Eugene Wesley Roddenberry
12 min read
Reading time
2,223
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Published
10
Film credits
5
Books
6
Awards
Gene Roddenberry created the Star Trek franchise, which first aired on September 8, 1966. He served as a B-17 pilot during World War II and later as a Los Angeles police officer before becoming a television writer. His vision of a diverse future earned him posthumous induction into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2007.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Gene Roddenberry — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Gene Roddenberry by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Gene Roddenberry — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California, the son of police officer Eugene Edward Roddenberry. During his childhood, he avidly read pulp magazines like John Carter of Mars and Tarzan, which fueled his imagination. He attended Los Angeles City College from 1939 to 1941, studying police science and obtaining a pilot’s license through the Army Air Corps’ Civilian Pilot Training Program.
Roddenberry began selling scripts for television shows such as Dragnet and Naked City. He became head writer on Have Gun Will Travel for two years, winning the Writer’s Guild Award for Best Script. He created and produced The Lieutenant and then Star Trek, which aired from 1966 to 1969. The episode Plato’s Stepchildren featured the first interracial kiss on television. He later produced the film Pretty Maids All in a Row and served as executive consultant on subsequent Star Trek films.
Roddenberry married Eileen Anita Rexroat on June 20, 1942 and divorced on December 27, 1969. He married Majel Barrett on December 29, 1969 and remained married until his death. He had three children: Dawn Roddenberry, Darleen Anita Roddenberry who died in an auto accident in 1995, and Rod Roddenberry with Barrett. He battled alcoholism and drug addiction most of his adult life.
Star Trek became a cultural phenomenon, inspiring generations and breaking racial barriers with its diverse cast. Roddenberry was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2010. An asteroid, 4659 Roddenberry, and a crater on Mars have been named in his honor. He is most remembered as the Great Bird of the Galaxy.
The complete filmography of Gene Roddenberry — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Gene Roddenberry — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Gene Roddenberry's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Gene Roddenberry — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
A Man Either Lives Life as It Happens to Him, Meets It Head-on and Licks It, or He Turns His Back on It and Starts to Wither Away.
I Have Felt Many Times Trapped by Star Trek. It Cost Me Dearly. It Won’t Anymore, Because I’ve Come to Grips with What It Is and Where It Fits in My Life.
Normal Television Limits What You Can Do. with Science Fiction, You Can Exercise Your Imagination More. I Fell in Love with It.
I Wish I Had More Control, More Like Edgar Rice Burroughs Had, but I’m a Realist, Too. I Work in Television. I Don’t Know That I Would Want to Spend the Rest of My Life Controlling My Characters.
We Must Question the Story Logic of Having an All-knowing, All-powerful God, Who Creates Faulty Humans, and Then Blames Them for His Own Mistakes.
The Strength of a Civilization Is Not Measured by Its Ability to Fight Wars, but Rather by Its Ability to Prevent Them.
These Are the Voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its Five Year Mission… to Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before.
Star Trek Was an Attempt to Say Humanity Will Reach Maturity and Wisdom on the Day That It Begins Not Just to Tolerate, but Take a Special Delight in Differences in Ideas and Differences in Lifeforms.If We Cannot Learn to Actually Enjoy Those Small Differences, to Take a Positive Delight in Those Small Differences Between Our Own Kind, Here on This Planet, Than We Do Not Deserve to Go Out into Space and Meet the Diversity That Is Almost Certainly Out There.
Little-known facts about Gene Roddenberry — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Roddenberry named characters after a wartime friend named Kim Noonien Singh, including Khan Noonien Singh and Noonien Soong, hoping Kim would contact him.
He died within 48 hours of screening Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country 1991.
Some of his ashes were sent into space on a rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
He served as an LAPD officer from 1949 to 1956, leaving as a sergeant to pursue entertainment.
When asked about Patrick Stewart’s baldness, Roddenberry replied, ‘By the 24th century, they wouldn’t care.
Star Trek was among the first series with African-American and Asian actors in leading roles.
He based Mr. Spock on LAPD Chief W.H. Parker, with whom he worked as spokesman.
In 1943, his B-17 crashed on takeoff due to mechanical failure, killing two crew members.
As a toddler, he might have died in a house fire if not for a milkman waking the family.
On June 19, 1947, he survived a Pan Am crash in the Syrian desert, rescuing the Maharani of Phaltan.
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6683 Hollywood Boulevard on September 4, 1985.
He shared the same birthday as Star Trek: The Next Generation stars Jonathan Frakes and Diana Muldaur.
The episode Plato’s Stepchildren featured the first interracial kiss on television, between Kirk and Uhura.
He married Majel Barrett in a Shinto-Buddhist ceremony in Japan on August 6, 1969, and legally on December 29, 1969.
His pseudonym Robert Wesley was used as a character name in Star Trek and The Next Generation.
He battled alcoholism and drug addiction, which led to his retirement during season 3 of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
He was close friends with Jack Webb, Ray Bradbury, and William Shatner.
Asteroid 4659 Roddenberry and a Martian crater are named after him.
He named the Klingons after LAPD colleague Walter Clingan.
For Star Trek’s 25th anniversary, he listed favorite episodes including Amok Time and The City on the Edge of Forever.
His LAPD badge number was 6089.
On June 6, 1991, cast members from both Star Trek series attended a building dedication in his honor at Paramount Studios.
While meeting George Takei, he accidentally mispronounced his name as Ta-kei, which rhymes with okay.
Posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame 2007 and Television Academy Hall of Fame 2010.
He wrote a popular song lyric I Wanna Go Home during World War II.
His first TV script sale was for Mr. District Attorney in 1954; his first sci-fi script was The Secret Weapon of 117 in 1956.
He attended Columbia University, University of Miami, and USC but did not graduate.
He had daughters Dawn Roddenberry and Darleen Anita Roddenberry who died in 1995, and son Rod Roddenberry with Majel Barrett.
His parents were Caroline Glen Golemon and Eugene Edward Roddenberry; he had deep southern roots.
His grandson Zale Eugene Roddenberry was born on August 6, 2013.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Gene Roddenberry.
Celebrities similar to Gene Roddenberry — same craft, ranked by reach.
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