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Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura on 'Star Trek,' dies at 89

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Nichelle Nichols made history for her role as communications officer Lt. Uhura on Star Trek. CBS via Getty Images hide caption

Nichelle Nichols made history for her role as communications officer Lt. Uhura on Star Trek.

Actress and singer Nichelle Nichols, best known as Star Trek 's communications officer Lieutenant Uhura, died Saturday night in Silver City, New Mexico. She was 89 years old.

"I regret to inform you that a great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years," her son Kyle Johnson wrote on the website Uhura.com . "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."

Nichols was one of the first Black women featured in a major television series, and her role as Lt. Nyota Uhura on the original TV series was groundbreaking: an African American woman whose name came from Uhuru, the Swahili word for "freedom."

"Here I was projecting in the 23rd century what should have been quite simple," Nichols told NPR in 2011 . "We're on a starship. I was head communications officer. Fourth in command on a starship. They didn't see this as being, oh, it doesn't happen til the 23rd century. Young people and adults saw it as now."

In 1968, Nichols made headlines when Uhura shared an intimate kiss with Captain James T. Kirk (played by William Shatner) in an episode called "Plato's Stepchildren." Their interracial kiss on the lips was revolutionary, one of the first such moments on TV.

Nichelle Nichols shared one of the first interracial kisses in TV history with William Shatner.

Nichols was born Grace Dell Nichols in a Chicago suburb where her father was the mayor. She grew up singing and dancing, aspiring to star in musical theater. She got her first break in the 1961 musical Kicks and Co ., a thinly veiled satire of Playboy magazine. She was the star of the Chicago stock company production of Carmen Jones, and in New York performed in Porgy and Bess .

'To me, the highlight and the epitome of my life as a singer and actor and a dancer/choreographer was to star on Broadway," she told NPR in 2011, adding that as her popularity on Star Trek grew, she was beginning to get other offers. "I decided I was going to leave, go to New York and make my way on the Broadway stage."

Nichols said she went to Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek , and announced she was quitting. "He was very upset about it. And he said, take the weekend and think about what I am trying to achieve here in this show. You're an integral part and very important to it."

For MLK Day: 'Lt. Uhura' On How Rev. King Told Her To Stay On 'Star Trek'

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For mlk day: 'lt. uhura' on how rev. king told her to stay on 'star trek'.

So that weekend, she went to an NAACP fundraiser in Beverly Hills and was asked to meet a man who said he was her number one fan: Martin Luther King, Jr.

"He complimented me on the manner in which I'd created the character. I thanked him, and I think I said something like, 'Dr. King, I wish I could be out there marching with you.' He said, 'no, no, no. No, you don't understand. We don't need you ... to march. You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for.' So, I said to him, 'thank you so much. And I'm going to miss my co-stars.'"

"His face got very, very serious," she recalled. "And he said, 'what are you talking about?' And I said, 'well, I told Gene just yesterday that I'm going to leave the show after the first year because I've been offered... And he stopped me and said: 'You cannot do that.' I was stunned. He said, 'don't you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen. He says, do you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch.' I was speechless."

Nichols returned to the series, which lasted until 1969. She also reprised her famous role in six subsequent feature films, including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , where Uhura was promoted to commander .

Much More Than A 5-Year Mission: 'Star Trek' Turns 50

Much More Than A 5-Year Mission: 'Star Trek' Turns 50

For years, Nichols also helped diversify the real-life space program, helping to recruit astronauts Sally Ride, Judith Resnik, Guion Bluford, and others. And she had her own science foundation, Women in Motion .

"Many actors become stars, but few stars can move a nation," tweeted actress Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman on TV in the 1970s. "Nichelle Nichols showed us the extraordinary power of Black women and paved the way for a better future for all women in media. Thank you, Nichelle. We will miss you."

George Takei, who costarred on Star Trek as helmsman Hikaru Sulu tweeted: "I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise," her wrote. "For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend."

He also posted a photo of his longtime friend, both of them flashing the Vulcan greeting, and these words: "We lived long and prospered together."

We lived long and prospered together. pic.twitter.com/MgLjOeZ98X — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 31, 2022
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Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura on ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 89

She was among the first Black women to have a leading role in a TV series. She later worked with NASA to recruit minorities for the space program.

michelle nichols on star trek

By Bruce Weber

Nichelle Nichols, the actress revered by “Star Trek” fans for her role as Lieutenant Uhura, the communications officer on the starship U.S.S. Enterprise, died on Saturday in Silver City, N.M. She was 89.

The cause was heart failure, said Sky Conway, a writer and a film producer who said he had been asked by Kyle Johnson, Ms. Nichols’s son, to speak for the family.

Ms. Nichols had a long career as an entertainer, beginning as a teenage supper-club singer and dancer in Chicago, her hometown, and later appearing on television.

But she will forever be best remembered for her work on “Star Trek,” the cult-inspiring space adventure series that aired from 1966 to 1969 and starred William Shatner as Captain Kirk, the heroic leader of the starship crew; Leonard Nimoy as his science officer and adviser, Mr. Spock, an ultralogical humanoid from the planet Vulcan; and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy, a.k.a. Bones, the ship’s physician.

A striking beauty, Ms. Nichols provided a frisson of sexiness on the bridge of the Enterprise. She was generally clad in a snug red doublet and black tights; Ebony magazine called her the “most heavenly body in ‘Star Trek’” on its 1967 cover. Her role, however, was both substantial and historically significant.

Uhura was an officer and a highly educated and well-trained technician who maintained a businesslike demeanor while performing her high-minded duties. Ms. Nichols was among the first Black women to have a leading role on a network television series, making her an anomaly on the small screen, which until that time had rarely depicted Black women in anything other than subservient roles.

In a November 1968 episode, during the show’s third and final season, Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura are forced to embrace by the inhabitants of a strange planet, resulting in what is widely thought to be the first interracial kiss in television history.

Ms. Nichols’s first appearances on “Star Trek” predated the 1968 sitcom “Julia,” in which Diahann Carroll, playing a widowed mother who works as a nurse, became the first Black woman to star in a non-stereotypical role in a network series.

(A series called “Beulah,” also called “The Beulah Show,” starring Ethel Waters — and later Louise Beavers and Hattie McDaniel — as the maid for a white family, was broadcast on ABC in the early 1950s and subsequently cited by civil rights activists for its demeaning portraits of Black people.)

But Uhura’s influence reached far beyond television. In 1977, Ms. Nichols began an association with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, contracting as a representative and speaker to help recruit female and minority candidates for spaceflight training; the following year’s class of astronaut candidates was the first to include women and members of minority groups.

In subsequent years, Ms. Nichols made public appearances and recorded public service announcements on behalf of the agency. In 2012, after she was the keynote speaker at the Goddard Space Center during a celebration of African American History Month, a NASA news release about the event lauded her help for the cause of diversity in space exploration.

“Nichols’s role as one of television’s first Black characters to be more than just a stereotype and one of the first women in a position of authority (she was fourth in command of the Enterprise) inspired thousands of applications from women and minorities,” the release said. “Among them: Ronald McNair, Frederick Gregory, Judith Resnik, first American woman in space Sally Ride and current NASA administrator Charlie Bolden.”

Grace Dell Nichols was born in Robbins, Ill., on Dec. 28, 1932 (some sources give a later year), and grew up in Chicago. Her father, a chemist, was the mayor of Robbins for a time. At 13 or 14, tired of being called Gracie by her friends, she requested a different name from her mother, who liked Michelle but suggested Nichelle for the alliteration.

Ms. Nichols was a ballet dancer as a child and had a singing voice with a naturally wide range — more than four octaves, she later said. While attending Englewood High School in Chicago she landed her first professional gig, in a revue at the College Inn, a well-known nightspot in the city.

There she was seen by Duke Ellington, who employed her a year or two later with his touring orchestra as a dancer in one of his jazz suites.

Ms. Nichols appeared in several musical theater productions around the country during the 1950s. In an interview with the Archive of American Television, she recalled performing at the Playboy Club in New York City while serving as an understudy for Ms. Carroll in the Broadway musical “No Strings” (though she never went on).

In 1959, she was a dancer in Otto Preminger’s film version of “Porgy and Bess.” She made her television debut in 1963 in an episode of “The Lieutenant,” a short-lived dramatic series, created by Gene Roddenberry, about Marines at Camp Pendleton. Mr. Roddenberry went on to create “Star Trek.”

Ms. Nichols appeared on other television shows over the years — among them “Peyton Place” (1966), “Head of the Class” (1988) and “Heroes” (2007). She also appeared onstage in Los Angeles, including in a one-woman show in which she did impressions of, and paid homage to, Black female entertainers who preceded her, including Lena Horne, Pearl Bailey and Eartha Kitt.

But Uhura was to be her legacy. A decade after “Star Trek” went off the air, Ms. Nichols reprised the role in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” and she appeared as Uhura, by then a commander, in five subsequent movie sequels through 1991.

