Happy Birthday to Kate Mulgrew, who played Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager and voiced Titania, Queen of Faerie on Gargoyles, She was born April 29, 1955 in Dubuque, Iowa, which makes today her 65th birthday. She made Star Trek history by being the first female captain to be a series regular.
In “Turnabout Intruder,” Janice Lester said, “your world of starship captains doesn’t admit women,” which for years many fans interpreted as Starfleet discriminating against females in command, but apparently only meant that the duties of command kept James T. Kirk too busy for a romantic relationship.
Kate Mulgrew was actually the second choice for Captain Janeway. Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold (Anne Boleyn in Anne of the Thousand Days, Jane in Swashbuckler, Dr. Wheeler in Coma), was hired first, but quit after two days, since television acting follows a more harrowing schedule than movie acting.
Kate Mulgrew also appeared in Warehouse 13 as Jane Lattimer, mother of series regular Eddie McClintock as Agent Pete Lattimer and as a Warehouse Regent.
Mulgrew’s most famous mundane roles were as Mary Ryan Fenelli in the soap opera Ryan’s Hope, Kate Callahan Colombo in Mrs. Colombo, and most recently in Galina “Red” Reznikov in the prison drama Orange is the New Black.
Kate Mulgrew has had a wide array of voicework in cartoons and videogames.
- The Cat in Infinity Train
- Dr. Racine Cleo, aka Dr. C. in Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters
- Oversphere in Flatland 2: Sphereland
- June Avalon in Augmented Empire
- General Zera in Half-Shell Heroes: Blast to the Past
- Flemeth in Dragon Age: Inquisition and Dragon Age II
- Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force
- Lady Kreya in Lords of Everquest
- Dr, Mek in Run Like Hell
- Titania in Disney’s Gargoyles
- Red Claw in Batman: the Animated Series
- Queen Hippsodeth in Aladdin the Series
- Isis in Mighty Max
- Miss Barbera in Wild West C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa
- Cressa in The Pirates of Dark Water
She also appeared in NTSF:SD:SUV as Kove and in the cult classic film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins as Major Fleming.
Mulgrew was nominated for the Golden Globe twice, once for Mrs. Colombo and once for Orange is the New Black. She was nominated for the Saturn Award for playing Kathryn Janeway four times and won once. She won the Golden Satellite Award for her work in Star Trek Voyager. Her performance as Katherine Hepburn in the one-woman play “Tea at Five” was well-respected and won a Carbonell Award.
She has written two memoirs, Born with Teeth: A Memoir and How to Forget: A Daughter’s Memoir. She’s been married and divorced twice, to producer Robert Egan (Mexican Devil, Lost Signal) and politician Tim Hagan. She has two sons and a daughter.
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Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
