- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWalter Matthew Jeffries
- Nickname
- Matt
- Walter M. "Matt" Jefferies was born in 1921, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. From an early age, he became obsessed with flight. During World War II, he was a B-17 co-pilot in Europe and Africa; for his service, he received the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. After World War II, he became an illustrator at the Library of Congress. After some freelance illustration work in the 1950s, he was hired as a set designer at Warner Bros. But the 1960s is when he made his mark. In 1964, Gene Roddenberry approached Matt to design the ship for a new TV series: Star Trek (1966). The final design of the original Starship Enterprise became the template for nearly all of the Federation ships featured in Star Trek ever since. In his honor, the crawl spaces on Star Trek are called "Jefferies Tubes." He passed away on July 21, 2003, of congestive heart failure, after a fight with cancer.
- IMDb mini biography by: Rob Norris <robmeister@charter.net>
- SpouseMary Ann Jeffries(? - July 21, 2003) (his death)
- Designed the original Starship Enterprise, created the unique saucer shaped primary hull and twin warp nacelles above the Engineering Section / Shuttle Bay.
- Matt Jefferies with his two younger brothers, Phil Jefferies and John Jefferies (youngest), worked together as a design team on the conceptual space vehicles for the Gene Rodenberry pilot "Star Trek". Matt was the production designer for the series pilot. The brothers were all designers and art directors in the Hollywood entertainment industry. Matt asked his brothers to assist him in the preliminary design preparations. The team mounted all the conceptual design art work on the art department walls, inviting Navy, Air Force, Army and NASA representatives for their critique and suggestions improving upon their efforts. The military representatives were astonished at what they were looking upon. The concepts and space vehicle designs were basically what NASA had been working on, giving Matt and the brothers their complete approval. John Jefferies worked on the initial series as Matt's assistant. Phil returned to his film projects. The series was filmed at the Desilu Studio which was adjacent to Paramount Studios. Hub Braden, a set designer in the art department with television studio experience, designed related TV monitor shapes and frames required in control panels and consoles. Budget constraints required ingenuity in "electronic flashing panels". Masonite panels set on tracks behind the console walls were designed with patterns; when a prop maker pulled the back sliding panel, the front wall console panels became a flashing electric pattern of lights, with a back-light aimed at the sliding panel. A very theatrical effect created because the budget would not allow expensive electronic flashing lights! After the show's success, these space ship console walls were eventually replaced.
- They named the electrical conduits after him. The "Jeffries Tubes". Also, since TNG the tubes are sometimes labeled with GNDN . This stands for Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing.
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