Besides her son, her survivors include two sisters, Marian Smothers and Diane Robinson.

Ms. Nichols was married and divorced twice. In her 1995 autobiography, “Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories,” she disclosed that she and Mr. Roddenberry, who died in 1991, had been romantically involved for a time. In an interview in 2010 for the Archive of American Television, she said that he had little to do with her casting in “Star Trek” but that he defended her when studio executives wanted to replace her.

When she took the role of Uhura, Ms. Nichols said, she thought of it as a mere job at the time, valuable as a résumé enhancer; she fully intended to return to the stage, as she wanted a career on Broadway. Indeed, she threatened to leave the show after its first season and submitted her resignation to Mr. Roddenberry. He told her to think it over for a few days.

In a story she often told, she was a guest that Saturday night at an event in Beverly Hills, Calif. — “I believe it was an N.A.A.C.P. fund-raiser,” she recalled in the Archive interview — where the organizer introduced her to someone he described as “your biggest fan.”

“He’s desperate to meet you,” she recalled the organizer saying.

The fan, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., introduced himself.

“He said, ‘We admire you greatly, you know,’ ” Ms. Nichols said, and she thanked him and told him that she was about to leave the show. “He said, ‘You cannot. You cannot.’”

Dr. King told her that her role as a dignified, authoritative figure in a popular show was too important to the cause of civil rights for her to forgo. As Ms. Nichols recalled it, he said, “For the first time, we will be seen on television the way we should be seen every day.”

On Monday morning, she returned to Mr. Roddenberry’s office and told him what had happened.

“And I said, ‘If you still want me to stay, I’ll stay. I have to.’”

Eduardo Medina contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this obituary misspelled the surname of one of the astronauts NASA said were inspired to join the American space program by Ms. Nichols’s role on “Star Trek.” She was Judith Resnik, not Resnick.

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Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on ‘Star Trek,’ dies at 89

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Nichelle Nichols, who played the communications officer on the Starship Enterprise on “Star Trek” and famously participated in what was thought to be the first interracial kiss on television, has died.

Nichols died of heart failure Saturday night at a hospital in Silver City, N.M., a friend of the family handling media inquiries for Nichols’ son confirmed Sunday to the Los Angeles Times. She was 89.

Nichols suffered a stroke at her Woodland Hills home in 2015 and was struggling with dementia. She had been in a years-long conservatorship battle that pitted the son, Kyle Johnson, against a former manager and a close friend. Last year Johnson moved Nichols to New Mexico, citing the need to protect his mother from what he called exploitation by the manager and others.

Nichols gained fame as the beautiful, composed, immensely competent Lt. Uhura on three seasons of “Star Trek” on TV and in six “Star Trek” movies. A Black American cast as a master of 23rd century intergalactic technology, she had a role that defied the typical portrayal of Black women as domestics or entertainers. When she contemplated leaving the show for a Broadway play after its first season, she was dissuaded by none other than the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

A man in a tuxedo and a woman in purple formalwear standing behind a podium that reads "glaad"

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When they met at an NAACP fundraising event in Beverly Hills, King was appalled when she spoke of quitting, according to Nichols’ 2010 reminiscence on the Archive of American Television.

“The world sees us for the first time as we should be seen,” King told her. “Gene Roddenberry [‘Star Trek’s’ creator] has opened a door. If you leave, that door can be closed. Your role is not a Black role and not a female role — he can fill it with anything, including an alien.”

“I could say nothing,” she recalled. “I just stood there, realizing that every word he said was the truth.”

“He told me that it was the only show that he and his wife, Coretta, would allow their little children to stay up and watch,” Nichols recounted to CNN years later. More important, the Nobel Prize winner told Nichols that she was breaking important new ground for Black Americans and had to keep doing it.

“For the first time,” King told her, “the world sees us as we should be seen. This is what we’re marching for.”

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 19: Nichelle Nichols holds an Eisner Award onstage at the "From The Bridge" Panel during Comic-Con International 2018 at San Diego Convention Center on July 19, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images) ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG, CM - OUTS * NM, PH, VA if sourced by CT, LA or MoD **

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“Besides,” said King, who confessed to being a huge “Star Trek” fan, “you’re the fourth in command — you’re the head communications officer.”

Days later, she told Roddenberry she’d changed her mind.

“He took out my resignation letter, which was torn into a hundred pieces, and handed me the pile. I said, ‘Thank you, Gene.’ ”

Nichols came to embrace her role and appeared at “Star Trek” events throughout her life. She became an eloquent advocate for the U.S. space program and led a successful drive to recruit women and minorities into astronaut training.

“My heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend,” her “Star Trek” co-star George Takei wrote Sunday on Twitter, calling Nichols an incomparable trailblazer.

Elegant, assertive and capable of rigging up a subspace bypass circuit in practically no time at all, Uhura inspired a generation of Black women. Comedian Whoopi Goldberg, on first seeing Nichols when she was about 9, remembered running through the house yelling, “Everybody, come quick, come quick — there’s a Black lady on television and she ain’t no maid!”

After only three seasons, “Star Trek” was canceled in 1969. In its afterlife, it became far more popular, sparking additional TV series and more than a dozen feature films.

Four photos of Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura in "Star Trek" scenes.

Nichols appeared in 66 episodes of the original “Star Trek.” She was popular fixture at “Star Trek” conventions, where fans asked her about one plot point more than any others: the long clinch between Uhura and Capt. James Kirk that was widely thought to be TV’s first interracial kiss.

The first thing people want to talk about is the first interracial kiss and what it did for them.

— Nichelle Nichols

“The first thing people want to talk about is the first interracial kiss and what it did for them,” she said in a 2010 interview for the Archive of American Television. “And they thought of the world differently — they thought of people differently.”

First aired on Nov. 22, 1968, the episode called “Plato’s Stepchildren” featured a race of aliens who worshiped the earthly philosopher Plato. In their study of humanity, they wanted to observe human intimacy — and telekinetically forced Uhura and Kirk, played by William Shatner, to kiss.

By the standards of the day, it was a potentially explosive scene. Just one year earlier, the Supreme Court struck down state bans on interracial marriage. “Star Trek” producers were so worried about public reaction that they tried to film one version of the scene with the kiss and another with only an embrace, for use on stations in the South.

However, the kiss-less approach was thwarted when, in take after take, Nichols and Shatner deliberately flubbed their lines.

In her autobiography, “Beyond Uhura,” Nichols recalled Shatner hamming it up strategically: “Bill shook me and hissed menacingly in his best ham-fisted Kirkian staccato delivery, ‘I! WON’T! KISS! YOU! I! WON’T! KISS! YOU!’ It was absolutely awful, and we were hysterical and ecstatic.”

Finally, a seemingly usable take was filmed and everyone went home for the evening. Only the next day did producers realize that Shatner had crossed his eyes as the camera caught his face during the non-kiss. At that point, executives abandoned their Southern strategy.

“I guess they figured we were going to be canceled in a few months anyway,” Nichols said. “And so the kiss stayed.”

The anticipated backlash never arose. The scene became more famous as time went on, even though TV historians point to a number of previous, less heralded, interracial TV kisses, including a peck on the cheek from Sammy Davis Jr. to Nancy Sinatra a few months earlier.

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Born into a large family in Robbins, Ill., on Dec. 28, 1932, Grace Dell Nichols adopted the name Nichelle as a teenager. Her father, Samuel Nichols, served as mayor and chief magistrate of the small Chicago suburb, which was founded in 1917 as a haven for Black American families.

A student of ballet and Afro-Cuban dancing, young Nichelle appeared in a revue at Chicago’s Sherman House hotel, where she caught the eye of the renowned Duke Ellington. As a teenager, she sang and danced with Ellington’s touring company and later performed with jazz great Lionel Hampton’s orchestra.

In the 1950s, Nichols appeared at nightclubs throughout the U.S. and Canada. She did an opening act for comedian Redd Foxx and danced in Otto Preminger’s screen version of “Porgy and Bess” in 1959. In 1963, she was cast in an episode of “The Lieutenant,” a TV show written by Gene Roddenberry , who later created “Star Trek.” The two had a fleeting romance that turned into a longtime friendship; in 1966, he asked her to join the crew of the Starship Enterprise.

They agreed to name her character Uhura — a variant of Uhuru, a Swahili word for freedom.

After one season, Nichols was fed up. Her character didn’t seem all that important and her lines were sparse. Besides, her heart lay in musical comedies and she yearned for Broadway.

A New Enterprise : Nichelle Nichols reflects on her influences, from Josephine Baker to Mahalia Jackson

Nichelle Nichols, mercurially slipping in and out of wigs and costumes, vocally unleashes Ella and Eartha and Lena and Bessie and 10 other lustrous women of song in a unique cabaret show at the Westwood Playhouse that takes Nichols back to her musical theater roots.

Feb. 18, 1990

She stuck it out, though, through the very last episode. “When you have a man like Martin Luther King say you can’t leave a show, it’s daunting,” she told USA Today in 1994. “It humbled my heart and I couldn’t leave.”

