Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, has died at the age of 89.
Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico, his son Kyle Johnson said.
“Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. Her light, however, like the ancient galaxies now seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn and inspire us,” Johnson wrote on his official Facebook page on Sunday. “His was a life well lived and a model for us all.”
His role in the 1966-69 series as Lt. Uhura earned Nichols a lifelong position of honor among the series’ rabid fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. She also won praise for breaking stereotypes that limited black women to roles as maids and included an on-screen interracial kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.
“I will have more to say about the trailblazing and incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who died today at the age of 89,” George Takei wrote on Twitter. “For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shine like the stars you rest among, my dearest friend.”
Like other members of the original cast, Nichols also appeared in six big screen spin-offs beginning in 1979 with “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and frequented “Star Trek” fan conventions. She also served for many years as a NASA recruiter, helping to bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps.
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The original “Star Trek” premiered on NBC on September 8, 1966. Its multicultural and multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry’s message to viewers that in the distant future—the 23rd century—human diversity would be fully accepted
“I think a lot of people took it to heart … that what was being said on television at the time was cause for celebration,” Nichols said in 1992 when a “Star Trek” exhibit was shown in the Smithsonian Institution.
He often recalled how Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights rally 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 teammates and I was leaving the show, he got really serious and said, ‘You can’t do it,'” she told The Tulsa (Okla.) World in a 2008 interview .
“‘You’ve changed the face of television forever, and therefore you’ve changed people’s minds,'” the civil rights leader said she told him.
“That foresight that Dr. King had was a lightning bolt in my life,” Nichols said.
Most recently, she had a recurring role on TV’s “Heroes,” playing the great-aunt of a boy with mystical powers.
