{"id":31676,"date":"2022-08-01T01:12:54","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T01:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nichelle-nichols-lieutenant-uhura-on-star-trek-dies-at-89\/"},"modified":"2022-08-01T01:12:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T01:12:54","slug":"nichelle-nichols-lieutenant-uhura-on-star-trek-dies-at-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nichelle-nichols-lieutenant-uhura-on-star-trek-dies-at-89\/","title":{"rendered":"Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura on &#8216;Star Trek,&#8217; Dies at 89"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nichelle Nichols, the actress revered by \u201cStar Trek\u201d fans everywhere for her role as Lieutenant Uhura, the communications officer on the starship USS Enterprise, died on Saturday in Silver City, NM She was 89.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The cause was heart failure, said Sky Conway, a writer and a film producer who was asked by Kyle Johnson, Ms.  Nichols&#8217;s son, to speak for the family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms.  Nichols had a long career as an entertainer, beginning as a teenage supper-club singer and dancer in Chicago, her hometown, and later appearing on television.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But she will forever be best remembered for her work on \u201cStar Trek,\u201d the cult-inspiring space adventure series that aired from 1966 to 1969 and starred William Shatner as Captain Kirk, the heroic leader of the starship crew;  Leonard Nimoy (who died in 2015) as his science officer and adviser, Mr.  Spock, an ultralogical humanoid from the planet Vulcan;  and DeForest Kelley (who died in 1999) as Dr.  McCoy, aka Bones, the ship&#8217;s physician.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A striking beauty, Ms.  Nichols provided a frisson of sexiness on the bridge of the Enterprise.  She was generally clad in a snug red doublet and black tights;  Ebony magazine called her \u201cmost heavenly body in &#8216;Star Trek&#8217;\u201d on its 1967 cover.  Each role, however, was both substantial and historically significant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Uhura was an officer and a highly educated and well-trained technician who maintained a businesslike demeanor while performing her high-minded duties.  Ms.  Nichols was among the first Black women to have a leading role on a network television series, making every moment anomaly on the small screen, which until that time had rarely depicted Black women in anything other than subservient roles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a November 1968 episode, during the show&#8217;s third and final season, Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura are forced to embrace by the inhabitants of a strange planet, resulting in what is widely thought to be the first interracial kiss in television history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms.  Nichols&#8217;s first appearances on \u201cStar Trek\u201d predated the 1968 sitcom \u201cJulia,\u201d in which Diahann Carroll, playing a widowed mother who works as a nurse, became the first Black woman to star in a non-stereotypical role in a network series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">(A series called \u201cBeulah,\u201d also called \u201cThe Beulah Show,\u201d starring Ethel Waters \u2014 and later Louise Beavers and Hattie McDaniel \u2014 as the maid for a white family, was broadcast on ABC in the early 1950s and subsequently cited by civil rights activists for its demeaning portraits of Black people.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Uhura&#8217;s influence reached far beyond television.  In 1977, Ms.  Nichols began an association with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, contracting as a representative and speaker to help recruit female and minority candidates for spaceflight training;  the following year&#8217;s class of astronaut candidates was the first to include women and members of minority groups.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In subsequent years, Ms.  Nichols made public appearances and recorded public service announcements on behalf of the agency.  In 2012, after she was the keynote speaker at the Goddard Space Center during a celebration of African American History Month, a NASA news release about the event lauded her help for the cause of diversity in space exploration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNichols&#8217;s role as one of television&#8217;s first Black characters to be more than just a stereotype and one of the first women in a position of authority (she was fourth in command of the Enterprise) inspired thousands of applications from women and minorities,\u201d the release said.  \u201cAmong them: Ronald McNair, Frederick Gregory, Judith Resnick, first American woman in space Sally Ride and current NASA administrator Charlie Bolden.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Grace Dell Nichols was born in Robbins, Ill., on Dec.  28, 1932 (some sources give a later year), and grew up in Chicago.  Her father was, for a time, the mayor of Robbins, and a chemist.  At 13 or 14, tired of being called Gracie by her friends, she requested a different name from her mother, who liked Michelle but suggested Nichelle for the alliteration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She was a ballet dancer as a child and had a singing voice with a naturally wide range \u2014 more than four octaves, she later said.  While attending Englewood High School, she landed her first professional gig in a revue at the College Inn, a well-known Chicago nightspot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There she was seen by Duke Ellington, who employed her a year or two later with his touring orchestra as a dancer in one of his jazz suites.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms.  Nichols appeared in several musical theater productions around the country during the 1950s.  In an interview with the Archive of American Television, she recalled performing at the Playboy Club in New York City while serving as an understudy for Ms.  Carroll in the Broadway musical \u201cNo Strings\u201d (though she never went on).<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1959, she was a dancer in Otto Preminger&#8217;s film version of \u201cPorgy and Bess.\u201d  She made her television debut in 1963 in an episode of \u201cThe Lieutenant,\u201d a short-lived dramatic series about Marines at Camp Pendleton created by Gene Roddenberry, who went on to create \u201cStar Trek.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms.  Nichols appeared on other television shows over the years \u2014 among them \u201cPeyton Place\u201d (1966), \u201cHead of the Class\u201d (1988) and \u201cHeroes\u201d (2007).  She also appeared onstage occasionally in Los Angeles, including in a one-woman show in which she did impressions of, and paid homage to, Black female entertainers who preceded her, including Lena Horne, Pearl Bailey and Eartha Kitt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Uhura was to be her legacy: A decade after \u201cStar Trek\u201d went off the air, Ms.  