The year after their chance meeting at the NAACP banquet, Nichols sang at King’s funeral.

After the original “Star Trek” ended, Nichols embraced her role at “Star Trek” events. At a Trek convention in Chicago, a talk by NASA scientist Jesco von Puttkamer inspired her to embrace NASA as well.

“For someone who used to think that the only civilian benefits of the space program were Teflon and Tang, it’s funny that I became a NASA missionary,” she told the Chicago Tribune years later.

A recruitment drive led by Nichols in 1977 drew applications from more than 2,600 women and minority astronaut hopefuls. They included Sally Ride , the first American woman in space; and three of the astronauts who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion: Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair and Ellison Onizuka .

Nichols married tap dancer Foster Johnson in 1951 and songwriter Duke Mondy in 1968. Both marriages ended in divorce. A brother, Thomas Nichols, died in the 1997 mass suicide of the Heaven’s Gate cult at Rancho Santa Fe, near San Diego. Survivors include son Kyle, whose announcement of Nichols’ death likened his mother’s light to “the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time” — something from which present and future generations could “enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration.”

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In addition to her “Star Trek” and NASA work, Nichols recorded an album, wrote two science fiction novels and created “Reflections,” a one-woman stage tribute to Black American singers including Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne — and herself.

But Nichols’ most lasting legacy may be in the memories of people like Mae C. Jemison, an astronaut who became a close friend.

In 1992, Jemison boarded the space shuttle Endeavour and became the first Black American woman in space. In a tribute to the woman who had inspired her, Jemison started each shift of her eight-day trip with the announcement that had become Nichols’ signature line as the Enterprise blazed past strange new worlds:

“Hailing frequencies open!”

Chawkins is a former Times staff writer.

Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner.

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michelle nichols on star trek

A former obituary writer, Steve Chawkins joined the Los Angeles Times in 1987 after working as a reporter and editor at the Santa Fe Reporter in New Mexico and the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. He has been a roving state correspondent and a columnist and reporter in the Ventura County edition. He also was managing editor of the Ventura Star-Free Press. He graduated in 1969 from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Chawkins left The Times in 2015.

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Nichelle Nichols, trail-blazing Star Trek actress, dead at 89

Lt. uhura role broke stereotypes about black women, featured iconic interracial kiss.

michelle nichols on star trek

Social Sharing

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. She was 89.

Her son Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, N.M.

"Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. 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 on his mother's official Facebook page Sunday.

"Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all."

Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lt. Uhura earned Nichols a lifelong position of honour with the series' rabid fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited Black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial onscreen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.

Many actors become stars, but few stars can move a nation. Nichelle Nichols showed us the extraordinary power of Black women and paved the way for a better future for all women in media. Thank you, Nichelle. We will miss you. <a href="https://t.co/KhUf4YM6pX">pic.twitter.com/KhUf4YM6pX</a> &mdash; @RealLyndaCarter

"I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89," George Takei wrote on Twitter.

"For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend."

  • q Hailing Frequencies Open! Nichelle Nichols on Star Trek at 50

Takei played Sulu in the original Star Trek  series alongside Nichols. But her impact was felt beyond her immediate co-stars, and many others in the Star Trek  world also tweeted their condolences.

Celia Rose Gooding, who currently plays Uhura in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , wrote on Twitter that Nichols "made room for so many of us. She was the reminder that not only can we reach the stars, but our influence is essential to their survival. Forget shaking the table — she built it."

A woman wearing a sparkly blue gown waves

Like other original cast members, Nichols also appeared in six big-screen spinoffs starting 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 bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps.

More recently, she had a recurring role on television's Heroes , playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

The original Star Trek  premiered on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry's message to viewers that in the far-off future — the 23rd century — human diversity would be fully accepted.

michelle nichols on star trek

Nichelle Nichols speaks about 50th anniversary of Star Trek on CBC News Network

"I think many people took it into their hearts … that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate," Nichols said in 1992 when a Star Trek  exhibit was on view at the Smithsonian Institution.

She often recalled how Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights gathering 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 co-stars and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said, 'You cannot do that,"' she told The Tulsa (Okla.) World in a 2008 interview.

michelle nichols on star trek

"'You've changed the face of television forever, and therefore, you've changed the minds of people,"' she said the civil rights leader told her.

"That foresight Dr. King had was a lightning bolt in my life," Nichols said.

Iconic kiss

During the show's third season, Nichols's character and Shatner's Capt. James Kirk shared what was described as the first interracial kiss to be broadcast on a U.S. television series. In the episode, Plato's Stepchildren , their characters, who always maintained a platonic relationship, were forced into the kiss by aliens who were controlling their actions.

"The characters themselves were not freaking out because a Black woman was kissing a white man," Eric Deggans, a television critic for National Public Radio, told The Associated Press in 2018. "In this utopian-like future, we solved this issue. We're beyond it. That was a wonderful message to send."

michelle nichols on star trek

Worried about reaction from Southern television stations, showrunners wanted to film a second take of the scene where the kiss happened off-screen. But Nichols said in her book, Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories , that she and Shatner deliberately flubbed lines to force the original take to be used.

Despite concerns, the episode aired without blowback. In fact, it got the most "fan mail that Paramount had ever gotten on Star Trek for one episode," Nichols said in a 2010 interview with the Archive of American Television.

Controversial conservatorship

Born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Ill., Nichols hated being called "Gracie," which everyone insisted on, she said in the 2010 interview. When she was a teen her mother told her she had wanted to name her Michelle, but thought she ought to have alliterative initials like Marilyn Monroe, whom Nichols loved. Hence, "Nichelle."

Nichols first worked professionally as a singer and dancer in Chicago at age 14, moving on to New York nightclubs and working for a time with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands before coming to Hollywood for her film debut in 1959's Porgy and Bess , the first of several small film and TV roles that led up to her Star Trek  stardom.

Nichols was known as being unafraid to stand up to Shatner on the set when others complained that he was stealing scenes and camera time. They later learned she had a strong supporter in the show's creator.

michelle nichols on star trek

In her 1994 book, Beyond Uhura , she said she met Roddenberry when she guest starred on his show The Lieutenant , and the two had an affair a couple of years before Star Trek  began. The two remained lifelong close friends.

Nichols was a regular at Star Trek  conventions and events into her 80s, but her schedule became limited starting in 2018 when her son announced that she was suffering from advanced dementia.

Nichols was placed under a court conservatorship in the control of her son Johnson, who said her mental decline made her unable to manage her affairs or make public appearances.

michelle nichols on star trek

Some, including Nichols's managers and her friend, film producer and actor Angelique Fawcett, objected to the conservatorship and sought more access to Nichols and to records of Johnson's financial and other moves on her behalf. Her name was at times invoked at courthouse rallies that sought the freeing of Britney Spears from her own conservatorship.

But the court consistently sided with Johnson, and over the objections of Fawcett allowed him to move Nichols to New Mexico, where she lived with him in her final years.

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Actor Nichelle Nichols, best known for her role as Nyota Uhura in Star Trek, has died.

Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt Uhura in original Star Trek, dies aged 89

Actor achieved worldwide fame and broke ground for Black women while playing Nyota Uhura in the original TV hit

Nichelle Nichols, who played communications officer Lt Nyota Uhura on the original Star Trek series and helped to create a new era for television in the 1960s, has died in New Mexico at the age of 89.

Nichols’ son, Kyle Johnson, announced her death on Sunday via Facebook , saying: “I regret to inform you that a great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years.” Nichols’s death, on Saturday night in Silver City, was later confirmed by her agent.

Johnson said his mother had succumbed to natural causes, seven years after suffered a stroke.

“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.”

Nichols will be remembered chiefly for her role in the sci-fi adventure series, but she began her career as a dancer and nightclub singer.

US president Joe Biden paid tribute to Nichols, saying she “shattered stereotypes”. “Our nation has lost a trailblazer of stage and screen who redefined what is possible for Black Americans and women”.

“Our nation is forever indebted to inspiring artists like Nichelle Nichols, who show us a future where unity, dignity, and respect are cornerstones of every society.”

Co-star George Takei tweeted that his heart was heavy, “my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend” and he would have more to say soon on the “incomparable” trailblazer.

I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89. For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend. — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 31, 2022

Prominent Georgia Democrat and voting rights organizer Stacey Abrams , who is running again for the state governorship and is a longtime Star Trek fan, tweeted a picture of herself with Nichols.

“One of my most treasured photos – Godspeed to Nichelle Nichols, champion, warrior and tremendous actor. Her kindness and bravery lit the path for many,” she wrote. “May she forever dwell among the stars.”

One of my most treasured photos - Godspeed to Nichelle Nichols, champion, warrior and tremendous actor. Her kindness and bravery lit the path for many. May she forever dwell among the stars. #RIPNichelle #Uhura pic.twitter.com/nFXHif8HEC — Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) July 31, 2022

Star Trek brought Nichols enduring recognition and helped to break down some racial barriers in the television business, as they were rampant elsewhere.

