She was the first black woman on US television to impersonate a leadership position and also the first to kiss a white man, her colleague William Shatner aka Captain Kirk, on television. Actress Nichelle Nichols, best known for her role as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in “Spaceship Enterprise,” died on Saturday at the age of 89.
Nichols was born in 1932 in a suburb of Chicago. Even before “Star Trek” she had played roles in theater and television, but she only became known to a wide audience through the science fiction series. She was the first black woman to star in such a major TV production. She actually wanted to leave the bridge of “Enterprise” after Season 1 to pursue her dream of a Broadway career. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. personally persuaded her to continue. Even after the series ended in 1969, Nichols dealt with the universe. She helped NASA recruit minorities and women as astronauts.
Colleagues paid tribute online
Her former Enterprise colleagues paid tribute to Nichols on social media. William “Kirk” Shatner (91) wrote on Twitter: “So sorry to hear about Nichelle’s passing. She was a beautiful woman and played an admirable character who has contributed so much to social issues both here in the US and around the world. Sending my love and condolences to her family.”
George Takei (85) also expressed his sadness: “I will have more to say about the groundbreaking, incomparable Nichelle Nichols,” he wrote, “but my heart is heavy for today”. In addition, Takei, who became famous as the helmsman Sulu on the “Enterprise”, published a photo with Nichols, on which both spread their fingers in the Vulcan salute. “We lived long and prospered together,” he commented.
Source: Nachrichten
