IN MEMORIAM
gone but not forgotten

KELLIE WAYMIRE

Her tv appearances included a recurring role on 'Six Feet Under' as Melissa, and appearances in 'NYPD Blue', 'CSI', 'The X-Files', and 'Friends' (Series 10).

She received acclaim for her work in regional theatre such as the well-reviewed lead in the play 'Sylvia' in San Diego in 1996. She reprised the role in San Francisco and won a Drama-Logue Award.

Her film credits included 'Something More' and 'The Vest'.

Scott Bakula, who plays Captain Archer on [Enterprise], told fans during an online chat for TOSTW: "The entire cast, crew and staff of [Enterprise] was deeply saddened by the loss of Kellie Waymire. For those of us who knew her, she was a beautiful, talented and gifted young lady. She had a beautiful spirit and we all deeply miss her. We've lost a shining star in the [Enterprise] family."

The following are Kellie Waymire's words from an interview by the official Star Trek site. The extract is about her role in [Star Trek Voyager]:

"I got cast on the show pretty much I think the same way that most guest stars get cast - your agent submits you and then they call you in and say you have an appointment for [Star Trek Voyager], to go in and I went in and read with Ron Surma, the casting director first, and he said, "Ok, c'mon, we're going to have you read for the producer's of the show". And, of course, I was very excited because it's a great show and you always want, at least, get to do one. And it was an alien, which I was also very excited about. So I went in. I remember there was sort of long line of other women there and I waited and waited and waited and waited. I walked in and I sort of did my thing and God bless them, they're wonderful people - and really lovely to work with - but not terribly effusive in the audition room (laughs). So I left and sort of threw up my hands and went, "Oh well, that was a big waste of time. They'll never call me in for anything ever again." And then I got a call a couple of weeks later, er ... a couple of days later, excuse me, and said, "Oh yeah, they want to use you for [Star Trek Voyager]" and I, of course, was shocked, completely shocked, because I had completely blown it off. And exactly the same thing happened again when I went in to read for [Enterprise]. I went in and sort of did my thing and they went, "Ok, thanks." (laughs). ....... It's a different experience for me (working on [Star Trek Voyager]), certainly, because I was an alien in one of the episodes and the episode that was a pretty big guest star show. It was guest star heavy. I guess they had a couple of scenes on the ship, which I wasn't really a part of and then Roxann [Dawson] crashes on what I call the "Greek Theater Planet" and craziness ensues. All sorts of alien antics. It was fun and it was actually fun for the crew from what I understand because it was a new environment for them so they could figure out new shots."

BASIL LANGTON

Langton was born in the Clifton area of Bristol, England, on 9th January 1912. He was educated in Canada and returned to England in his twenties. In 1932, after seeing Donald Wolfit play Browning in 'The Barretts of Wimpole Street' he was inspired to become an actor. (He would later understudy Wolfit's first Hamlet at Stratford-on-Avon.) He studied acting and dancing and joined the Shakespeare Festival Company at the Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, in 1935. He appeared extensively on-stage throughout the 1930s. Having been classically trained at Stratford-on-Avon and at the Old Vic (London), "this dark, Italianate presence with a powerful (occasionally too powerful) voice and thrusting intensity of manner was an idealist. Langton longed to attract new audiences for serious drama by touring the provinces. He also longed to improve the sometimes "barbaric" working conditions in a still unsubsidised theatre and believed in the benefit to actors of working in a repertoire." (:'The Daily Telegraph') Accordingly, in the 1940s, Langton founded the Travelling Repertory Theatre (TRT), which toured and performed plays for towns, munitions factories and army camps in Britain and Europe during World War II, using all kinds of makeshift theatrical premises. Actors who toured with the TRT included Paul Scofield, Margaret Leighton, Eric Porter and the Casson family - Sybil Thorndike, Lewis Casson and their daughter Ann Casson (all became household names).

Going into management with George Wood in 1943, Langton staged and co-presented The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck (at the Whitehall Theatre) before touring with the TRT playing several roles in George Bernard Shaw plays - John Tanner in 'Man And Superman', Professor Higgins in 'Pygmalion' and several characters in 'Saint Joan'.