She shared one of the first lip-to-lip interracial kisses on television – with co-star William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk. The kiss at the time was considered a forward-looking move on the part of the actors, as well as Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and the network that broadcast the show, NBC.

The episode in question, titled Plato’s Stepchildren, aired in 1968 and was fashioned in a way that gave those involved something of an out from any potential discriminatory backlash: Uhura and Kirk did not choose to kiss but were instead made to do so after being inhabited by aliens.

Roddenberry had reportedly insisted on an integrated crew for Starship Enterprise – a bold move given that interracial marriage was still illegal in 17 US states. Only a year earlier, Variety reported, Sammy Davis Jr had gone no further than kiss Nancy Sinatra on the cheek on Movin’ With Nancy.

Nichols as Lt Uhura in a 1968 Star Trek episode

The original Star Trek premiered on NBC on 8 September 1966. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry’s message to viewers that in the far-off future, the 23rd century, human diversity would be fully accepted.

“I think many people took it into their hearts … that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate,” Nichols said in 1992 when a Star Trek exhibit was on view at the Smithsonian Institution.

She often recalled how civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was a fan of the show and praised her role.

She met him at a civil rights gathering 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 co-stars and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said ‘You cannot do that’,” she told The Tulsa World in a 2008 interview.

“‘You’ve changed the face of television forever, and therefore, you’ve changed the minds of people’,” she said the civil rights leader told her.

Nichols said: “That foresight Dr King had was a lightning bolt in my life.”

More recently, she had a recurring role on television’s Heroes, playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

Nichols, trained as a dancer and also worked as a nightclub chanteuse, with the Washington Post reporting that she thought being cast in Star Trek would be a “nice stepping stone” to Broadway stage fame, not realizing that the TV show and her character would be an iconic and enduring smash hit.

Actor Wilson Cruz wrote on Twitter that “representation matters”.

Nichols “modeled it for us. With her very presence and her grace she shone a light on who we as people of color are and inspired us to reach for our potential,” he wrote . “Rest well, glittering diamond in the sky.”

Before we understood how much #RepresentationMatters #NichelleNichols modeled it for us. With her very presence & her grace she shone a light on who we as people of color are & inspired us to reach for our potential. Rest well glittering diamond in the sky https://t.co/DmeLFbg825 — Wilson Cruz (@wcruz73) July 31, 2022

The Smithsonian tweeted a picture of Lt Uhura’s iconic red mini-dress and noted that Nichols made “history for African American women in TV and film. Nichols also volunteered to recruit women and people of color for Nasa.”

Today we remember Nichelle Nichols. She starred as Lieutenant Uhura on "Star Trek" wearing this uniform now in our @NMAAHC , making history for African American women in TV and film. Nichols also volunteered to recruit women and people of color for NASA. #BecauseOfHerStory pic.twitter.com/fZZqfGlomz — Smithsonian (@smithsonian) July 31, 2022

Nichols was born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, on December 28 1932. According to the National Space Society , she sang as a 16-year-old with jazz great Duke Ellington – her career getting under way at an early age – in a ballet she created, and later joined his band.

Her big break in the 1961 Chicago musical Kicks and Co. Nichols later appeared in the title role in Carmen Jones and in a New York staging of Porgy and Bess as well as in Jean Genet’s The Blacks, and landed small film roles.

Nichols was married and divorced twice, and is survived by her son, Kyle Johnson.

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Nichelle Nichols, actress of ‘Star Trek’ fame, dies at 89

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.

Her son Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico.

“Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. 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 on her official Facebook page Sunday. “Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.”

READ MORE: Actor William Shatner of Star Trek fame is actually going to space

Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lt. Uhura earned Nichols a lifelong position of honor with the series’ rabid fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited Black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial onscreen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.

“I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89,” George Takei wrote on Twitter. “For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend.”

Takei played Sulu in the original “Star Trek” series alongside Nichols. But her impact was felt beyond her immediate co-stars, and many others in the “Star Trek” world also tweeted their condolences.

Celia Rose Gooding, who currently plays Uhura in “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” wrote on Twitter that Nichols “made room for so many of us. She was the reminder that not only can we reach the stars, but our influence is essential to their survival. Forget shaking the table, she built it.”

“Star Trek: Voyager” alum Kate Mulgrew tweeted, “Nichelle Nichols was The First. She was a trailblazer who navigated a very challenging trail with grit, grace, and a gorgeous fire we are not likely to see again.”

Like other original cast members, Nichols also appeared in six big-screen spinoffs starting 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 bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps.

More recently, she had a recurring role on television’s “Heroes,” playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

FILE PHOTO: Takei and Nichols present an award at the 20th GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles

FILE PHOTO: Actors from the original “Star Trek” TV series George Takei and Nichelle Nichols present an award at the 20th GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, California April 18, 2009. REUTERS/Fred Prouser/File Photo

The original “Star Trek” premiered on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry’s message to viewers that in the far-off future — the 23rd century — human diversity would be fully accepted.

“I think many people took it into their hearts … that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate,” Nichols said in 1992 when a “Star Trek” exhibit was on view at the Smithsonian Institution.

She often recalled how Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights gathering 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 co-stars and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said, ‘You cannot do that,’” she told The Tulsa (Okla.) World in a 2008 interview.

“’You’ve changed the face of television forever, and therefore, you’ve changed the minds of people,’” she said the civil rights leader told her.

“That foresight Dr. King had was a lightning bolt in my life,” Nichols said.

During the show’s third season, Nichols’ character and Shatner’s Capt. James Kirk shared what was described as the first interracial kiss to be broadcast on a U.S. television series. In the episode, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” their characters, who always maintained a platonic relationship, were forced into the kiss by aliens who were controlling their actions.

The kiss “suggested that there was a future where these issues were not such a big deal,” Eric Deggans, a television critic for National Public Radio, told The Associated Press in 2018. “The characters themselves were not freaking out because a Black woman was kissing a white man … In this utopian-like future, we solved this issue. We’re beyond it. That was a wonderful message to send.”

Worried about reaction from Southern television stations, showrunners wanted to film a second take of the scene where the kiss happened off-screen. But Nichols said in her book, “Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories,” that she and Shatner deliberately flubbed lines to force the original take to be used.

Despite concerns, the episode aired without blowback. In fact, it got the most “fan mail that Paramount had ever gotten on ‘Star Trek’ for one episode,” Nichols said in a 2010 interview with the Archive of American Television.

Born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, Nichols hated being called “Gracie,” which everyone insisted on, she said in the 2010 interview. When she was a teen her mother told her she had wanted to name her Michelle, but thought she ought to have alliterative initials like Marilyn Monroe, whom Nichols loved. Hence, “Nichelle.”

Nichols first worked professionally as a singer and dancer in Chicago at age 14, moving on to New York nightclubs and working for a time with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands before coming to Hollywood for her film debut in 1959’s “Porgy and Bess,” the first of several small film and TV roles that led up to her “Star Trek” stardom.

Nichols was known as being unafraid to stand up to Shatner on the set when others complained that he was stealing scenes and camera time. They later learned she had a strong supporter in the show’s creator.

In her 1994 book, “Beyond Uhura,” she said she met Roddenberry when she guest starred on his show “The Lieutenant,” and the two had an affair a couple of years before “Star Trek” began. The two remained lifelong close friends.

Another fan of Nichols and the show was future astronaut Mae Jemison, who became the first black woman in space when she flew aboard the shuttle Endeavour in 1992.

In an AP interview before her flight, Jemison said she watched Nichols on “Star Trek” all the time, adding she loved the show. Jemison eventually got to meet Nichols.

Nichols was a regular at “Star Trek” conventions and events into her 80s, but her schedule became limited starting in 2018 when her son announced that she was suffering from advanced dementia.

Nichols was placed under a court conservatorship in the control of her son Johnson, who said her mental decline made her unable to manage her affairs or make public appearances.

Some, including Nichols’ managers and her friend, film producer and actor Angelique Fawcett, objected to the conservatorship and sought more access to Nichols and to records of Johnson’s financial and other moves on her behalf. Her name was at times invoked at courthouse rallies that sought the freeing of Britney Spears from her own conservatorship.

But the court consistently sided with Johnson, and over the objections of Fawcett allowed him to move Nichols to New Mexico, where she lived with him in her final years.

Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles. Former AP Writer Polly Anderson contributed biographical material to this report.

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michelle nichols on star trek

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Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura in Star Trek franchise, dies at 89

She helped break ground on tv by showing a black woman in a position of authority and who shared with co-star william shatner one of the first interracial kisses on american prime-time television.

michelle nichols on star trek

Nichelle Nichols, an actress whose role as the communications chief Uhura in the original Star Trek franchise in the 1960s helped break ground on TV by showing a Black woman in a position of authority and who shared with co-star William Shatner one of the first interracial kisses on American prime-time television, died July 30 in Silver City, N.M. She was 89.

