Thursday, September 24, 2009

Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett's wedding

Several weeks ago I had a request for more geek weddings, and I'm happy to oblige. This isn't a wedding by geeks, it's a wedding for geeks.

When I found a photo of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett's wedding I knew there had to be a back story. Gene Roddenberry is the father of Star Trek and his wife Majel Barrett has been involved in every Star Trek incarnation to date. Roddenberry was married when he met Barrett on the set of a show he was producing called the Lieutenant. Barrett was dropped from the show, but Roddenberry remembered her when he needed to cast someone for his new show Star Trek. The two had been friends since they first met, but Roddenberry was married with two children. They wanted to be married, but his divorce was not yet finalized - what to do?


Their wedding photo tickles me for some reason. I think it's the look on her face. She has a sassy look about her that reminds me so much of her man-eater role on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett married in Japan on August 6, 1969 in a Buddhist-Shinto ceremony. They considered it to be their "real" wedding, but it wasn't their legal wedding since his first marriage wasn't dissolved. Their legal wedding was on December 29 of the same year, and five years later they welcomed their first child.

Roddenberry and Barrett stayed married until his death in 1991, and you probably already know that some of his ashes were sent into space. Majel Barrett died last year in 2008.




-Kay

Note: This isn't a gossip blog, it's a wedding blog, but I would be remiss in my reporting duties if I didn't mention that Roddenberry had two affairs during his first marriage. One was with Majel Barrett and the other was with Nichelle Nichols. Gasp!

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