nichelle nichols beyond uhura star trek and other memories

Her first break in Hollywood came through a small part as a dancer in the 1959 musical Porgy and Bess starring Sidney Poitier. As a teenager, she danced at the College Inn, a famous venue in downtown Chicago, where she caught the eye of Duke Ellington. She started taking ballet classes at age 7.

“Even before I could walk, I could sing,” she wrote in Beyond Uhura. “I am still very proud of Uhura: proud of who she was (or will be) and what she represented, not only in her time but in ours, and in those of people who will discover Star Trek decades from now.”īorn Grace Nichols in 1932 in the Chicago suburb of Robbins, Illinois, Nichols knew at a young age that she wanted to be onstage. The promise of that imaginary universe was real to me,” Nichols wrote in her 1994 autobiography, Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories. “Every time I sat down at my console on the bridge of the Enterprise, I felt that I was in the twenty-third century, that I was Uhura. Still, throughout her life, she remained devoted to Star Trek and was a fixture at fan conventions well into her 80s. After the original series ended, Nichols worked with NASA to recruit women and people of color as astronauts and continued to act, appearing onstage and in films like Snow Dogs and the TV series The Young and the Restless.

Her character’s kiss with William Shatner’s Captain James Kirk also broke ground for being one of the first interracial kisses ever aired on television. 'Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.'Ī beloved icon of the science-fiction franchise, Nichols’s casting as a prominent character in a position of authority was unprecedented and radical for a TV show that first aired in 1966. '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. She had been treated for dementia in her 80s, and in an Instagram post on Sunday, her son, Kyle Johnson, wrote that she died of natural causes.

Nichelle Nichols, the actor who became a Star Trek legend and broke ground for Black women onscreen with her portrayal of Lt.

Nichelle nichols beyond uhura star trek and other memories