A Powerful Number One
Gene Roddenberry at first cast his girlfriend (and later wife) Majel Barrett who played Captain Pike’s “Number One” (first officer) in the first pilot episode. But NBC executives demanded that the character be cut because they felt that audience members couldn’t relate to such a powerful female character.
Source: Film School Rejects
Although the character was ultimately cut from the show, both Roddenberry and his wife Majel Barrett were honored when ‘Star Trek 2009’ came out as it was dedicated to both of them.