In 1947, Langton moved to the USA, prompted in part by what he felt was British hostility to his pacifism during the war. He appeared on Broadway and on television. He also taught at the Manhattan School of Music, the University of California, Los Angeles and the Sarah Lawrence College. In 1951, he produced the first George Bernard Shaw festival in the USA and was the co-founder of the Empire State Music Festival. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1959 to research Shaw. He made guest appearances on various tv shows such as 'General Hospital', 'Dark Skies' and 'Wings'.

In addition to his acting talents, Langton was a gifted photographer and many of his portraits of artists (e.g. Henry Moore, Georgia O'Keefe, Joan Miro and David Hockney) have been exhibited in Los Angeles and New York.

His last performance was in 1994 when he appeared in [#1 and #2 Caretaker] as the Caretaker.

Trivia: In 1940 Langton played Hamlet in one of the fastest-played productions of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' ever staged (production by B. Iden Payne), in which he showed, according to one critic, "a vivid and elastic intelligence".

EUGENE ROCHE

Roche's Hollywood debut was in 1961 playing a private detective in "Splendor in the Grass", and he played P.O.W. Edgar Derby in "Slaughterhouse Five", but he gained widest fame on U.S. television. He became a household face on U.S. television in the 1970s when, as Squeaky Clean, he made kitchens sparkle in commercials for Ajax cleaner. Through the 1970s he became Archie Bunker's neighborhood nemesis on "All in the Family" and the attorney Ronald Mallu on the sitcom "Soap". In the 1980s he portrayed Luther Gillis, trying to teach upstart Tom Selleck the old-school sleuthing ropes, in "Magnum, P.I.", the landlord Bill Parker on "Webster", and newspaper editor Harry Burns in "Perfect Strangers". One or two of these shows are also known outside the U.S.

WALTER 'MATT' JEFFERIES

Jefferies was born 12th August 1921 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, USA. He was obsessed with flight from an early age and spent much of his spare time in and around planes, and being in the air fed his imagination which informed his later design work. He fought in World War II as a B-17 co-pilot, serving in Britain, Africa and Italy, and was awarded the Bronze Star and Air Medal. After the War he took up his career as an artist, becoming an illustrator for the Library of Congress in 1949, then a freelance aviation illustrator in 1953. In 1057 he became a set designer for Warner Bros. and went on to beome an art director. Besides Star Trek, his credits include 'Little House on the Prairie' and 'Dallas'.

Jefferies received special recognition at the FantastiCon science fiction awards dinner. Senior Illustrator Doug Drexler, who worked on [#Voyager], was one of many staff members hugely influenced by Matt's work: "Matt was my initial inspiration to become be an artist in Hollywood. He inspired me to work hard and not be afraid to dream the big dream. Could I ever have imagined that I would know Matt? Certainly. That part is not so amazing. What is truly amazing is to find that your hero is so much more than you ever expected. It's one of those delightful rarities of life cynics would have you believe never happens, but guess what? It does happen and it happened in the form of this wonderful, warm and generous human being. We miss you, Matt ... it hurts ... big time. But you know something? In reality you're right here ... in the art department ... every day ... in every pen, pencil, pixel and heartbeat. So from here on we live a little more ambitiously, a little more passionately and a little more lovingly in your name. Chocks away, flyboy!"

Eugene Wesley Roddenberry was born in El Paso, Texas, on 19th August 1921, and grew up in Los Angeles. He studied three years of policemanship and then transferred his academic interest to aeronautical engineering and qualified for a pilot's licence. He volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps in autumn 1941 and was ordered into training as a flying cadet when the USA entered World War II. With the rank of Second Lieutenant, Roddenberry fought in the South Pacific, flying approximately 89 missions and sorties. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. While in the South Pacific, he also began to write. He sold stories to flying magazines, and later poetry to publications, including 'The New York Times'. Upon his return from combat, he became a trouble-shooter for the Air Force working out of Washington, D.C., investigating the causes of air crashes. When the War ended, he joined Pan American World Airways. During this time, he also studied literature at Columbia University.