Her son, Kyle Johnson, announced the death on Facebook . Her former agent Zachery McGinnis also confirmed the death but did not have further details. Ms. Nichols had a stroke in 2015.

Ms. Nichols, a statuesque dancer and nightclub chanteuse, had a few acting credits when she was cast in “Star Trek.” She said she viewed the TV series as a “nice steppingstone” to Broadway stardom, hardly anticipating that a low-tech science-fiction show would become a cultural touchstone and bring her enduring recognition.

“Star Trek” was barrier-breaking in many ways. While other network programs of the era offered domestic witches and talking horses, “Star Trek” delivered allegorical tales about violence, prejudice and war — the roiling social issues of the era — in the guise of a 23rd-century intergalactic adventure. The show featured Black and Asian cast members in supporting but nonetheless visible, non-stereotypical roles.

Ms. Nichols worked with series creator Gene Roddenberry, her onetime lover, to imbue Uhura with authority — a striking departure for a Black TV actress when “Star Trek” debuted on NBC in 1966. Actress Whoopi Goldberg often said that when she saw “Star Trek” as an adolescent, she screamed to her family, “Come quick, come quick. There’s a Black lady on television and she ain’t no maid!”

On the bridge of the starship Enterprise, in a red minidress that permitted her to flaunt her dancer’s legs, Ms. Nichols stood out among the otherwise all-male officers. Uhura was presented matter-of-factly as fourth in command, exemplifying a hopeful future when Blacks would enjoy full equality.

The show received middling reviews and ratings and was canceled after three seasons, but it became a TV mainstay in syndication. An animated “Star Trek” aired in the early 1970s, with Ms. Nichols voicing Uhura. Communities of fans known as “Trekkies” or “Trekkers” soon burst forth at large-scale conventions where they dressed in character.

Ms. Nichols reprised Uhura, promoted from lieutenant to commander, in six feature films between 1979 and 1991 that helped make “Star Trek” a juggernaut. She was joined by much of the original cast, which included Shatner as the heroic captain, James T. Kirk, and Leonard Nimoy as the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer Spock; DeForest Kelley as the acerbic Dr. McCoy; George Takei as the Enterprise’s helmsman, Sulu; James Doohan as the chief engineer, Scotty; and Walter Koenig as the navigator, Chekov.

Ms. Nichols said Roddenberry allowed her to name Uhura, which she said was a feminized version of a Swahili word for “freedom.” She envisioned her character as a renowned linguist who, from a blinking console on the bridge, presides over a hidden communications staff in the spaceship’s bowels.

But by the end of the first season, she said, her role had been reduced to little more than a “glorified telephone operator in space,” remembered for her oft-quoted line to the captain, “Hailing frequencies open, sir.”

In her 1994 memoir, “ Beyond Uhura ,” she said that, during filming, her lines and those of other supporting actors were routinely cut. She blamed Shatner, whom she called an “insensitive, hurtful egotist” who used his star billing to hog the spotlight. She also said studio personnel tried to undermine her contract negotiating power by hiding her ample fan mail.

Years later, Ms. Nichols claimed in interviews that she had threatened to quit during the first season but reconsidered after meeting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at an NAACP fundraiser. She said he introduced himself as a fan and grew visibly horrified when she explained her desire to abandon her role, one of the few nonservile parts for Blacks on television.

“Because of Martin,” she told the “Entertainment Tonight” website, “I looked at work differently. There was something more than just a job.”

Her most prominent “Star Trek” moment came in a 1968 episode, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” about a group of “superior” beings who use mind control to make the visiting Enterprise crew submit to their will. They force Kirk and Uhura, platonic colleagues, to kiss passionately .

In later decades, Ms. Nichols and Shatner touted the smooch as a landmark event that was highly controversial within the network. It garnered almost no public attention at the time, perhaps because of the show’s tepid ratings but also because Hollywood films had already broken such taboos. A year before the “Star Trek” episode, NBC had aired Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. giving each other a peck on the lips during a TV special.

“Star Trek” went off the air in 1969, but Ms. Nichols’s continued association with Uhura at Trekkie conventions led to a NASA contract in 1977 to help recruit women and minorities to the nascent space shuttle astronaut corps.

NASA historians said its recruiting drive — the first since 1969 — had many prongs, and Ms. Nichols’s specific impact as a roving ambassador was modest. But the astronaut class of 1978 had six women, three Black men and one Asian American man among the 35 chosen.

Grace Dell Nichols, the daughter of a chemist and a homemaker, was born in Robbins, Ill., on Dec. 28, 1932, and grew up in nearby Chicago.

After studying classical ballet and Afro-Cuban dance, she made her professional debut at 14 at the College Inn, a high-society Chicago supper club. Her performance, in a tribute to the pioneering Black dancer Katherine Dunham, reputedly impressed bandleader Duke Ellington, who was in the audience. A few years later, newly re-christened Nichelle, she briefly appeared in his traveling show as a dancer and singer.

At 18, she married Foster Johnson, a tap dancer 15 years her senior. They had a son before divorcing. As a single mother, Ms. Nichols continued working the grind of the nightclub circuit.

In the late 1950s, she moved to Los Angeles and entered a cultural milieu that included Pearl Bailey, Sidney Poitier and Sammy Davis Jr., with whom she had what she described as a “short, stormy, exciting” affair. She landed an uncredited role in director Otto Preminger’s film version of “Porgy and Bess” (1959) and assisted her then-boyfriend, actor and director Frank Silvera, in his theatrical stagings.

In 1963, she won a guest role on “The Lieutenant,” an NBC military drama created by Roddenberry. She began an affair with Roddenberry, who was married, but broke things off when she discovered he was also seriously involved with actress Majel Barrett. “I could not be the other woman to the other woman,” she wrote in “Beyond Uhura.” (Roddenberry later married Barrett, who played a nurse on “Star Trek.”)

Ms. Nichols’s second marriage, to songwriter and arranger Duke Mondy, ended in divorce. Besides her son, Kyle Johnson, an actor who starred in writer-director Gordon Parks’s 1969 film “The Learning Tree,” a complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

After her role on “Star Trek,” Ms. Nichols played a hard-boiled madam opposite Isaac Hayes in the 1974 blaxploitation film “Truck Turner .” For many years, she performed a one-woman show honoring Black entertainers such as Lena Horne , Eartha Kitt and Leontyne Price. She also was credited as co-author of two science-fiction novels featuring a heroine named Saturna.

Ms. Nichols did not appear in director J.J. Abrams’s “Star Trek” film reboot that included actress Zoe Saldana as Uhura. But she gamely continued to promote the franchise and spoke with candor about her part in a role that eclipsed all her others.

“If you’ve got to be typecast,” Ms. Nichols told the UPI news service, “at least it’s someone with dignity.”

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Nichelle Nichols, Uhura in ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 89

By Carmel Dagan

Carmel Dagan

Staff Writer

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nichelle nichols dead obit

Nichelle Nichols , who portrayed communications officer Uhura on the original “ Star Trek ” series, died Saturday night in Silver City, N.M. She was 89 years old.

Nichols’ death was confirmed by Gilbert Bell, her talent manager and business partner of 15 years.

Nichols shared one of the first interracial kisses in television history on “Star Trek.” That moment, with her co-star William Shatner, was a courageous move on the part of her, “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and NBC considering the climate at the time, but the episode “Plato’s Stepchildren,” which aired in 1968, was written to give all involved an out: Uhura and Captain Kirk did not choose to kiss but were instead made to do so involuntarily by aliens with the ability to control the movements of humans. Nevertheless, it was a landmark moment.

There had been a couple of interracial kisses on American television before. A year earlier on “Movin’ With Nancy,” Sammy Davis Jr. kissed Nancy Sinatra on the cheek in what appeared to be a spontaneous gesture but was in fact carefully planned. The Uhura-Kirk kiss was likely the first televised white/African American lip-to-lip kiss.

STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, Nichelle Nichols, wearing her communications ear piece, 1982. (c)Paramount. Courtesy: Everett Collection.

But Uhura, whose name comes from a Swahili word meaning “freedom,” was essential beyond the interracial kiss: A capable officer who could man other stations on the bridge when the need arose, she was one of the first African American women to be featured in a non-menial role on television.

Nichols played Lt. Uhura on the original series, voiced her on “Star Trek: The Animated Series” and played Uhura in the first six “Star Trek” films. Uhura was promoted to lieutenant commander in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and to full commander in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”

Nichols mulled leaving “Star Trek” after the first season to pursue a career on Broadway, but the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was a fan of the series and understood the importance of her character in opening doors for other African Americans on television, personally persuaded her to stay on the show, she told astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in an interview for the Archive of American Television.

Whoopi Goldberg, who later played Guinan on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” has described Uhura as a role model, recalling that she was astounded and excited to see a black woman character on television who was not a maid.

