Nichelle Nichols

Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for black women in Hollywood when she played lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek TV show, has died at 89.

"I think many people took it into their hearts… She was the reminder that not only can we reach the stars, but our influence is essential to their survival. Forget shaking the table, she built it".

Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lieutenant Uhura on...

The original Star Trek premiered on September 8, 1966. Nichols first worked professionally as a singer and dancer in Chicago at 14, moving on to New York nightclubs and working for a time with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands before moving to Hollywood for her film debut in 1959's Porgy and Bess, the first of several small film and TV roles that led to her Star Trek stardom. "I think many people took it into their hearts - that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate," Nichols said in 1992 at a Star Trek exhibit. "I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89," George Takei wrote on Twitter. She often recalled how the Rev Martin Luther King Jr was a fan of the show and praised her role and personally encouraged her to stay with the series. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial on-screen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.

Nichelle Nichols – the groundbreaking actress who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on the original series – has passed away, her son confirmed.

He can fill it with anything including an alien.” “Her services will be for family members and the closest of her friends and we request that her and our privacy be respected.” “Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. Don’t you understand what [Roddenberry] has achieved? Stream more entertainment news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free.

Nichelle Nichols, the groundbreaking actor who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on the original "Star Trek" series, has died. She was 89.

"I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89. "Rest well, ancestor." However, after meeting Martin Luther King, Jr., who was a fan of the show, she decided to stay. She helped to recruit astronauts and appeared in PSAs. "It is with great sorrow that we report the passing on the legendary icon Nichelle Nichols," he tweeted. Johnson said his mother's life was "well-lived and as such a model for" everyone.

Nichols broke ground and paved the way for Black actors in Hollywood as Uhura. Her castmate George Takei wrote, "We lived long and prospered together."

"Nichelle Nichols showed us the extraordinary power of Black women and paved the way for a better future for all women in media. George Takei, who costarred on Star Trek as helmsman Hikaru Sulu tweeted: "I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise," her wrote. "I decided I was going to leave, go to New York and make my way on the Broadway stage." He says, do you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch.' I was speechless." "Many actors become stars, but few stars can move a nation," tweeted actress Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman on TV in the 1970s. "And he said, 'what are you talking about?' And I said, 'well, I told Gene just yesterday that I'm going to leave the show after the first year because I've been offered... She grew up singing and dancing, aspiring to star in musical theater. Nichols was born Grace Dell Nichols in a Chicago suburb where her father was the mayor. "He was very upset about it. You're an integral part and very important to it." "We're on a starship. Fourth in command on a starship.

Nichelle Nichols, who inspired a generation as a pioneering black actress on TV show Star Trek, has died at 89.

Nichelle Nichols showed us the extraordinary power of Black women and paved the way for a better future for all women in media. Nichols revived her Uhura role in the 1979 movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, in which the character was promoted to lieutenant commander. Before blasting off aboard the US space shuttle Endeavour, she called Nichols to thank her for her inspiration, according to a 1996 profile in Stanford Today magazine. “Nichelle Nichols told us that we belonged in outer space. Forget shaking the table, she built it.” — Celia Rose Gooding, who plays Uhura on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, on Twitter. May she Rest In Peace.” — Kate Mulgrew, Star Trek: Voyager cast member, on Twitter. For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend.” — George Takei, Nichols’ Star Trek co-star who played Sulu, on Twitter. The kiss “suggested that there was a future where these issues were not such a big deal,” Eric Deggans, a television critic for National Public Radio, told The Associated Press in 2018. She also served for many years as a NASA recruiter, helping bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry’s message to viewers that in the far-off future – the 23rd century – human diversity would be fully accepted. “The characters themselves were not freaking out because a black woman was kissing a white man ... In this utopian-like future, we solved this issue. It was the first kiss between black and white actors on US network television.

Nichelle Nichols was about to quit Star Trek in the 1960s when a chance encounter with Martin Luther King Jr changed the course of her life and set an ...

There’s a black lady on TV and she ain’t no maid.'” You are reflecting what we are fighting for.” I am that Trekkie.” You're an integral part and very important to it. “I grew up in musical theatre. And so I said, yes, I would.”

In Nichelle Nichols, our nation has lost a trailblazer of stage and screen who redefined what is possible for Black Americans and women. A daughter of a.

And she continued this legacy by going on to work with NASA to empower generations of Americans from every background to reach for the stars and beyond. During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, she shattered stereotypes to become the first Black woman to act in a major role on a primetime television show with her groundbreaking portrayal of Lt. Uhura in the original Star Trek. With a defining dignity and authority, she helped tell a central story that reimagined scientific pursuits and discoveries. A daughter of a working-class family from Illinois, she first honed her craft as an actor and singer in Chicago before touring the country and the world performing with the likes of Duke Ellington and giving life to the words of James Baldwin.

Actor who blazed a trail for black women on American TV in the 1960s in the role of Lt Uhura in Star Trek.

She later played Nana Dawson, the matriarch of a New Orleans family devastated by Hurricane Katrina, in the second series (2007) of the TV sci-fi drama Heroes. When it was confirmed that he had, they began discussing Uhura, whose name came from the title of a novel about the fight for freedom in Africa that Nichols had with her at the audition. In the 1974 blaxploitation film Truck Turner, she was Dorinda, a foul-mouthed madam hiring a gangster to carry out revenge on the bounty hunters (played by Isaac Hayes and Alan Weeks) who killed her pimp boyfriend. After Nichols and her family moved to Chicago, she studied dance at the Chicago Ballet Academy from the age of 12. Star Trek’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, championed sexual and racial equality, and presented a hopeful vision of the future in the series. She saw Uhura – her name was based on uhuru, the Swahili for “freedom” – not only as a role model for black people, but also for women with ambitions to become astronauts or scientists.

Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lieutenant Uhura on...

The original Star Trek premiered on September 8, 1966. Nichols first worked professionally as a singer and dancer in Chicago at 14, moving on to New York nightclubs and working for a time with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands before moving to Hollywood for her film debut in 1959's Porgy and Bess, the first of several small film and TV roles that led to her Star Trek stardom. "I think many people took it into their hearts - that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate," Nichols said in 1992 at a Star Trek exhibit. "I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89," George Takei wrote on Twitter. She often recalled how the Rev Martin Luther King Jr was a fan of the show and praised her role and personally encouraged her to stay with the series. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial on-screen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.

George Takei and William Shatner are among the 'Star Trek' stars to have paid tribute to Nichelle Nichols following her death at the age of 89.

Nichelle Nichols, who became an icon playing Nyota Uhura, the communications officer for the USS Enterprise on Star Trek, passed away Saturday evening in ...

Nichelle Nichols showed us the extraordinary power of Black women and paved the way for a better future for all women in media. With her very presence & her grace she shone a light on who we as people of color are & inspired us to reach for our potential. Nichelle Nichols showed us the extraordinary power of Black women and paved the way for a better future for all women in media. With her very presence & her grace she shone a light on who we as people of color are & inspired us to reach for our potential. We celebrate the life of Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek actor, trailblazer, and role model, who symbolized to so many what was possible. NASA tweeted, “We celebrate the life of Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek actor, trailblazer, and role model, who symbolized to so many what was possible. I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89. Following the cancellation of Star Trek, Nichols parlayed her television fame into a recruitment role for NASA. Through her company, Women in Motion, Nichols was responsible for recruiting many women and people of colour into the NASA space program. Nichol’s close friend George Takei tweeted, “I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89. We’re deeply saddened to report the passing of Nichelle Nichols – a trailblazer, an inspiration, and so much more. I am so sorry to hear about the passing of Nichelle. She was a beautiful woman & played an admirable character that did so much for redefining social issues both here in the US & throughout the world. Nichols’s son Kyle Johnson, posted a statement on his mother’s official Instagram account saying, “I regret to inform you that a great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years.

The legendary Nichelle Nichols boldly went where no woman had gone before on Star Trek. Here are the moments where Lt. Uhura got to shine.

In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, she and Chekov must go on a mission to covertly board an aircraft carrier parked in San Francisco (and also called Enterprise) and borrow some energy from its nuclear reactor to recharge their stolen Klingon ship. Nichols told author David Gerrold in his book The World of Star Trek that this was one of her favorite episodes: “I enjoyed anything that I was able to get out of uniform.” Uhura gets kidnapped by the computer at one point, and it’s up to her to try and talk some sense into it, albeit unsuccessfully. This time, however, the planet’s alien caretaker has died, and the planet’s massive computer is running things – and not doing a good job of it. Another (somewhat inexplicably) popular episode, this one finds Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov captured by a group of disembodied aliens called the Providers, who stage gladiatorial contests among various humanoid “Thralls” on their planet as a way to amuse themselves. Since her mind has been erased, Uhura’s only memory is of speaking Swahili – and a linguist was reportedly brought to the set to write a few lines in the language for Nichols to say. At one point, Uhura and Nurse Chapel are transported down for further entertainment, resulting in a scene in which Kirk and Uhura kiss. At one point, Trelane (William Campbell) transports the entire bridge crew down to his castle on the planet Gothos, where he gives Uhura the ability to play the harpsichord so that Trelane can dance with a female yeoman. Not only did the scene let Nichols show off her singing voice, but it established the respectful, playful – and slightly flirty – relationship between Uhura and Spock that was later developed as a full-blown romance in the Star Trek reboot movies. Uhura’s little pet subsequently begins to breed, and what happens from there is the basis of one of Trek’s most popular and iconic segments. Here are 10 examples of Uhura getting that chance to shine, and we’ll treasure them forever as her wonderful spirit heads into the undiscovered country. She also worked with NASA on a successful program to recruit minorities and women into the space program.

George Takei, William Shatner, Zoe Saldana and other members of the 'Star Trek' family mourned Nichelle Nichols, the series' original Lt. Uhura.

Because of her performance as Uhura, the civil rights leader told Nichols, “the world sees us for the first time as we should be seen.” Marina Sirtis, who portrayed Counselor Deanna Troi in “Star Trek” movies and the TV series “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” added on Twitter: “You led the way and opened the door for the rest of us who followed in your wake. In February 2015, Leonard Nimoy — who portrayed Spock in the original “Star Trek” series — died at 83. Nichelle Nichols showed us the extraordinary power of Black women and paved the way for a better future for all women in media. She later reprised her groundbreaking role for several “Star Trek” movies. Takei and Shatner were among several members of the “Star Trek” family who mourned Nichols’ death on social media. “For myself, and millions of others on our world. “Nichelle was a singular inspiration,” Kurtzman tweeted. “She’s an icon, an activist and most importantly an amazing woman- who blazed a trail that has shown so many how to see women of color in a different light. “Forget shaking the table, she built it!” Everybody loved her and we will all miss her presence.” ... Sending my love and condolences to her family.”