Gene Roddenberry

Roddenberry married Eileen Rexroat in 1942 and had two daughters with her, Darleen and Dawn. Due to his extra-marital affairs, the marriage ended in divorce after twenty-seven years.

He had romantic relationships with actresses Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett, whom he eventually married in 1969 in Japan. He has one child from this marriage, named ‘Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, Jr’.

Eugene Roddenberry was born to Eugene Edward Roddenberry (a police officer) and Caroline Roddenberry in El Paso, Texas. He spent his childhood in Los Angeles, studying in ‘Berendo Junior High School’ and ‘Franklin High School’.

In 1939, he enrolled at the ‘Los Angeles City College’, where he studied law enforcement. Two years later, he graduated with an ‘Associate of Arts’ degree in police science.

In 1941, he volunteered for the United States Army Air Corps and after completing his training, flew the B-17 bombers in World War II as a ‘Second Lieutenant’. During this time, he began writing, publishing stories for aeronautical magazines and poetry for various journals.

During the war, he was part of several missions and after the war ended, he was honourably discharged from the rank of Captain in 1945.

He next joined the Pan American World Airways and worked for four years as a pilot. In this period, he pursued his writing interests by taking writing courses from ‘Miami University’ and later from ‘Columbia University School of General Studies’.

In 1949, he quit his pilot job and went to Los Angeles to pursue Television writing. To support his family, he joined the ‘Los Angeles Police Department’, where he worked as a spokesperson and speechwriter. He was actively involved in writing for the TV series ‘Dragnet’, which portrayed the cases of police officers in LAPD.

During his tenure in LAPD, he pursued his writing ambitions and started writing for shows such as ‘Mr. District Attorney’, ‘Goodyear Theatre’, ‘Naked City’, ‘The Kaiser Aluminium Hour’, ‘Four Star Theater’, etc.

Gene Roddenberry is the creator and writer of the pioneering science-fiction series ‘Star Trek’. Its concept and characters have been used in numerous sequels and films released over the years. Its characters have also featured in animated films, video games, parodies and merchandise.