Actress Nichelle Nichols, 'Star Trek' trail-blazing Uhura, dies at 89
Nichelle Nichols, a depiction of Starship Communication Officers Lieutenant Uhura on the 1960s SCI-Fi TV series “Star Trek” and the next films broke the color barrier and helped re-define the role of black actors, had died at the age of 89, his family said .
Nichols, whose fans are Martin Luther King Jr. And a young Barack Obama, “surrendered to a natural destination and died” on Saturday night, his son, Kyle Johnson, wrote on Facebook.
“However, the light, like an ancient galaxy that is now seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from and draw inspiration,” Johnson wrote.
This series, which is the phenomenon of pop culture, destroys common stereotypes on U.S. television. At that time by throwing black and minority actors in the high profile role at the event.
In 1968 he and the star of the “Star Trek” William Shatner broke the cultural barrier when they were involved in the first inter -rask kiss on U.S. Television.
He has planned to get out of “Star Trek” after one season, but King, the leader of the 1960s Civil Rights, convinced him to stay because it was very revolutionary to have a black woman who played the role of a senior crew who was important when people Blacks fight for equality in American society.
Nichols also helped destroy color barriers in NASA, whose leaders were fans of “Star Trek”. After he criticized the Space Agency for failing to choose women and minorities who met the requirements as astronauts, they rented Nichols in the 1970s to help in recruitment.
His efforts to help interesting, among others, the first woman US Astronaut, Sally Ride; The first black woman astronaut, Mae Jemison; And the first black Nasa head, Charlie Bolden.
Nichols “symbolizes so much what is possible” and “the generation inspired to reach stars,” Nasa said on Twitter.
Nichols’s portrayal of competent and cold -headed Uhura also helped inspire black actors in the future, including the winner of Oscar Whoopi Goldberg. Nichols remembers Goldberg telling him about “Star Trek” when he was 9 years old, saw him playing Uhura, and shouted at his mother: “Come fast! There is a black woman on television and she is not a servant!” “
The original “Star Trek” series, tracking the adventures of the Uss Starship Enterprise crew in the 23rd century, runs only for three seasons at the NBC Network from 1966 to 1969. But it became very popular in the syndication in the 1970s, inspiring to inspire first, the animated series which reunited the cast from 1973 to 1975 and then a series of films and features performances.
Nichols appeared in six films “Star Trek” which ended with “Star Trek VI: The Uncovered Country” in 1991.
Uhura deftly handles Starship Enterprise communication with Allied spacecraft and alien race while interacting with Captain James T. Kirk (Shatner), First Officer Vulcan Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Mudi Starship interpreter, Sulu (George Takei).
Takei wrote on Twitter that he and Nichols “lived long and prosperous together,” describing it as pioneers and unmatched. “Heart (I) is heavy, my eyes shine like the stars that you are now resting between.”
The most famous scene in Nichols featured a kiss between the first written on the U.S. Television, even though it was not romantic. In an episode called “the stepdaughter of Plato,” Uhura and Kirk were forced by telekinetics to kiss with aliens playing with weak humans. In real life, Nichols did not like Shatner, who he considered arrogant.
“She is a beautiful woman & plays an amazing character who does many things to redefine social problems both here in the US & worldwide,” said Shatner on Twitter.
He felt different about the creator of the “Star Trek” Gene Roddenberry, who threw him after he acted in the previous show he produced. Nichols had a romance with him in the 1960s and sang a song called “Gene” at his funeral in 1991.
Visit the White House
Obama, the first black US president, who was 5 years old when the “Star Trek” series debuted, also a fan. Nichols visited him in the White House in 2012 and posed for photos in the oval office, with the president smiling and putting his hand on his shoulder while both of them made the vulcan hand movements “Star Trek” which means “long life and prosperous.”
In an interview 2011 with Smithsonian magazine, Nichols remembered meeting King in the fundraising group of civil rights.
Nichols said he was approached by one of the promoters of the event, who told him, “There is someone who wants to meet you and he says he is your biggest fan, so I think of a child. I turned around and stood across the room, walking towards me, was Dr. Martin Luther King with a big smile on his face. “
After Nichols told King that he planned to stop “Star Trek,” he begged him to stay.
He said King told him: “This is an opportunity given by God to change the face of the television, changing the way we think. We are no longer a second grade citizen of the third grade. He (Roddenberry) must do it in the 23rd century but the 20th century Oversee. ‘”He canceled his resignation.
Like other “Star Trek” cast members, he had difficulty finding a job because the typecasting after the original series ended. That was during this time when she played a dirty mouth in the film “Truck Turner” (1974), starring Isaac Hayes. He is a repeated character on the television show “Heroes” in 2007.
He was born on December 28, 1932 in Robbins, Illinois, being trained as a singer and dancer and toured with great jazz Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before his acting career took off.
Nichols, who married twice and had one child, suffered a light stroke in June 2015.
