TIL: Gene Roddenberry had a problematic history with actresses

[Wrexis]

I knew he was divorced, but this Wiki entry is so disturbing to read.

Personal life of Gene Roddenberry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

He joined the Los Angeles Police Department, and during this time he was known to have had affairs with secretarial staff, thus endangering his marriage.

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During the production of his series The Lieutenant, he entered into relationships with Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett, seeking to have an open relationship with both women. Nichols has since said that they broke up after this, but she was later found more than once in Roddenberry's office on Star Trek either nude or partly clothed.

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His frequent relationships with female actresses were well known, and he boasted of late night casting sessions.

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Andrea Dromm was cast as Yeoman Smith. Director James Goldstone overheard Roddenberry telling someone that Dromm had been specifically hired because he wanted to have sex with her.

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As a huge Star Trek fan, I'm actually a bit shocked about this. Not sure how I feel about the Great Bird.

EDIT: I appear to have jumped to conclusions a bit with the Winstein comparison. It's too clickbaity.
If an Admin is reading this feel free to edit the title.
EDIT2: Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 29660]

It's been known for a very long time that he liked women and if he could sleep with them he did. Don't think he ever was like Weinstein though, none of the stories are about him pushing himself on people but again if he could sleep with them he most definitely did.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

A Weinstein-level accusation is probably a little beyond where Gene was.

He's more like pre-Joss Whedon.

 

[Beren]

He definitely slept with a lot of women outside of his marriage, but I haven't heard any stories of him forcing himself on anyone.

 

[Isak_Borg]

no crime against getting laid.

 

[Jag]

This has been known for awhile. He wasn't Weinstein level monster, but he was a known womanizer.

 

[Stinkles]

I knew he was divorced, but this Wiki entry is so disturbing to read.

Personal life of Gene Roddenberry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As a huge Star Trek fan, I'm actually a bit shocked about this. Not sure how I feel about the Great Bird.

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If he used his position to pressure or force women into relations they didn't want - that's unforgivable. If the nature was reciprocal or mutually understood and agreed upon it's still an imbalance of power and disgraceful and or disturbing.

But Harvey Weinstein as far as we know was in a whole different league including forcibly raping and then deliberately destroying careers and lives out of spite.

 

[entremet]

Read up on Isaac Asimov if you want more sci-fi greats shattered.

 

[XaviConcept]

Definitely sounds unpleasant but Weinstein is an irredeemable rapist so its still a leap.

Doesnt excuse the behavior, of course.

 

[Rassilon]

Read up on Isaac Asimov if you want more sci-fi greats shattered.

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Oh dear...

so many creeps

 

[Hyun Sai]

Using imbalance of power to get laid is scummy, yes. Weinstein was at another level though.

 

[entremet]

Oh dear...

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Serial butt grabber.

We Don't Do That Anymore - Almost Diamonds

So this one time, at Worldcon, Isaac Asimov was asked to give a presentation on how he sexually assaulted women.

the-orbit.net

 

[Soap]

Gene was a huge perverted, yes. I remember hearing a story about him being obsessed with giving the ferengi huge penises and the other producers basically telling him to shut the fuck up about it.

 

[entremet]

Gene was a huge perverted, yes. I remember hearing a story about him being obsessed with giving the ferengi huge penises and the other producers basically telling him to shut the fuck up about it.

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So how would that work on the TV medium back in the day? Advertisers wouldn't' allow it.

 

[Deleted member 29660]

So how would that work on the TV medium back in the day? Advertisers wouldn't' allow it.

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Gene use to demand many things, he seldom got his way. The movies except for the Motion Picture would see him make demands or changes to the script, they ignored him. Mostly because he had stupid crazy ideas, like wanting Spock to kill JFK. He also regularly raged about the movies so much he'd spoil them at cons in advance, ie: Spock dying, Enterprise being blown up etc.

 

[DeathyBoy]

The state of era sometimes. If you wanted to start a thread about Gene being problematic there were better ways to do it without comparing him to a literal rapist.

 

[Soap]

So how would that work on the TV medium back in the day? Advertisers wouldn't' allow it.

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From memory alpha

One influence on the Ferengi was what Herb Wright described as Gene Roddenberry's "sex fetish." In early first season discussions between them about developing the Ferengi, Roddenberry let Wright know it was his intention to make the species well-endowed. "He wanted to put a gigantic codpiece on the Ferengi," Wright stated. "He spent 25 minutes explaining to me all the sexual positions the Ferengi could go through. I finally said, 'Gene, this is a family show, on at 7:00 on Saturdays. He finally said, 'Okay, you're right.'" (Cinefantastique, Vol. 23, No. 2/3, pp. 60-61) With Roddenberry's approval, the development of the new species got underway. (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 36)

 

[VorpalNonsense]

I don't think it's fair to put Gene into the same realm as Harvey but it's well known that Gene... did not live up to the ideals he envisioned for the future. He was still very much a flawed man of the 20th century, not the 23rd.

 

[Beren]

So how would that work on the TV medium back in the day? Advertisers wouldn't' allow it.

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Gene was famously "kicked upstairs" around the time the movies/TNG were being made so that he'd have minimal influence and could be ignored by those under and over him without messing up production. He could voice his ideas and enforce a few things, but his crazy ideas could be thrown out.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Oh, dude was definitely skeevy. Compared to Weinstein though...