It was on a flight from Calcutta, in June 1947, that his aeroplane lost two engines and caught fire in mid-air, crashing at night in the Syrian desert, killing seven of nine crew, and seven of twenty-six passengers. He rescued the Maharani of Pheleton from the wreck. As the senior surviving officer, Roddenberry sent two Englishmen swimming across the Euphrates River seeking the source of a light he had observed just prior to the crash. Meanwhile, he parleyed with local nomads who looted most of the luggage and possessions. The Englishmen reached a Syrian military outpost, which sent a small plane to investigate. Roddenberry returned with the small plane to the outpost, where he broadcast a message that was relayed to Pan Am, which sent a stretcher 'plane to the rescue. Roddenberry later received a Civil Aeronautics commendation for his efforts during and after the crash.

Back in the USA, Roddenberry continued flying until he saw television for the first time. He correctly gauged the huge impact the new medium would have for the future, and that the new medium would need writers, and decided that Hollywood's film studios would soon dominate the new industry. He immediately left his flying career behind and went to Hollywood, only to find the television industry still in its infancy, with few openings for inexperienced writers. At a friend's suggestion, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department, following in his father's footsteps.

By the time he had become a police sergeant, Roddenberry was selling scripts to various theatres and established himself as a writer. He turned in his police badge and became a freelancer. Later, he served as head writer for the highly popular series 'Have Gun, Will Travel', and his episode 'Helen of Abiginian' won the Writers Guild Award and was distributed to other writers as a model script for the series. Next, he created and produced 'The Lieutenant' series, starring Gary Lockwood and Robert Vaughn.

Star Trek followed (1966-1969), which Roddenberry originally pitched (proposed to the Network) as a kind of "wagon train to the stars". The first pilot was pronounced "too cerebral" by the Network and rejected but they liked it enough to take the unusual step of commissioning a second pilot. This was [Where No Man Has Gone Before] which became the first episode of [TOS]. The first pilot was [The Cage] which Roddenberry later took a lot of footage from to create an 'envelope', the award-winning two-part story called [The Menagerie], the show business term for a story which culls from old footage in order to help a show meet production and/or budget limitations. Once on the air, however, [TOS] 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 aeroplane and Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. In addition to the Smithsonian honors, NASA's first space shuttle was named "Enterprise", in response to hundreds of thousands of letters from fans demanding that the shuttle be named after their beloved starship.

The Network stopped the series part-way through its third season. For a long while it looked like that was the end of Star Trek. Roddenberry continued work both in television and in film, for instance he produced the motion picture 'Pretty Maids All in a Row' starring Rock Hudson, Angie Dickinson and Telly Savalas, and he also co-wrote and produced 'Spectre' in 1977, a two hour horror movie for NBC. He also 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 College in Potsdam, New York (1981). Then came the revival of Star Trek. The fans' interest in [TOS] had not died, despite the Network's dropping of the show. 'Star Trek: Phase II', however, did not succeed, but the show took to the cinema with 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' the first of what was to become a series of films. [Star Trek: The Next Generation] launched a new Star Trek era, with an all-new starship, though still called Enterprise, a new crew and some new concepts such as the holodeck and the LCARS computer system (voiced by Roddenberry's wife, Majel Barrett a.k.a. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry - more information below). There were also new enemies such as the Borg who have become the most popular love-to-hate villain in the show, and who feature in several [Star Trek Voyager] episodes.

In September 1986, Gene Roddenberry's fans presented him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the first writer/producer to be so honoured. [TNG], in its first year in syndication, was awarded the 1987 Peabody Award for the "Best of the Best". The series also gathered many of the prestigious Emmy Awards throughout its seven year run. In addition to serving as executive consultant on Star Trek feature productions, Roddenberry sold nearly a million copies of his novelisation of the film 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' (Pocket Books, 1979) which ranked number one on the USA bestseller lists for many weeks. In the UK the [TOS] novelisations by James Blish and Roddenberry's book also sold well. In addition, interest in Star Trek burgeoned thanks to tv syndication, the Internet wherein fans could discuss the show and fan-fiction writers could get their work seen, as well as Paramount Pictures' merchandising arm.

