Maybe. But he was also an insecure, misogynistic hack. Born in El Paso in 1921, Gene Roddenberry moved to Los Angeles to become a police officer. He married and had two children. Then World War II ...

So that was my first experience with Roddenberry. I did another pilot for him called 'Police Story.' For the benefit of those of you who don't know, Gene was a cop for about eight years.