Really, the worst damage done by Roddenberry, that I'm aware we know of, was to Eileen Rexroat, his first wife. Even if you're generous and say all the affairs he had were ultimately consensual - however much coated in the power dynamic of a TV producer, writer, etc, soliciting actresses - he had a lot of affairs and didn't even exactly hide it well. Nichols gave up on their relationship on her part, and not even because of how it was harming Gene's relationship with Eileen, but because she saw how much closer he was to Majel and that she didn't want end up second fiddle in that regard. Dude married Majel in Japan when he wasn't even fully divorced yet.

 

[antonz]

Gene was a scumbag like Weinstein yes. He proudly used his Casting Couch exactly like Weinstein. His own Son has spoken to great lengths about how he has had to come to terms with who his father was.

People keep saying he isn't like Harvey but this is exactly what Harvey was doing. He was not just raping random women. He was using his Position as a Hollywood Mogul to get these women to cast etc. and then he would do the old as time you got the part if you do me a small favor bullshit.

 

[lunarworks]

Star Trek fans polished his image over the decades to make him seem like a noble genius, but ya, he had his slimeball side too.

Did you know that he secretly wrote lyrics for the Star Trek theme behind the composer's back so he'd also get royalties from it?

The lyrics were never even meant to be heard on the show, but not because the network (NBC) nixed them. Roddenberry nixed them himself. Roddenberry wanted a piece of the composing profits, so he wrote the hokey lyrics solely to receive a "co-writer" credit.

As one of the composers, Roddenberry received 50 percent of the royalties ... cutting Alexander Courage's share in half. Not surprisingly, Courage was furious about the deal. Though it was legal, he admitted, it was unethical because Roddenberry had contributed nothing to why the music was successful.

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The<em> Star Trek</em> Theme Song Has Lyrics

The sci-fi series' theme song is familiar to pretty much anyone who lived in the free world (and probably elsewhere, too) in the late 20th century. Do you know the words?

www.mentalfloss.com

 

[Biggersmaller]

Has anyone ever accused him of rape? Search results don't seem to indicate he was anything but a sexist. Granted, that's bad - but there's a big difference.

 

[Dary]

So how would that work on the TV medium back in the day? Advertisers wouldn't' allow it.

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[Deleted member 13496]

Holy shit. TIL it's "Nichelle" and not "Michelle".

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Has anyone ever accused him of rape? Search results don't seem to indicate he was anything but a sexist. Granted, that's bad - but there's a big difference.

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The big thing is the coercive element of his position. Yes, women may have 'consented' to sleep with him, but many, many of them did so on the grounds that it would be helpful to their careers - the classic 'casting couch' as mentioned above. Additionally, even women he didn't sleep with are open in their testimony of how he would hit on them. Comparatively, we know at least one of the producers - as Grace Lee Whitney attests - straight up assaulted people. Men in TV could - and still do - get away with a lot of shit

 

[Deleted member 4413]

HUGE Star Trek fan. Gene was a huge sack of shit though and it shows in the Original Series. Star Trek got considerably better when he became less involved.

 

[Combo]

I remember watching a clip where Marina Sirtis was talking about how messed up he was and how she hated his attitude to women. I can't find it. In other interviews she says positive things about him, but not in this one.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

No. That said, he was as sexist as any other womanizer was in the 60s.

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

Holy shit. TIL it's "Nichelle" and not "Michelle".

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Did you skip the credits all this time?

 

[Charlotte Lucas]

Haven't heard anything about him concerning rape, but he was definitely a misogynistic creep who used his position to sleep with women he hired.

 

[Siggy-P]

We have no confirmed cases of rape about him but we have numerous implications of sexual harrasmenet. And given how it was back then in media I'd bet solid money he used his position for all his so called "womanising".

to add to all the above posts the actress in the final epsiode of TOS season 2 (Terri Gar) efuses to talk about the epsiode after his behaviour towards her and said she was glad the spin off never happened.

Truth be told though, the way he writes sex in star trek should be a red light to anyone defending him.

The big thing is the coercive element of his position. Yes, women may have 'consented' to sleep with him, but many, many of them did so on the grounds that it would be helpful to their careers - the classic 'casting couch' as mentioned above. Additionally, even women he didn't sleep with are open in their testimony of how he would hit on them. Comparatively, we know at least one of the producers - as Grace Lee Whitney attests - straight up assaulted people. Men in TV could - and still do - get away with a lot of shit

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I read an extract of the memoir where she talks about it in detail. The executive who did it to her basically tried to lead in by talking about how her character has a thing for Kirk. Then she was fired soon after.

One of the most uncomfortable things I've ever read.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Read The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years.

Gene said and did some shit.

 

[Deleted member 13496]

Did you skip the credits all this time?

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I guess just one of those little mind tricks that autocorrect for my brain.

 

[Uzumaki Goku]

I mean.... this hasn't exactly been unknown has it?

 

[ClivePwned]

Read The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years.

Gene said and did some shit.

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those books are a must for anyone interested in trek behind the scenes (avery brooks being crazy and not getting on with Alexander Siddig, Kate Mulgrew making Jeri Ryan miserable, Rick berman obsessed with how the female cast members looked).

It's clear that Gene Roddenberry's health was a bit issue by the lste 80s (physically and mentally). He was really out of it by the time of Next Gen (He died during the fifth season) where he would be lucid and pleasant and insightful one minute and then totally deranged. Liberal one minute, raging bigot by the end of the same sentence.

The best and most awful anecdote is something he told to one of the other writer's secretaries. "Never go back to front, Majel's got a hell of an infection."