He was killed in the line of duty while driving a police ambulance which was struck by an Erie Passenger Train at East 91st Street and Loren Avenue on August 30, 1955.

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.

[10] William Shatner corroborated this in Star Trek Memories, and added that female viewers at test screenings hated the character as well.

[13] 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,[2] who was introduced in "The Naked Time", the sixth new episode recorded, and was known for her unrequited affection for the dispassionate Spock.

[14] 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.

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 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.

[15] My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that Star Trek fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years.

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;[17] and the 1979 television film The Man in the Santa Claus Suit starring Fred Astaire.

[20] 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.

Roddenberry's young daughter, Dawn, decided to live with him and Barrett[26] and the family moved to a new house in Beverly Hills in October 1970.

[34][full citation needed] Barrett-Roddenberry died on the morning of December 18, 2008, at her home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, as a result of leukemia.

More than 250 people attended, including Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, and Wil Wheaton.