Maggie Thrett dies: The actress and singer who gained fame for the ‘Mudd’s Women’ episode of ‘Star Trek’ turned 76

Maggie Thrett, the actress and singer who most memorably played Ruth in the “Mudd’s Women” episode of the original star pullShe has passed away, her family announced. She turned 76.

“Mudd’s Women” is one of the most memorable episodes of the 1960s star pullnot least because it starred three stunningly beautiful women (Thrett, Karen Steele and Susan Denberg) who seem to have strange powers over the male members of the Enterprise crew – with the exception of Spock, of course.

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The women are on their way to a mining colony where they must become wives of rich but lonely men who mine valuable dilithium crystals. Their secret is that they have been made both beautiful and irresistible by ingesting a so-called “Venus” drug given to them by Harry Mudd (Roger Carmel), one of the series’ most memorable villains.

Ironically, Thrett had to audition for the role, even though Carmel was her neighbor. She had no idea what the show was actually about.

“I’m shocked that years later I’m best known for doing this episode,” she told writer Tom Lisani in 2017. “I’m forever in TV history. At least it wasn’t bad, so I’m not ashamed of it. A company contacted me to sell my signature on these Star Trek cards. They pay me and sell it again at these Star Trek conventions. I was invited once, but it didn’t work out.”

Speaking of pay, Thrett told Lisaanti that she should fight for her pay off the show.

“I remember the day we hit golden overtime [of filming]. We were there from about 4 am to about 9 or 10 pm. You get regular overtime and work triple overtime. They won’t pay,” Thrett said. “I had to fight for it through the Screen Actors Guild. They don’t like it when you do that and it hurts your chances of getting back on the show. Got my money and no surprise, I was never invited back. Years later, I received a letter from Gene Roddenberry to forfeit my leftovers and donate them to his charity. I refused.

Born Diane Pine in 1946, Thrett appeared in a number of major series of the period, including The wild, wild west, i dream of jeannie and McCloud. She also starred alongside Christopher Jones, Yvette Mimieux and Judy Pace in the 1968 comedy. Three in the attic, which became the biggest hit on American International Pictures charts that year. The film and Thrett had a brief appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s Once in Hollywoodlike a television commercial for the film playing on the television for a scene in the background.

As a singer, she had a minor hit with her Bob Crewe-produced single “Soupy”, which convinced her to change her name. The song is a groovy and energetic arrangement with lots of horns, appropriate for 1965. You can listen to it below.

In May 1970, Thrett was involved in a traffic accident as a passenger on Gram Parsons’ motorcycle. Although seemingly unscathed (Parsons sustained significant injuries), Thrett soon after turned his back on the entertainment business.

Her cousin, ironically named Chris Pine, wrote earlier this week: “She left Hollywood and I was originally told it was because she didn’t make it, but I later found out that the industry and like her Disillusioned with the women she treated she kept it very much to herself and didn’t talk about her own experiences until she was much older and could finally enjoy some of the benefits that came with wearing it star pull.”

She even changed her mind about conventions, according to signer Scott Ray.

“In the last five years of her life, Maggie made two appearances in Congress,” Ray wrote. “She was amazed to see how her career developed … and gained new fans who weren’t even alive when she did it [Star Trek].”