Barrett was briefly seen in
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) in an ad parody at the beginning of the film, and had roles in a few films, including
Love in a Goldfish Bowl (1961),
Sylvia (1965),
A Guide for the Married Man (1967), and
Track of Thunder (1967). She worked at the
Desilu Studios on several TV shows, including
Bonanza,
The Untouchables,
The Lucy Show, and
The Lieutenant (produced by Gene Roddenberry). She received training in comedy from
Lucille Ball. In 1960, she played Gwen Rutherford on
Leave It to Beaver.
Star Trek In various roles, Barrett participated in every incarnation of the popular
science fiction Star Trek franchise produced during her lifetime, including live-action and animated versions, television and cinema, and nearly all of the time periods in which the various series have been set. She first appeared in
Star Trek's initial pilot, "
The Cage" (1964), as the
USS Enterprise's unnamed first officer, "
Number One". Barrett was romantically involved with Roddenberry, whose marriage was on the verge of failing at the time, and the idea of having an otherwise unknown woman in a leading role just because she was the producer's girlfriend is said to have infuriated NBC network executives who insisted that Roddenberry recast the role.
William Shatner corroborated this in
Star Trek Memories, and added that female viewers at test screenings hated the character as well. Shatner said that female viewers felt she was "pushy" and "annoying" and also thought that "Number One shouldn't be trying so hard to fit in with the men." Barrett often joked that Roddenberry, given the choice between keeping
Mr. Spock (whom the network also hated) or the woman character, "kept the Vulcan and married the woman, 'cause he didn't think Leonard [Nimoy] would have it the other way around". When Roddenberry was casting for the second
Star Trek pilot, "
Where No Man Has Gone Before", she changed her last name from Hudec to Barrett and wore a blond wig for the role of nurse
Christine Chapel, a frequently recurring character, Barrett returned years later in
Star Trek: The Next Generation, cast as the outrageously self-assertive, iconoclastic
Betazoid ambassador,
Lwaxana Troi, who appeared as a recurring character in the series, often visiting her daughter
Deanna, the ship's counselor. Her character often vexed the captain of the
Enterprise,
Jean-Luc Picard, who spurned her amorous advances. She later appeared as Ambassador Troi in several episodes of
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where her character developed a strong relationship with
Constable Odo. She was the regular voice of the onboard computers of Federation starships for
Star Trek: The Original Series,
Star Trek: The Next Generation,
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
Star Trek: Voyager, and most of the
Star Trek movies. She reprised her role as a shipboard computer's voice in two episodes of the prequel series
Star Trek: Enterprise, thus making her the only actor to have a role in all six televised
Star Trek series produced up to that time. She also lent her voice to various computer games and software related to the franchise. The association of her voice with interactions with computers led to Google's
Assistant project being initially codenamed Google Majel. She made a point of attending a major
Star Trek convention each year in an effort to inspire fans and keep the franchise alive. On December 9, 2008, shortly before her death, Roddenberry Productions announced that she would be providing the voice of the ship's computer again, this time for the
2009 motion picture reboot of
Star Trek.
Other roles She appeared as Primus Dominic in Roddenberry's 1973
postapocalyptic TV drama pilot,
Genesis II; as Dr. Bradley in his 1974 television film
The Questor Tapes and as Lilith the housekeeper in his 1977 TV drama pilot,
Spectre. She also appeared in
Michael Crichton's 1973 sci-fi Western,
Westworld as Miss Carrie, a robot brothel madam; the 1977
Stanley Kramer thriller
The Domino Principle; and the 1979 television film
The Man in the Santa Claus Suit starring
Fred Astaire. Her later film appearances included small roles in ''
Teresa's Tattoo (1994) and Mommy'' (1995). After Gene Roddenberry's death, Barrett took material from his archives to bring two of his ideas into production. She was executive producer of
Earth: Final Conflict (in which she also played the character Dr. Julianne Belman), and
Andromeda. She also served as creative director for ''
Gene Roddenberry's Lost Universe'', a
comic book series based on another archival Roddenberry concept. In a gesture of goodwill between the creators of the
Star Trek franchise and of
Babylon 5, she appeared in the
Babylon 5 episode "
Point of No Return", as Lady Morella, the psychic widow of the
Centauri emperor, a role which foreshadowed major plot elements in the series. Parodying her voice work as the computer for the
Star Trek series, Barrett performed as a guest voice on
Family Guy as the voice of
Stewie Griffin's ship's computer in the episode "
Emission Impossible". Barrett's widely recognized voice performance as the
Star Trek computer inspired the
Amazon Alexa interactive
virtual assistant, according to its developer Toni Reid, although Barrett had no direct role in it.
Final voiceover work Some of Barrett's final voiceover work was still in post-production, to be released in 2009 after her death, as mentioned in the credits of the 2009 film
Star Trek, again as the voice of the
Enterprise computer. An animated production called
Hamlet A.D.D. credited her as Majel Barrett Roddenberry, playing the voiceover role of Queen Robot. ==Personal life and death==