Star Trek original Nichols a model for others in TV industry
Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lieutenant Uhura on the original ‘‘Star Trek’’ television series, has died at the age of 89.
Her son Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Sunday in Silver City, New Mexico.
‘‘Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration,’’ Johnson wrote on her official Facebook page yesterday. ‘‘Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.’’
Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lieutenant Uhura earned Nichols a lifelong position of honour with the series’ rabid fans. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited Black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial onscreen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.
‘‘I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lieutenant Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89,’’ George Takei wrote on Twitter. She often recalled how Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights gathering in 1967 at a time when she had decided not to return for the show’s second season.
‘‘When I told him I was going to miss my co-stars and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said, ’You cannot do that,’’’ she said in a 2008 interview. ‘‘’You’ve changed the face of television forever, and therefore, you’ve changed the minds of people,’’’ she said the civil rights leader told her .