of respect for him, did not came forward with the particulars until after his death. (Beyond Uhura, pp. 130-133)
Star Trek
When The Lieutenant ended, Roddenberry began planning for his next series, a science fiction-adventure show entitled Star Trek. He wrote his series proposal, Star Trek is..., in March 1964. Initially proposed for MGM, the studio, although initially enthusiastic, refused to buy it. (The Star Trek Compendium, p. 10) Finally Roddenberry sold his by now dubbed "Wagon Train To The Stars"-pitch idea to Oscar Katz and Herb Solow of Desilu in early April 1964. The in lore later famed exact phrase was actually coined by Writer Samuel A. Peeples (an acquaintance from Roddenberry's earlier television days) shortly before the Desilu pitch occasion, not Roddenberry, who had called it "a "Wagon Train" concept", but typically, was by him appropriated as his own nevertheless. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, 1st ed, pp. 21-25, 28-32; Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 1997, pp. 15-16) It was Katz who accompanied "mumbling exotic" Roddenberry, as Solow had typified him, in late April 1964 to the pitch he had arranged at television network CBS, Katz's former employer, shortly after Desilu had bought Roddenberry's premise. However, on that occasion, Katz took a backseat and an awkward and hopelessly unprepared Roddenberry, left to his own devices, seriously bumbled his presentation. "Somebody said you could dress Gene in a tailored suit and five minutes later he'd look like a saggy, baggy elephant.", soon-to-be collaborator D.C. Fontana said of Roddenberry, not without affection. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, 1st ed, p. 28) Much later, Katz himself recalled the meeting as "frosty", "We were in a dining room with six or seven executives, one of whom questioned us rather closely about what we were going to do with the show. We answered his questions and it turned out that his interest was due to the fact that they were developing a science fiction show of their own." (Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry [page number? • edit]) Much to the later chagrin of Roddenberry, who felt that his brain had been picked, this show turned out to be Irwin Allen's Lost in Space. Unsurprisingly, CBS was not interested, as ABC had previously been due to the fact that they already had another Allen science fiction show, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in development themselves.
Roddenberry served as a member of the Writers Guild Executive Council and as a Governor of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He held three honorary doctorate degrees: Doctor of Humane Letters from Emerson College (1977), Doctor of Literature from Union College in Los Angeles, and Doctor of Science from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York (1981).
In 1985, Roddenberry became the very first television production staffer to be honored with his own star on the famed "Hollywood Walk of Fame". (Star Trek and American Television, p. 35)
The legacy of Star Trek, as created by Gene Roddenberry, continues to grow as the newest series, Star Trek: Lower Decks, has joined Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. The Next Generation evolved into a feature film series, debuting in 1994 with Star Trek Generations and closing in 2002 with Star Trek Nemesis. A new, alternate reality was created with the newest installments, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond.
Other shows of Roddenberry's design include Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda, the latter of which based on the aforementioned television pilots Genesis II of 1973, and its 1974 and 1975 reworked versions, Planet Earth and Strange New World, respectively.
The ashes of Roddenberry were aboard the space shuttle Columbia during its start from the Kennedy Space Center on 22 October 1992.
Roddenberry had the Gene Roddenberry Award named after him, the most pretigious of the FantastiCon Awards, founded by Koloth and Trelane performer William Campbell, and the award so christened by Campbell to express the fondness he always had for the Star Trek franchise. Ironically, one of its recepients became Michael Piller in 2000, who along with Rick Berman had usurped Roddenberry's position on The Next Genereration. The award however, went defunct upon the failing health and ultimate death of FantastiCon founder Campbell.
Gene Roddenberry had a second cousin twice removed named Mary Sue Roddenberry. Ironically, and probably by sheer coincidence, the widespread fan fiction term "Mary Sue", which is used to describe overly perfect original female characters, has its origins in the person of Lt. Mary Sue, a character in the satirical 1974 short Star Trek story by Paula Smith called "A Trekkie's Tale".