Roddenberry's second wife, Majel Barrett a.k.a. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, is considered to be the First Lady of Star Trek. While still married to his first wife, he and Majel became lovers for several years. As Roddenberry did not adhere to any particular religion, since they were in Japan they had a Shinto-Buddhist wedding on 6th August 1969. They regarded this as their real wedding, although his divorce was not yet final, and they made it legal with a civil ceremony on 29th December 1969. Majel Barrett has appeared in or been heard (as the LCARS computer voice) in more episodes than anyone else, and her character roles include Number One, Nurse Christine Chapel and Lwaxana Troi mother of Deanna Troi. (The [Star Trek Voyager] episodes she receives credit for are listed, along with other guest-stars, at Behind-the-scenes: Guest Cast.)

dedication of the Roddenberry Building on the Paramount lot, 1991, attended by Star Trek cast

On Thursday 24th October 1991, within 48 hours of the screening of [Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country], Gene Roddenberry died and, fittingly, he received the accolade of being buried in space - his ashes were sent into space in a rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA. Roddenberry planned for the show's future by choosing his successors wisely - in Rick Berman the fans became blessed with an executive producer who knew and understood both Star Trek and Roddenberry's ideals, and after Roddenberry's death it was left to Berman, and other like-minded writers/producers who worked with Roddenberry such as Jeri Taylor and Michael Piller, to carry on the Star Trek tradition with [Star Trek Voyager], [Enterprise] and new Star Trek films - not only did they do sterling work in carrying on the tradition but they worked hard to keep to his ideals as they developed the show. Roddenberry's legacy is immense, and is far from confined to his creation of two Star Trek series - the starship Enterprise, the universe he created and his optimistic cast on the future have inspired countless people, many of whom were not even alive when [TOS] ended. Officially, Roddenberry received writing credit for only 16 episodes (12 [TOS] and 4 [TNG]) out of nearly 200 episodes he produced before his death. But he had the ideas for a universe, and the details that made it work, which appealed to audiences and inspired them both as regards science-fiction and real life (think hypospray and PADD, under development in real life), and in making it all believable he showed the mark of a great producer in that he brought together groups of people (writers, actors, production staff etc.) who could work well together and generate the stories which collectively form the Star Trek universe. I am just one of his millions of admirers, and I was enthralled by his vision of the future from the moment when, as a young child, I saw my first episode of [The Original Series] some 35 years ago, and this website is therefore ultimately one fan's tribute to Roddenberry's creative genius.

Trivia

• The affectionate nickname for Gene Roddenberry is "the Great Bird of the Galaxy" after a line in [TOS: Charlie X]. During production of [TOS], George Takei (plays Sulu, in which role he is seen in [#44 Flashback]) dubbed him that and the nickname stuck.
• During World War II Roddenberry had a friend named Kim Noonien Singh. After the War, Kim disappeared, and Roddenberry used his name for some characters in the Star Trek series, namely Khan Noonien Singh in [Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan], and Dr Noonien Soong in several [TNG] episodes hoping for Kim to contact him. I wonder if Kim was used as the name for one of the main characters in [Star Trek Voyager] as a kind of tip of the hat.
• In the science-fiction field, Roddenberry's first tv script sale was 'The Secret Weapon of 117', broadcast 6th March 1956 on the anthology series 'Chevron Hall of Stars'.
• Roddenberry's old pseudonym Robert Wesley was used in [TOS: The Ultimate Computer] (first aired 1966) as the name of a character, played by Barry Russo.
• Roddenberry shared the same birthday as Jonathan Frakes who plays Commander (from [Star Trek X: Nemesis], Captain) Will Riker, who appears in a cameo role in [#34 Death Wish].
• The Roddenberry building on the Paramount Studio lot is named after him.
• While meeting with George Takei about a role on Star Trek, Roddenberry accidentally pronounced his last name 'Ta-kei', which translates from Japanese to "expensive". He remembered the pronunciation by rhyming it with "OK".