Correction Appended
Gene Roddenberry, the Hollywood writer and producer who created the 1960's science-fiction television series "Star Trek," which inspired six feature films, a sequel series in the 1980's and legions of space-age devotees known as Trekkies, died yesterday at Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center in California. He was 70 years old and lived in Los Angeles.
Mr. Roddenberry had been ill for about six weeks and died of a blood clot, said John Wentworth, a spokesman for Paramount Pictures. But Wendy Gullies, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said the cause of death was listed as cardiopulmonary arrest.
A tall, soft-spoken man with a silver mane and a dazzling imagination, Mr. Roddenberry was a much-decorated B-17 pilot in the Pacific in World War II, and later a pilot for Pan American World Airways, a speechwriter for the Los Angeles police chief, a writer for episodes of "Dragnet" and "Naked City," and head writer of the 1950's television series "Have Gun, Will Travel."
But with "Star Trek," which made its debut in 1966 and ran until 1969 on NBC, Mr. Roddenberry took a generation of viewers along on a journey into "space, the final frontier," aboard the Starship Enterprise, to "explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." The Galaxies Beyond
It was an idea that, in various permutations, consumed more than a third of Mr. Roddenberry's life and made believers out of the most skeptical critics. It gave American popular culture such futuristic hardware as "phaser guns" and "transporter beams," and a living-room window on worlds and aliens far beyond the reality of a bright new space age.
It introduced a cast of characters whose names became familiar to millions: the dashing commander, Captain Kirk (played by William Shatner); the omnisciently logical, pointy-eared Vulcan First Mate, Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy); Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley); Scotty, the chief engineer (James Doohan); Mr. Sulu (George Takei), and Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nicols).
And it spawned a worldwide fascination that led to Trekkie conventions, products ranging from books and T-shirts to lunch boxes and toys, reruns of its 79 original episodes in 48 countries for more than a decade, a half-dozen feature films starting in 1979, and a sequel series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which had its premiere in 1987 and is still running, with audiences of more than 12 million households and numerous awards to its credit.
"Few ideas in the annals of motion picture and television history have inspired more passion and allegiance on the part of the audience than has 'Star Trek,' " said Brandon Tartikoff, chairman of Paramount Pictures, which made the "Star Trek" series for television and all the feature films.
For Mr. Roddenberry, the "Star Trek" phenomenon was more than entertainment, as he explained in an interview with The Los Angeles Times in May.
"It has become a crusade of mine to demonstrate that TV need not be violent to be exciting," he said. "I wanted to send a message to the television industry that excitement is not made of car chases. We stress humanity, and this is done at considerable cost. We can't have a lot of dramtics that other shows get away with -- promiscuity, greed, jealousy. None of those have a place in 'Star Trek.' " From a B-17 to Starships
Eugene Wesley Roddenberry was born in El Paso, Tex., on Aug. 19, 1921, and grew up in Los Angeles, where his father worked in law enforcement. He attended Los Angeles City College, the University of Miami and Columbia University, studying pre-law and aeronautical engineering.
He qualified for a pilot's license and flew a B-17 Flying Fortress in World War II on 89 missions, including Guadalcanal and Bougainville. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal, among other decorations. While in the South Pacific, he began to write stories and poetry for magazines and newspapers.
After the war, he joined Pan Am as a pilot, and flew for four more years. From 1949 to 1953, he was a sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department, working as a department spokesman and a speech writer for Chief William H. Parker. He also began writing for television, and from 1953 to 1962 wrote scripts for "The U.S. Steel Hour," "Goodyear Theater," "The Kaiser Aluminum Hour," "Four Star Theater," "Dragnet," "The Jane Wyman Theater" and "Naked City."
He won his first Emmy Award for "Have Gun, Will Travel," a western (starring Richard Boone as Paladin) that, according to some film and television critics, was a precursor of "Star Trek" in that its wit, characterizations and themes were only incidentally set in a particular time and place.
The original "Star Trek," Mr. Roddenberry told an interviewer a few years ago, was technically primitive but with high aims for adventure and in the way it portrayed people and their relationships.
"We had to explain computers," Mr. Roddenberry said. "And our effects were primitive. Our stars were a black cloth with holes in it and light behind. The episodes cost $186,000. They're $1.3 million for 'The Next Generation.' I wanted to cast a woman as second in command. NBC said no way."
Mr. Roddenberry, who said he always thought of himself as a storyteller, wrote not only the original shows, but also what he called a bible for later writers to follow. It detailed characters, the ship and its technology, the 23d century and the fantasy of deep space, in which they all traveled.
Some writers told him it was the hardest show in television to write for because they had to know so much about history, economics, moral values and the personalities of the running characters. There was formula in it, but the shows were hardly the standard television fare of car chases and grim faces.
Mr. Roddenberry was producer of the first "Star Trek" film, executive consultant on the next three and the executive producer of the sequel series.
Survivors include his wife, the former Majel Leigh Hudec, an actress who appeared in the two "Star Trek" television series under her stage name, Majel Barrett; a son, Eugene, known as Rod; two daughters, Darleen Incopero and Dawn Compton; a brother, Robert; a sister, Doris, and his mother, Carolyn Glen Roddenberry.
Photos: Gene Roddenberry (Associated Press, 1987); A scene from the original "Star Trek." From left: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.