Nichols and Shatner remembered the shooting of the famous kiss very differently. In “Star Trek Memories,” Shatner said NBC insisted that the actors’ lips never actually touch (though they appear to). But in Nichols’ 1994 autobiography “Beyond Uhura,” the actress insisted that the kiss was in fact real. Nervous about audience reaction, the network insisted that alternate takes be shot with and without a kiss, but Nichols and Shatner deliberately flubbed every one of the latter so NBC would be forced to air what appeared to be a kiss (whether their lips actually touched or not).

Both the “Star Trek” and “Movin’ With Nancy” moments drew some negative reactions, though Nichols recalled that the fan mail was overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

NASA later employed Nichols in an effort to encourage women and African Americans to become astronauts. NASA Astronaut Group 8, selected in 1978, included the first women and ethnic minorities to be recruited, including three who were Black. Dr. Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to fly aboard the Space Shuttle, cited “Star Trek” as an influence in her decision to join the space agency.

Nichols remained a supporter of the space program for decades.

In 1991, Nichols became the first African American woman to have her handprints immortalized at the TCL Chinese Theatre. The ceremony also included other members of the original “Star Trek” cast.

Born Grace Nichols in Robbins, Ill. on Dec. 28, 1932, Nichols began her show business career at age 16 singing with Duke Ellington in a ballet she created for one of his compositions. Later, she sang with his band.

She studied in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Her break came with an appearance in Oscar Brown’s high-profile but ill-fated 1961 musical “Kicks and Co.,” in which she played campus queen Hazel Sharpe, who’s tempted by the devil and Orgy Magazine to become “Orgy Maiden of the Month.” The play closed after its brief Chicago tryout, but Nichols attracted the attention of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, who booked her at his Chicago Playboy Club.

Nichols also appeared in the role of Carmen for a Chicago stock company production of “Carmen Jones” and performed in a New York production of “Porgy and Bess,” making her feature debut in an uncredited role as a dancer in an adaptation of that work in 1959. (Later she would display her singing talents on occasion on “Star Trek.”)

While working in Chicago, Nichols was twice nominated for that city’s theatrical Sarah Siddons Award for best actress. The first came for “Kicks and Co.,” while the second was for her performance in Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.”

She had small roles in the films “Made in Paris,” “Mr. Buddwing” and the Sandra Dee vehicle “Doctor, You’ve Got to Be Kidding!” before she was cast on “Star Trek.”

During the early ’60s, before “Star Trek,” Nichols had an affair with Gene Roddenberry that lasted several years, according to her autobiography. The affair ended when Roddenberry realized he was in love with Majel Hudec, whom he married. When Roddenberry’s health was failing decades later, Nichols co-wrote a song for him, entitled “Gene,” that she sang at his funeral.

In January 1967, Nichols was featured on the cover of Ebony magazine, which published two feature articles on her within five years.

In the early ’70s, the actress made a few guest appearances on TV and appeared in the 1974 Blaxploitation film “Truck Turner” starring Isaac Hayes. She appeared in a supporting role in a 1983 TV adaptation of “Antony and Cleopatra” that also featured her “Star Trek” co-star Walter Koenig. She starred with Maxwell Caulfield and Talia Balsam in the 1986 horror sci-fi feature “The Supernaturals.”

Later, Nichols began to do voice work, lending her talent to the animated series “Gargoyles” and “Spider-Man.” She also voiced herself on “Futurama.”

The actress played the mother of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s lead character in 2002’s “Snow Dogs” and Miss Mable in the 2005 Ice Cube comedy “Are We There Yet?”

In 2007, Nichols recurred on the second season of the NBC drama “Heroes” as Nana Dawson, matriarch of a New Orleans family devastated by Hurricane Katrina who cares for her orphaned grandchildren and great-nephew, Micah Sanders (series regular Noah Gray-Cabey). The following year she appeared in the films “Tru Loved” and “The Torturer.”

Nichols suffered a stroke in 2015 and was diagnosed with dementia in 2018, touching off a conservatorship dispute between her manager Bell and her son as well as a friend.

Nichols was married and divorced twice. She is survived by her son, Kyle Johnson.

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Nichelle Nichols, groundbreaking 'Star Trek' actor, dead at 89

Nichelle Nichols, the groundbreaking actor who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on the original "Star Trek" series, has died.

She was 89.

Nichols' death was confirmed on Sunday by her son, Kyle Johnson, on her website. Johnson said his mother died of natural causes.

"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 said in a statement posted to the website.

Johnson said his mother's life was "well-lived and as such a model for" everyone. He asked for privacy for the family.

Nichols and her “Star Trek” character Uhura broke barriers as one of the first Black female leads on television.

Rod Roddenberry, executive producer of the current iterations of "Star Trek" and son of the show's creator Gene Roddenberry mourned Nichols' passing on Sunday.

Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Nyota Uhura in the "Journey to Babel" episode of Star Trek in 1967.

"It is with great sorrow that we report the passing on the legendary icon Nichelle Nichols," he tweeted. "No words."

Nichols, was born in Illinois as Grace Nichols. She was discovered in Chicago by composer and musician Duke Ellington as a teenager while working as a dancer and choreographer, according to the National Space Society , for which Nichols was on the board of governors.

"As I learned to believe in my talent, my voice, myself, I learned that I could make others believe as well," Nichols wrote on her website .

Prior to appearing in "Star Trek," Nichols was an accomplished dancer but only had a handful of acting roles.

Nichols appeared on "Star Trek" in its debut season in 1966. Initially, she considered leaving the show, feeling her character lacked depth. However, after meeting Martin Luther King, Jr., who was a fan of the show, she decided to stay.

It was then she worked alongside Roddenberry to give Uhura revolutionary authority and dominance, something not seen prior in that era of television.

"When I was on those wonderful sets with all of the cast members, the universe of Star Trek began to feel not so much a fantasy but an opportunity to lay the groundwork for what we might actually achieve by the 23rd Century … a bold aspiration and an affirmation of Uhura as we eagerly await her arrival," Nichols wrote on her website.

One moment that broke boundaries, in 1968, was a kiss between Nichols' Uhura and and William Shatner's Capt. James T. Kirk on the episode “Plato’s Stepchildren.” The episode helped to re-shape what viewers thought of as acceptable on television and was an early statement about the acceptance of interracial marriages.

After the original "Star Trek" ended, Nichols became a spokesperson for NASA, according to her website. She helped to recruit astronauts and appeared in PSAs.

NASA credited Nichols with helping to recruit Sally Ride and Frederick Gregory, according to the Los Angeles Times .

"In motivating them as others once did me, it’s as if my life had come back, full circle, to where the dreams of a young woman began," she wrote about the experience on her website.

On Sunday NASA memorialized Nichols as a global inspiration who helped it evolve.

"We celebrate the life of Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek actor, trailblazer, and role model, who symbolized to so many what was possible," the agency tweeted. "She partnered with us to recruit some of the first women and minority astronauts, and inspired generations to reach for the stars."

In her autobiography, she wrote that she loved attending "Star Trek" conventions, the LA Times reported.

Following news of her death, co-stars and admirers alike mourned her loss.

"I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89. For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend," tweeted George Takei, who played alongside Nichols as "Star Trek" helmsman Hikaru Sulu.

Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., praised Nichols for her representation.

"Representation matters. Excellence in representation matters even more. Thank you, #NichelleNichols ," she wrote. "Rest well, ancestor."

michelle nichols on star trek

Kalhan Rosenblatt is a reporter covering youth and internet culture for NBC News, based in New York.

Watch CBS News

Nichelle Nichols, groundbreaking "Star Trek" star, dies at age 89

Updated on: August 1, 2022 / 7:09 PM EDT / CBS News

Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Uhura on "Star Trek" in a groundbreaking role for Black actresses before going on to help recruit people of color and women for NASA in real life, has died, her representatives confirmed to CBS News. She was 89.

"I regret to inform you that a great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years," her son, Kyle Johnson, posted on Nichols' official Facebook page. Nichols died of natural causes, according to Johnson.

"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. Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all," he wrote.

Nichols' "Star Trek" costar George Takei tweeted, "my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend."

After "Star Trek," Nichols went on to become a recruiter for NASA, playing a key role in helping recruit people of color and female astronauts. 

Ovation TV Premiere Screening Of

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and director Todd Thompson, who both served as executive producers of the documentary "Women in Motion: Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek and the Remaking of NASA," called her story "monumental."   

Nichols portrayed U.S.S. Enterprise communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura on the "Star Trek" television series from 1966-1969. She also reprised the role in six movies from the iconic sci-fi franchise.  

Nichols was one of the first Black actresses to star in a primetime television show, and she and "Star Trek" made history with television's first interracial kiss in 1968.

"She was the third-highest ranking member in the space command," Crump told " CBS Saturday Morning" in 2021 . "I mean, you talk about every little Black boy and girl running to the TV to say, 'hello that's a Black woman, and she's in charge?'"

"Star Trek" suffered from poor ratings during its initial run and, according to "CBS Saturday Morning," Nichols had been contemplating leaving the show after the first season to go to Broadway. But then she met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a devout Trekkie, who pleaded with her to stay, saying it was the only show he watched with his children. 

