Majel Barrett passed away today of leukemia, surrounded by family and friends.
I have a raft of Majel stories, none of which I feel like recounting right now. I know I liked her a lot, had a number of dealings with her, and she was directly responsible for “Q-in-Law” getting published.
Fortunately her final voice work–the computer–was recorded for the upcoming film. It wouldn’t have been the same without her.
She will be missed.
PAD
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Aww she always seemed like a great lady.
This is really sad.
Very sad. At least she is no longer suffering. Bl***y cancer.
I’d love to hear some of your Majel stories – when you are ready to or need to tell them.
My head is just not in the game today, stuff happening at home.
I just read this myself. She lived a wonderful life, but, yeah, bloody cancer indeed.
I actually said out loud “Oh no!” when I saw the news online. I had the good fortune to meet her two or three times at different conventions over the years. She was an excellent speaker and very good to the fans.
I also, FWIW, attribute Peter David’s novels for being the first time I found the character of Lwaxana to be at all likeable or sympathetic.
Its always difficult to lose someone whos larger than life and someone as talented as she was.
She always brought out the characters she played, even that Babylon5 character was great.
My condolences to her family and friends.
I know that Gene and Majel are together again beyond the final frontier.
My first con, many moons ago, I met her. She was gracious, and charming, and even if she’d just been a fan instead of a Featured Guest, it would have been a pleasure. There are very few true Ladies left in the world….and there’s one less still with us.
You’re missed Majel, but you’re never forgotten, and always loved.
Wow, that’s totally sad and unexpected. I hadn’t heard a thing about her illness. My condolences to all her family and friends.
2008 was brutal. We lost a lot of good people.
Computer…………..end program. 🙁
Sad news indeed.
…
dámņ.
My favorite memory will be that cover for “Q-in-law” and that priceless smirk.
A sad day. I’ll admit that Majel’s work didn’t always appeal to me (Lwaxana being a big example), but there was no denying her contributions, her force of will, or her love for Gene and for Trek.
A sad day.
Sad news for any Trek fan.
I was saddened to see this. I met Majel many times over the years, and she was always a class act.
She’s with the Great Bird now.
Just read about this on another forum and as I said there, I’m shocked! I didn’t know anything about her being ill. 🙁
Despite her many roles, she’ll always be Lwaxana Troi to me, one of my all time favourite Trek characters and I adore Q-In-Law, the only Trek book I’ve managed to get my wife to read, simply because she loved the charater as well.
A sad loss, my heart goes out to her family.
RIP.
My condolences to her family.
This is sad. I know that makes me Captain Obvious for the day, but it is. As I said not that long ago about Paul Newman’s death, you know that certain people are getting on in years and that one of these days they’ll pass away, but it’s still always a surprise when it finally happens and you hear about it. A very unwelcome surprise.
Shìŧ
That’s been the only word on my mind since I’ve read the story.
Was the same word on my mind when I read about James Doohan and Deforest Kelley
Shìŧ
I always felt that she was a great actress and always looked forward to seeing her appear on Next Gen or Deep Space Nine. She will be missed.
I had the great fortune to meet Majel several times, including drinks during the Platinum Anniversary Convention in Nov. of 1985. She was a wonderful lady, very down-to-earth and dedicated to Trek. What a sad way to end the year.
A crying shame – least she will be remembered for playing the great characters and a force in the sci-fi – she was at the heart of it for a long time.
Like many have said, the cover for Q-in-Law was Lwaxana Troi to a T. I think her best ST moment was Dark Pages. All that came from a woman who appeared to be having the time of her life.
RIP
Dark Page seemed to me to be the cliched “repressed traumatic memory” story. I was far more impressed by Half a Life, which was the first time we got to see Lwaxana being not completely self-absorbed. Her frustration and pain in knowing that someone she had to lose someone she had grown to love, and the way it reflected on her own life, was very poignant, and Majel Barret was spot-on in her performance.
How very sad. I will miss her.
She was really terrific in “Half a Life”, as well as the Babylon 5 episode she did. And I owe her a debt of gratitude for getting “Q-in-Law” published.
I saw Majel Barrett at a con sometime in the 90s. She had a great stock answer for when someone asked her how she got her job on Star Trek: “I slept with the producer.”
She said it with a smile, and it got a big laugh from the crowd.
I never saw her in person, but loved her on screen. It is a shame NBC did not go for her “Number One” character for the original series.
It is sad that she can no longer voice the computer in future movies (or series for that matter).
While her character is not her, I must say Q-in-Law is one of my all time favorite novels. I loved how in The Rift (I think that was the title) you found a way to give a reason why the computer sounds like her!
Iowa Jim
Sad news indeed.
I was very sad to hear the news. I loved all her characters and I’m glad she is going to be immortalized in the new movie for a whole new generation of Star Trek fans.
Very sad news. I thought she’d be around awhile longer.
Majel was a true gem. I don’t know how many thank you cards she sent to fans who lamented Gene’s death with a condolence card but I have one of them and have treasured it for lo these many years. May she rest in peace and long live Lincoln Enterprises.
I was one of the fans who received a thank you after sending a condolence card when Gene died. I’m 55 and was sitting in front of my black-and-white portable TV the night ST-TOS premiered. And all who have been associated with it have been part of my life ever since.
RIP, Majel.
Ðámņ.
Every time you think a crappy year can’t get any crappier.. it does.
Majel was always a class act. We need more like that, not less.
Cheers.
This is a real shame. She is one of the people I always wanted to meet, never did and now never will.
At least she lived what seemed to be a remarkable life. And she will live on in the memories of fans and reruns, which will always bring her new fans. In that way, she will be immortal. We can console ourselves with that knowledge.
Ahh dammit. She was one of the greats.:(
Tis a shame indeed, and she will be missed. I do wonder one thing, though…
With all of the voice-work she did for various things the ship’s computer has said over the years, I wonder if there are enough samples where it would be possible to ACTUALLY build a computer speach program that used her voice? I think it would be a fitting tribute to her, and be dámņ awesome too.
Grozit. My condolences to the family and friends.
~Chris