Roddenberry gave his middle name to one of the characters of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Wesley Crusher. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (1st ed., p. 14)) His middle name was also used as the last name of the TOS character Robert Wesley, which was also a pseudonym Roddenberry used in his early writing career. (Star Trek Encyclopedia (1st ed., p. 374)) In addition, after his death, the creators of Voyager used Roddenberry's full first name as the middle name of reformed renegade officer Thomas Eugene Paris. (Star Trek Encyclopedia (3rd ed., p. 348))
Roddenberry receives a "Created by" credit on episodes of The Original Series and The Next Generation. In addition he is credited on all episodes of Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, and Discovery, all the movies, and many Star Trek computer games such as the Elite Force series and Star Trek: Bridge Commander, via the phrase "Based upon Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry".
The first two Next Generation episodes aired after his death, "Unification I" and "Unification II" begin with the title card "Gene Roddenberry 1921 – 1991". Also, the film The Undiscovered Country begins with the credit, "For Gene Roddenberry". The credits for Star Trek end with "In memory of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry". Several other Trek related products, including the video game Star Trek: 25th Anniversary include special thanks credits in honor of Roddenberry.
Roddenberry also receives credit for writing lyrics to the Original Series main title theme, although these lyrics were never recorded in connection with the series. In the reference book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (1997, p. 185), Herb Solow and Robert Justman allege that Roddenberry, who had no musical experience of any kind, wrote words to Alexander Courage's theme for the show solely to accrue royalties that were required to be paid to the lyricist. In doing so, he effectively cut Courage's royalties in half, as the composer would otherwise have received all royalties accruing from the theme. Courage was outraged on this, and left the production, only to return to score two episodes in the third season as a courtesy to Robert Justman. However, Courage, mellowed over the years, has stated in his twilight years, "There wasn't any rift, really, with Gene. What happened with Gene was a I got a phone call once...it was Gene's lawyer, [Leonard] Maizlish. He said, "I'm calling you to tell you that since you signed a piece of paper back there saying that if Gene ever wrote a lyric to your theme that he would split your royalties on the theme." Gene and I weren’t enemies in any sort of way. It was just one of those things...I think it was Maizlish, probably, who put him up to doing it that way, and it's a shame, because actually if he'd written a decent lyric we could have both made more money." Having corresponded with Courage at a later point in time, this was another example of Roddenberry's more amiable character traits; whenever he felt that he had aggrieved someone, he often felt the need to make amends afterwards, like he had done with Robert Justman as described above.
The Roddenberry/Maizlish duo had actually tried to do something similar with Leonard Nimoy's first vinyl album recording, Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space, which marked the beginning of the descent into animosity of the relationship between Roddenberry and Nimoy. With Nimoy however, Roddenberry was not able to mend fences, due to a continuous series of subsequent incidents (such as in the instance of The Questor Tapes, mentioned above), which kept bedeviling any possible chance of reconciliation. After The Motion Picture, were he finally had his pound of flesh by "conspiring" against Roddenberry, Nimoy broke off any communication between them, and both were not seen together afterwards, save for the official studio press presentations for the subsequent five Original Crew films, which Nimoy was contractually obligated to do. Nimoy has attended the "Gene Roddenberry Building" commemorative event, though not speaking to, or of him, but avoided conventions where Roddenberry was present. In one of his last live interviews before his own death, the 2013 documentary Star Trek: The True Story, Nimoy exhibited the deep disdain he still felt for Roddenberry by scoffingly laughing aloud at the statement that Roddenberry was "the creator of Star Trek".
