Actress Nichelle Nichols, who played communications officer Nyota Uhura in the classic series “Star Trek” (Star Trek) and its spin-off films, died Saturday night (7/30) in Silver City, New Mexico. (USA), at the age of 89.
Born as Grace Nichols in Robbins, Illinois on December 28, 1932, Nichols began her career at the age of 16 singing in Duke Ellington’s big band and, having found it difficult to pursue a career in musicals, became a bunny at the Playboy Club. of Chicago. At the same time, she insisted on her theatrical career, having been nominated twice for the Chicago Best Actress award.
She made her film debut in 1959, as an extra dancer in the adaptation of the musical “Porgy & Bess”, but has only devoted herself to the screen since the mid-1960s, when she landed her first supporting roles, in the thriller “The Faceless Woman “(1968), with James Garner, and the comedy” Doctor, You’re Playing! ” (1967), with Sandra Dee. She also appeared in double episodes of the series “The Devil’s Boiler” and “Tarzan” before being cast in “Star Trek”.
He made TV history by sharing his first interracial on-screen kiss with his co-star William Shatner, who plays Captain Kirk, in a 1968 episode of the sci-fi series.
The initiative gave a lot to talk about at the time, when the protests for racial equality suffered a great deal of repression, to the point that their leaders were assassinated. But the episode “Plato’s Stepchildren” found a way to show boldness without creating backlash. In the plot, Uhura and Captain Kirk did not choose to kiss, but were forced to do so by aliens with the ability to control humans.
Nervous about possible public rejection, NBC insisted the scene had alternate takes, with and without a kiss, but Nichols and Shatner purposely skipped all tapes, so the network would have no choice but to broadcast the. apparent kiss, leaving in the air whether their lips moved or not – according to Nichols, in his memoirs, the kiss was real.
Despite all the precautions, the kiss became a memorable and much discussed moment, especially considering that, before then, the most accepted interracial affection had been a Sammy Davis Jr. kiss on Nancy Sinatra’s face during a singer’s special. shown a year earlier.
But the television prominence of Uhura, whose name comes from a Swahili word meaning “freedom”, was far greater than her interracial kiss. She was one of the first African American characters in a starring role in a series, as well as representing the integrated racial future of the trekker utopia envisioned by writer Gene Roddenberry.
Whoopi Goldberg, who later played Guinan in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” described Uhura as her role model, saying she was delighted as a teenager to see a black character on television who wasn’t a waitress.
Goldberg wasn’t the only one who realized the importance of the character. When Nichols considered leaving “Star Trek” after the first season to pursue a career on Broadway, America’s greatest black leader, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., persuaded her to stay on the show. A fan of the series, he understood Uhura’s importance to American culture and society, not only in terms of representation, but also as a working factor for the black professional market.
In fact, even NASA later employed Nichols in a campaign to encourage women and African Americans to become astronauts. NASA’s Astronaut Group 8, selected in 1978, included the first recruited women and ethnic minorities, including three women of color. Dr. Mae Jemison, the first black woman to fly aboard the space shuttle, cited “Star Trek” as an influence of her in her decision to join the space agency.
Nichols played Lieutenant Uhura for three seasons of the original series, from 1966 to 1969, and then reprized the character in two more seasons of “Star Trek: The Animated Series” (1973-1975) and in the first six films of the franchise. from “Star Trek: The Movie” (1979) to “Star Trek VI: The Unknown Land” (1991).
After the classic series, the actress shared screens with singer Iaac Hayes in the film “Truck Turner” (1974) and starred in the horror film “The Supernaturals” (1986), before starting a career as a voice actress, which included series like “Gargoyles”, “Spider-Man” and “Futurama”.
Most recently, he starred in the comedies “Snow for Dogs” (2002) and “Want to Kill Me” (2005), and in five episodes of the “Heroes” series (in 2007), the cast of which also included George Takei (Mr. from “Star Trek”).
One of his latest commercial works was an appearance in “Sharknado 5: Global Voracity” (2017). But she has always kept in touch with her fans of hers, supporting various non-commercial productions inspired by “Star Trek”. Nichols also reprized the role of Nyota Uhura in “Star Trek: Of Gods and Men” (2007), “Star Trek: First Frontier” (2020) and in the podcast “Starship Excelsior” (2016), as well as experiencing a new character. in “Star Trek: Renegades” (2017), all created by fans.
In 1991, the actress also became the first African American woman to have her handprints immortalized in front of the TCL Chinese Theater, alongside celebrities from Hollywood’s golden age.
Source: Terra
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