"He said, 'you don't understand the effect that you're having, not only on Black people, not only on young women, but on everybody,'" she said in the documentary. 

Nichelle Nichols as Uhura and William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in a scene from

As "Star Trek" became more popular, members of NASA took notice — and had become fans, attending the "Star Trek" conventions. Nichols once gave a speech to members of NASA, and Crump said that she noticed there were no women or minorities in the audience.

"I said, 'where are my people?'" Nichols said in the documentary. "I meant that then and I mean it now."

The head of NASA was in the audience and took notice, offering her the opportunity to recruit for them. Nichols formed the company "Women in Motion," traveling throughout the country to recruit women and people of color for NASA. 

The effort paid off. In 1978, NASA recruited 35 people, including for the first time, six women and four people of color. 

"This might sound a little corny, but it felt like my children," she said in the "Women in Motion" documentary. "And my heart, it pounded. And I knew the world would never be the same again. We would go on to great heights — and to think I had the slightest thing to do with it makes me know that all things good are possible." 

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Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022)

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Nichelle Nichols in Snow Dogs (2002)

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Nichelle Nichols as Lady Magdalene, front and center. From left to right: Hope McBane ("Sinead"), Claudia Lynx ("Scheherazade"), Keyaria Rodriguez ("Pixie"), Ethan Keogh ("Jack Goldwater"), Susan Smythe ("Angel"), Mara Marini ("Nurse Gretchen"), Michele Redmond ("Eden").

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  • December 28 , 1932
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  • July 30 , 2022
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  • Spouses Duke Mondy December 20, 1967 - March 1972 (divorced)
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  • Trivia Frustrated with the racist harassment, culminating with her learning that the studio was withholding her fan mail, she submitted her resignation from Star Trek (1966) after consulting with series creator Gene Roddenberry . She stated in several interviews that the harassment made her go back to work in theater until attending an NAACP fundraiser. The fundraiser was where a Star Trek fan was about to meet her for the first time and, to her astonishment, the fan turned out to be Dr. Martin Luther King . King stated that his wife and children had seen Star Trek on TV and it was the only television series that he had approved of. He said that her role as the fourth in command of the USS Enterprise became a positive role model for African-Americans. She withdrew her resignation from the series when King personally convinced her that her role was too important as a breakthrough to leave.
  • Quotes [on the Star Trek (1966) fans] I'm a fan of the fans. I love them. They're fabulous. I love being around them. I love their madness and their caring. I love watching them take off for a weekend, don the costumes, and become characters from the 23rd century and beyond. I thank the fans for giving us--me--so much support and love. I want them to know I love them. They will always be my friends. I'll see the fans, always. They can rest assured of that.
  • Trademarks Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on Star Trek (1966) and six of the Star Trek films
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Nichelle Nichols, the USS Enterprise’s Lt. Uhura, dies at 89

MLK convinced her to return to a groundbreaking role for Black actors

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Lt. Nyota Uhura informs Capt. Kirk a hailing frequency has opened

Nichelle Nichols, best known as the communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura of the starship Enterprise , died July 30. She was 89. Her groundbreaking performances in Star Trek , corresponding with the Civil Rights movement in the United States, helped set the first standard for diversity and inclusion in mainstream screen entertainment.

As Uhura, Nichols was a core presence during Star Trek ’s original run on NBC from 1966 to 1969. To that point, Black actresses were largely given servile or ancillary roles in television and theater. But Nichols, radiating professionalism and 1960s mod-style sex appeal from her chair on the Enterprise’s bridge, opened a channel to Hollywood for stars like Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, and Pam Grier.

Born Grace Dell Nichols on Dec. 28, 1932 in the Chicago suburb of Robbins, Illinois, she modeled and starred in several stage plays during her 20s and 30s, including James Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie , before her breakthrough on Star Trek .

Despite her success in Star Trek ’s first season, Nichols felt called to Broadway, and tendered her resignation to show creator Gene Roddenberry after receiving several offers for major stage roles. The following weekend, she was a celebrity guest at an NAACP banquet, where she met the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“As a matter of fact, [ Star Trek ] is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch, because it’s on past their bedtime,” King said, according to Nichols’ recollection for the Television Academy Foundation.

“And I got the courage to say, ‘I really am going to miss my co-stars,’ and he said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘I’m leaving Star Trek ,’ and he said, ‘You cannot.’ […] He said, ‘For the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen, every day.’”

Nichols withdrew her resignation and continued with the series, culminating in her role in season 3, episode 10, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” where she shared a kiss with William Shatner, the first interracial romance depicted on American television. The scene came one year after a Supreme Court decision nullifying Southern states’ laws against marriage between races.

Though the series’ first run was cancelled in 1969, Nichols remained a singularly identifiable Star Trek figure in the coming decades. She is, along with Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, and Walter Koenig, one of seven officers commanding the Enterprise from its original three-year mission in the 1960s through six feature film appearances from 1979 to 1991.

On Earth, Nichols was an ambassador for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration beginning in 1977, specifically to advocate for the training and assignment of women and minority candidates for spaceflight roles. In 2012, NASA credited Nichols for inspiring the careers of Sally Ride (the first American woman in space) and fellow astronauts Ronald McNair, Frederick Gregory, and Judith Resnik.

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Nichelle Nichols, Pioneering ‘Star Trek’ Actress, Dies at 89

She made history as one of the first Black women to appear in a leading role on television

Sarah Kuta

Daily Correspondent

Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Nyota Uhura

Nichelle Nichols, who captivated television audiences as Nyota Uhura in the original “ Star Trek ” series, died on July 30 at age 89.

“[A] great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years,” says her son, Kyle Johnson, in a statement . “Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. 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.”

He adds: “Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.”

Nichols left a lasting mark on television, science fiction and the field of science more broadly. She served as an inspiration “for young Black people whose dreams of space science and travel were emboldened by her character’s futuristic adventures,” as critic Gene Seymour writes for  CNN .

Nichols' uniform

Grace Dell Nichols was born in a Chicago suburb in 1932. As a teenager fed up with being called Gracie, she adopted Nichelle as her first name. With an impressive  four-octave vocal range and a love for ballet and musical theater, Nichols began performing in Chicago clubs when she was just 14 years old. She briefly worked as a dancer in Duke Ellington ’s touring orchestra.

In the early 1960s, she moved to Los Angeles, where “ Star Trek ” creator  Gene Roddenberry took note of her acting skills. She landed a role in Roddenberry’s series “ The Lieutenant ”—and then, a few years later, she landed another one in “Star Trek.”

Amid the racial tensions of the civil rights movement, Nichols played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, a communications officer who was fourth in command of the Starship Enterprise . Martin Luther King Jr. once said that Uhura was the “ first non-stereotypical role portrayed by a Black woman in television history.” 

After a successful first season in 1966, Nichols decided to leave the show to pursue her musical theater dreams. While attending a fundraiser, however, she ran into King, who ultimately helped convince her to stay on the show.

“He said, ‘You cannot leave,’” Nichols told  Smithsonian magazine ’s Arcynta Ali Childs in 2011. “‘Don’t you see what this man [Roddenberry] has brought? He has changed the face of television forever, unless you leave.’”

King went on, Nichols recalled, to say that she had a “God-given opportunity to change the face of television, change the way we think.”

In 1968, during the show’s last season, Nichols and William Shatner (who played Captain Kirk) shared one of the first interracial kisses in television history. 

When the show ended after three seasons, Nichols continued to pave the way for women and people of color by working with NASA . With Nichols’ involvement, which included an appearance in a promotional recruitment video, the space agency began hiring more diverse astronauts, including  Guion Bluford , the first Black American in space, and  Sally Ride , the first American woman in space.

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“Nichelle’s advocacy transcended television and transformed NASA,” says NASA administrator Bill Nelson in a statement . “After Apollo 11, Nichelle made it her mission to inspire women and people of color to join this agency, change the face of STEM and explore the cosmos. Nichelle’s mission is NASA’s mission.”

To this day, the agency is still “guided by the legacy of Nichelle Nichols,” adds Nelson.

Nichols later reprised her role as Uhura in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and five movie sequels produced through 1991.

We lived long and prospered together. pic.twitter.com/MgLjOeZ98X — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 31, 2022

As news of Nichols’ death spread, friends, fans and colleagues began sharing tributes to the actress. George Takei , who acted alongside Nichols in “Star Trek” as Hikaru Sulu, the Entreprise ’s helmsman, describes her as “trailblazing” and “incomparable.”

"For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend,” writes Takei on  Twitter .

Television director Adam Nimoy , whose late father  Leonard Nimoy played the stoic Vulcan  Spock on the franchise for nearly 50 years, posted a  photo on Twitter of the two actors on set, writing that it is his favorite photo of the pair. 

He adds, “The importance of Nichelle’s legacy cannot be over-emphasized.” 

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.

Nichelle Nichols of 'Star Trek' to boldly go on unique memorial spaceflight in 2022

The late actress will be honored on a deep-space mission from Celestis.