Nichols reprized the role in \u201cStar Trek: The Motion Picture,\u201d and she appeared as Uhura, by then a commander, in five subsequent movie sequels through 1991.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Besides a son, her survivors include two sisters, Marian Smothers and Diane Robinson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms.  Nichols was married and divorced twice.  In her 1995 autobiography, \u201cBeyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories,\u201d she disclosed that she and Roddenberry, who died in 1991, had been romantically involved for a time.  In an interview in 2010 for the Archive of American Television, she said that he had little to do with her casting in \u201cStar Trek\u201d but that he defended every time studio executives wanted to replace her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When she took the role of Uhura, Ms.  Nichols said, she thought of it as a mere job at the time, valuable as a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 enhancer;  she fully intended to return to the stage, as she wanted a career on Broadway.  Indeed, she threatened to leave the show after its first season and submitted her resignation to Roddenberry.  He told her to think it over for a few days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a story she often told, that Saturday night she was a guest at an event in Beverly Hills, Calif.  \u2014 \u201cI believe it was an NAACP fund-raiser,\u201d she recalled in the Archive interview \u2014 where the organizer introduced her to someone he described as \u201cyour biggest fan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe&#8217;s desperate to meet you,\u201d she recalled the organizer saying.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The fan, the Rev.  Dr.  Martin Luther King Jr. introduced himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe said, &#8216;We admire you greatly, you know,&#8217; \u201d Ms.  Nichols said, and she thanked him and told him that she was about to leave the show.  \u201cHe said, &#8216;You cannot.  You cannot.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr.  King told her that her role as a dignified, authoritative figure in a popular show was too important to the cause of civil rights for her to forgo.  As Ms.  Nichols recalled it, he said, \u201cFor the first time, we will be seen on television the way we should be seen every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Monday morning, she returned to Roddenberry&#8217;s office and told him what had happened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAnd I said, &#8216;If you still want me to stay, I&#8217;ll stay.  I have to.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Eduardo Medina contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nichelle Nichols, the actress revered by \u201cStar Trek\u201d fans everywhere for her role as Lieutenant Uhura, the communications officer on the starship USS Enterprise, died on Saturday in Silver City, NM She was 89. The cause was heart failure, said Sky Conway, a writer and a film producer who was asked by Kyle Johnson, Ms. &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nichelle-nichols-lieutenant-uhura-on-star-trek-dies-at-89\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura on &#8216;Star Trek,&#8217; Dies at 89<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31468,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nichelle-nichols-uhura-in-the-star-trek-franchise-dies-at-89\/","url_meta":{"origin":31676,"position":0},"title":"Nichelle Nichols, Uhura in the &#8216;Star Trek&#8217; franchise, dies at 89","date":"July 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Nichelle Nichols, an actress whose role as the communications chief Uhura in the original \u201cStar Trek\u201d franchise in the 1960s helped break ground on TV by showing a Black woman in a position of authority and who shared with co-star William Shatner one of the first interracial kisses on American\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31855,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nichelle-nichols-death-pioneering-star-trek-actor-dies-aged-89\/","url_meta":{"origin":31676,"position":1},"title":"Nichelle Nichols death: Pioneering Star Trek actor dies, aged 89","date":"August 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Nichelle Nichols, the Star Trek actor whose role as an on-screen lieutenant on the bridge of a starship was a groundbreaking example of representation for Black Americans in Hollywood, died on Saturday (30 July). She was 89.Her death was confirmed on Instagram on Sunday (31 July) by the actor's son\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32031,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nichelle-nichols-lt-uhura-on-star-trek-has-died-at-89\/","url_meta":{"origin":31676,"position":2},"title":"Nichelle Nichols, Lt.  Uhura on &#8216;Star Trek,&#8217; has died at 89","date":"August 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original \u201cStar Trek\u201d television series, has died at the age of 89. Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico.\u201cLast night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31587,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nichelle-nichols-trailblazing-star-trek-actress-dies-at-89\/","url_meta":{"origin":31676,"position":3},"title":"Nichelle Nichols, trailblazing &#8216;Star Trek&#8217; actress, dies at 89","date":"July 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\"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 said in a statement shared to Nichols'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32115,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nichelle-nichols-lt-uhura-on-star-trek-has-died-at-89-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":31676,"position":4},"title":"Nichelle Nichols, Lt.  Uhura on &#8216;Star Trek,&#8217; has died at 89","date":"August 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood as communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original \"Star Trek\" television series, has died at the age of 89. Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico. \"Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31782,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/george-takei-stacey-abrams-more-pay-tribute-the-hollywood-reporter\/","url_meta":{"origin":31676,"position":5},"title":"George Takei, Stacey Abrams, More Pay Tribute \u2013 The Hollywood Reporter","date":"August 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hollywood is mourning the death of Nichelle Nichols, who made history for her portrayal of communications officer Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek. Nichols died Saturday of natural causes at age 89, every son, Kyle Johnson, posted on Facebook. \u201cHer light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/08\/01\/multimedia\/31nichols-uhura\/31nichols-uhura-facebookJumbo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31676"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}