According to Cinefantastique, Nimoy issued, through his spokesperson, a very terse one-sentence platitude, making himself unavailable to the press for commentary the subsequent months and did not attend Roddenberry's funeral. Multiple other sources, including Herb Solow in Inside Star Trek, relate stories of Nimoy being in attendance. (Cinefantastique, Vol 22 #5, p. 42; Inside Star Trek, p. 237; )
Roddenberry also credited himself as the co-author of the 1968 reference book The Making of Star Trek, receiving half the royalties, which was written by Stephen E. Whitfield, and given to Roddenberry to make his corrections and edits, though he had never the time to do so, because of production deadlines. While virtually every other person (like the above-mentioned Courage), before or after, who had been cajoled out of their royalty shares in a similar way by Roddenberry, became livid with him, Whitfield (aka Stephen Edward Poe), was the proverbial exception. Not minding surrendering half the book royalties, Whitfield got along very well with Roddenberry, not in the least due to their shared aviation background, and was grateful for the chance he was given to start his writing career as a book author. The fact that he had written the very first Star Trek reference book (and a very successful one at that) had been a source of immense pride for him for the remainder of his life. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 1997, pp. 401-402) A similar situation has applied to Susan Sacket's 1980 reference book The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Sackett had actually also written the 1991 reference book Star Trek: The First 25 Years, for which Roddenberry was this time slated as the primary author, though, again, he did not write a single syllable for this work either. However, this time around, Leonard Nimoy successfully torpedoed the publication for the book, as he purposely refused permission of the use of his imagery for the book – yet another stage in the ongoing battle between the two men.
Emmy Awards
As Producer, Roddenberry received the following Emmy Award nominations in the category Outstanding Dramatic Series: •1967 for Star Trek: The Original Series, shared with Gene L. Coon •1968 for Star Trek: The Original Series, sole nominee
Hugo Awards
As Writer, Roddenberry received the following Hugo Award nominations and wins: •1967 Hugo Award win in the category Best Dramatic Presentation for TOS: "The Menagerie, Part I" and "The Menagerie, Part II", shared with Marc Daniels •1968 Hugo Award win in the category Special Award for Star Trek: The Original Series, sole nominee •1980 Hugo Award nomination in the category Best Dramatic Presentation for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, shared with Harold Livingston, Alan Dean Foster and Robert Wise •1988 Hugo Award nomination in the category Best Dramatic Presentation for TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", shared with D.C. Fontana and Corey Allen
Saturn Awards
As Writer and Producer, Roddenberry received the following Saturn Awards: •1977 in the category Executive Achievement Award for Star Trek: The Original Series, sole nominee •1980 in the category Life Career Award for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, sole nominee •1992 in the category George Pal Memorial Award for Star Trek, sole nominee
Interviews of Roddenberry were part of the following specials:
•The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation To The Next, interviewed on 20 September 1988
•TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning"
•TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Memorable Missions"
•TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Two" ("Diana Muldaur", "Whoopi Goldberg"), footage taken from •TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis Year Two", footage taken from •TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Four" ("Celebrating 100 Episodes"), interviewed by Entertainment Tonight in 1991
•TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry" ("Gene Roddenberry Building Dedicated to Star Trek's Creator", "Gene's Final Voyage"), interviewed on 6 June 1991 and footage taken from ••"Gene Roddenberry – The Creator of Star Trek: The Next Generation", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 1, pp. 4-9, interviewed by Dan Madsen, John S. Davis and Dan Dickholtz
•The Man Who Created Star Trek: Gene Roddenberry, 1992
•Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation, 1994
•Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek, 1994
•Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry, 1994
•Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry, 2002
•These Are the Voyages: Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek in the 1970s, Volume 1 (1970-75), 2019
Sep 9, 2024 · Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (August 19, 1921–October 24, 1991) boldly went where no man had gone before, creating a sci-fi franchise that would have a seismic impact on the world of...
Oct 24, 2016 · Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, passed away 25 years ago today, October 24, 1991, at the age of 70. He, of course, left behind his family, millions of fans across the galaxy and his beloved "Wagon Train to the Stars."
Jun 16, 2020 · Eugene Wesley Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter, producer and creator of the original Star Trek television series, and its first spin-off The Next Generation. Suffice it to say, he was one of the most successful writers of his day.
