Gene Roddenberry
By: Tyler Murdie
Place of Birth: - El Paso, Texas
Date Of Birth: - August 19, 1921
Date of Death: - October 24, 1991
Gene Roddenberry: the name conjures up many
thoughts.
All STAR TREK fans have come to know him as The
Creator, making a vision of a new world where
poverty,
famine, and even money are no longer known. Since
creating STAR TREK in 1966, the series has
flourished
to a new level to the point that a NASA shuttle
going
into space was named ENTERPRISE after 400,000 STAR
TREK fans wrote in. Also, the films that have been
made give each STAR TREK character a place in
history
and smashing box office records. STAR TREK is not
just
a program; it is becoming a future to look forward
to.
At the age of three, Gene Roddenberry and his
brother,
Bob, and his sister, Doris, moved to Los Angeles.
After high school, he studied pre-law for two years
before moving on to aeronautical engineering. In
1941, he joined the army earning the rank of
Lieutenant. Gene Roddenberry was sent to the South
Pacific where he entered combat at Guadalcanal,
flying
B-17 bombers out of the newly captured Japanese
airstrip which became Henderson Field. In all, he
took part in 89 missions and sorties. He was
decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and
the
Air Medal (1941-1946).
At the war's end, he joined Pan American World
Airways
as an airline pilot (1949-1953). On a flight from
Calcutta, his plane lost two engines and caught fire
in flight, crashing at night in the Syrian Desert.
As
the senior surviving officer, Roddenberry sent two
Englishmen swimming across the Euphrates River in
quest of the source of a light he had observed just
prior to the crash. Meanwhile, he parlayed with
nomads who had come to loot the dead. The
Englishmen
reached a Syrian military outpost which sent a small
plane to investigate. Roddenberry returned in the
plane to the outpost where he broadcast a message
that
was relayed to Pan Am who sent a stretcher plane to
the rescue. Roddenberry later received a Civil
Aeronautics commendation for his efforts during and
after the crash.
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Gene Roddenberry created and produced "The
Lieutenant"
TV series, starring Gary Lockwood, who also
eventually
played Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell in the
second STAR TREK pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone
Before." Other series he wrote for included
"Highway
Patrol" and "Dr. Kildare." His best-known creation,
of course, STAR TREK, followed (1966-l969). The
first
of two pilots was pronounced "too cerebral" by the
network and rejected. Once on the air, however,
STAR
TREK developed a loyal following and has since
become
the first television series to have an episode
preserved in the Smithsonian, where an 11-foot model
of the U.S.S. Enterprise is also exhibited on the
same
floor as the Wright brothers' original airplane and
Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis".
In September 1987, "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
continued the legend that Gene Roddenberry began
more
than 20 years earlier. As creator and producer of
the
original STAR TREK television series, he launched a
phenomenon without precedent in show business and
attained a celebrity status unique among his peers.
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" in its first year
in
syndication was awarded with the 1987 Peabody Award
for "The Best of the Best." The series garnered a
total of 11 prestigious Emmy awards.
On Thursday, October 24, 1991, in Santa Monica, Gene
Roddenberry died of cardiac arrest, and a world not
so
far away mourned the loss of one of television's
foremost pioneers. His remains were flown in space
on
the space shuttle in an astronaut's personal items.
He is survived by his wife Majel Barrett (Nurse
Chapel
in "Star Trek" and Lwaxana Troi in "Star Trek: The
Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine")
and
their 19-year-old son, Gene Roddenberry, Jr. His
two
grown daughters, Darlene and Dawn, from a previous
marriage, as well as two grandchildren also survive
him.
Gene Roddenberry was a great man, seeing beyond
poverty, war, and money to a dream that one-day we
might sail amongst the stars, with starships meeting
new races. But the most important thing is that we
live and remember the man who brought many people
together to share one common goal. The man may have
died, but STAR TREK continues to go on. Now
reaching
the 10th film ("Nemesis") and a new series
("Enterprise"), I can only hope that STAR TREK will
live long through the years. After all, it has gone
through 35 years, why not another 35?
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