Gene Roddenberry, writer and producer, is best known for the creation of the Star Trek television series. He took inspiration for the creation of the series from books such as Gulliver’s Travels. Star trek was highly influential and led to the production of other television series and several movies. The first episode of Star Trek was premiered on television on September 8th 1966.
Eugene Wesley Roddenberry was born in Texas, USA on August 19th 1921. Two year after he was born his family moved to Los Angeles, California. Roddenberry served as a pilot with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After the war he served as an airline pilot until 1949.
Roddenberry joined the Los Angeles Police in 1949 and began writing scripts for television. He left the police and became a freelance writer in 1953. He contributed to programmes such as Dr Kildare, and Have Gun—Will Travel. In 1964 he created Star Trek, which premiered in 1966 and ran for three seasons.
Roddenberry was subsequently involved in the Star Trek feature films and the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. He died in 1991 and some of his ashes were flown into space on the Space Shuttle Columbia. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2010.
Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, died aged 70 in the year 1991 On This Day.