Nichelle Nichols

On July 30, the world lost one of its brightest lights when "Star Trek" royalty Nichelle Nichols, known around the galaxy as Communications Officer Lt. Nyota Uhura, passed away at the age of 89 in Silver City, New Mexico. 

Although she had been a tireless champion of human spaceflight and the recruitment of minority astronauts for decades, she never had the opportunity to  travel into space herself while alive. But now her cremated remains will be heading  into the heavens thanks to the Texas-based company Celestis .

Celestis provides "memorial spaceflight services" for people who want to celebrate the life of a loved one with an off-Earth experience. And today (Aug. 25) it was announced that Nichols was selected to be honored on Celestis' first-ever deep space mission: Her cremated remains and a DNA sample will be aboard the company's upcoming "Enterprise Flight ".

Related: Nichelle Nichols, a 'Star Trek' icon, trailblazer and space advocate, dies at 89

Nichols’ legacy includes being the first black woman in a leading role on a network TV series. She was a beacon of hope for breaking racial barriers and entrenched societal stereotypes as an inspiration to all. 

Between 1977 and 2015, she served as NASA's recruiter in chief and spokesperson to discover viable female and minority candidates for the space shuttle program. Her extraordinary efforts boosted NASA's female astronaut candidates from 100 to 1,649 and the number of minority recruits from 35 to over 1,000.

"Nichelle Nichols was a trailblazing actress, advocate, and dear friend to NASA. At a time when black women were seldom seen on screen, Nichelle's portrayal as Nyota Uhura on 'Star Trek' held a mirror up to America that strengthened civil rights. Nichelle’s advocacy transcended television and transformed NASA," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement shortly Nichols' death .

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"After Apollo 11 , Nichelle made it her mission to inspire women and people of color to join this agency, change the face of STEM and explore the cosmos. Nichelle's mission is NASA's mission," Nelson added. "Today, as we work to send the first woman and first person of color to the moon under Artemis , NASA is guided by the legacy of Nichelle Nichols."

Blasting off later this year atop United Launch Alliance's appropriately named Vulcan rocket , Nichols' cremated remains will be accompanied by those of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry , his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry, feisty "Star Trek" engineer James "Scotty" Doohan, and "2001: A Space Odyssey" VFX wizard Douglas Trumbull, among others.

"We are truly honored to add a legendary actress, activist, and educator to the Enterprise Flight manifest," Charles Chafer, co-founder and CEO of Celestis, said in a statement. "Now our Enterprise Flight will have on board the person who most completely embodied the vision of 'Star Trek' as a diverse, inclusive, and exploring universe."

The Enterprise Flight will travel 93 million miles to 186 million miles (150 million to 300 million kilometers) into deep space beyond the Earth-moon system. The memorial mission will launch more than 200 flight capsules containing cremated ash remains, special messages and greetings and DNA samples from global clients on a timeless odyssey into interplanetary space. 

That's not the main purpose of the flight; Vulcan's main job involves sending Pittsburgh company Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander toward the moon.

But Vulcan's Centaur upper stage will keep on trucking into deep space, entering an orbit around the sun and eventually becoming a remote outpost known as Enterprise Station. Nichols will also be joined by her son, Kyle Johnson, who will submit his own DNA sample, allowing him to take this rare journey with his mother. 

— NASA celebrates the life and career of 'Star Trek' star Nichelle Nichols

— New documentary explores 'Star Trek,' Nichelle Nichols and NASA's 1970s astronaut search

— 'Star Trek' legend Nichelle Nichols caught in ongoing conservatorship battle: report

"My only regret is that I cannot share this eternal tribute standing beside my mother at the launch," Johnson said in a statement. "I know she would be profoundly honored for this unique experience and enthusiastically encourage all of her fans to join us vicariously by contributing your thoughts, affections, memories, NN inspired successes, dreams and aspirations via email to be launched with her on this flight! WOW!"

Fans everywhere will be able to celebrate Nichols' life by submitting their name and tributes to her for free on Celestis' website . All names and messages received will be digitized and launched into the cosmos. 

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook .  

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Jeff Spry

Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.

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‘quiet on set’: drake bell says he hasn’t gotten apologies from people who wrote letters of support for abuser brian peck, nichelle nichols dies: lt. nyota uhura in ‘star trek’ was 89.

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michelle nichols on star trek

Nichelle Nichols , who broke down barriers with her portrayal of translator and communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek TV series and later in its film franchise, died Saturday night in Silver City, N.M. She was 89 years old.

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Nichols’ death was confirmed by Gilbert Bell, her talent manager and business partner of 15 years.

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A popular part of the principal players on Star Trek , Nichols shared one of the first interracial kisses in television history with costar William Shatner.

NASA later employed Nichols as a spokesperson to encourage women and African Americans to become astronauts. Dr. Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to fly aboard the Space Shuttle, cited Star Trek as an influence in her decision to join the space agency.

Nichols became the first African American woman to have her handprints immortalized at the TCL Chinese Theatre. The ceremony also included other members of the original Star Trek cast.

Born Grace Nichols in Robbins, Ill. on Dec. 28, 1932, Nichols sang with Duke Ellington in a ballet she created for one of his compositions. Later, she sang with his band.

Nichols appeared in Oscar Brown’s 1961 musical Kicks and Co. , in which she played campus queen Hazel Sharpe. The play attracted the attention of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, who booked her at his Chicago Playboy Club.

Nichols had an extensive theater run, also appearing in the role of Carmen for a Chicago stock company production of Carmen Jones, and performed in a New York production of Porgy and Bess.

She had small roles in the films Made in Paris, Mr. Buddwing and the Sandra Dee vehicle, Doctor, You’ve Got to Be Kidding! before she was cast on Star Trek .

Nichols voice work included the animated series, Gargoyles and a gig in Spider-Man. She also voiced herself on Futurama.

The actress played the mother of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s lead character in 2002’s Snow Dogs and Miss Mable in the 2005 Ice Cube comedy Are We There Yet?

Nichols was married and divorced twice. She is survived by her son, Kyle Johnson.

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Published Jan 16, 2023

Nichelle Nichols Remembers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The late actress shared her fondest memories of the civil rights leader.

Illustrated banner featuring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nichelle Nichols, and her Star Trek character Uhura

Getty Images / StarTrek.com - Rob DeHart

Every day is a good day to celebrate Star Trek 's Nichelle Nichols, the legend who first embodied the role of Nyota Uhura . But today, we're also taking time to pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who played a crucial role in Star Trek history.

On March 7, 1965, the historic Selma to Montgomery civil rights march began, sadly with " Bloody Sunday ." Two days later, the prominent activist and leader in the civil rights movement joined the march, and nearly two years after that, Dr. King famously convinced Nichols, who had sought the greener pastures and greater challenges of Broadway, to rescind the resignation letter she'd given to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

Martin Luther King Jr shown marching from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

William Lovelace / Stringer — Getty Images

Back in 2010, during an interview with StarTrek.com , Nichols recounted how Dr. King inspired her and how she'd inspired him and his family, and why she chose to heed his personal request to remain with Star Trek: The Original Series .

"When I told Gene [Roddenberry], I walked away, and as far as I was concerned it was a fait accompli ," she said. "Remember, I grew up in musical theater. I belonged to the theater, not to television or movies. Those were things I did when I hadn’t quite made it where I wanted to go, but was on my way. I had quite a lot going for me. I had no idea of the power of being on a screen and people seeing you weekly. But I was ready to go. As nice as this little part was, and I loved the people and I loved working on it, and I was getting experience in a new medium, I didn’t think twice about [leaving]."

Roddenberry, she noted, pleaded with her to stay. He said, "You can’t, Nichelle. Don’t you see what I’m trying to do here?” Nichols remained "resolute," and handed him a letter of resignation. What happened next astounded her.

Captain Kirk (The Original Series) and his crew smile at the end of an episode.

StarTrek.com

"He took it and looked at it with sad eyes," Nichols said. "He was behind his desk and I was standing in front of him and – I’ll never forget it – he said, 'I’m not going to accept this yet.' He put it in his desk drawer and said, 'Take the weekend and think about this, Nichelle. If you still want to do this on Monday morning, I will let you go with my blessings.' I said, 'Thank you, Gene.' And I thought, 'Whew, that was rough, but I got through it.'”

That weekend, Nichols attended what she remembers as a NAACP fundraiser, "though, it could have been something else." Whatever it was, she found herself in Beverly Hills, and seated at the dais as other notables entered the room to join in on the festivities.

Martin Luther King Jr speaks at Selma to Montgomery March

Stephen F. Somerstein / Getty Images

"One of the organizers of the event came over to me and said, 'Ms. Nichols, I hate to bother you just as you’re sitting down to dinner, but there’s someone here who wants very much to meet you. And he said to tell you that he is your biggest fan,'" Nichols said. "I said, 'Oh, certainly,' I stood up and turned around and who comes walking over towards me from about 10 or 15 feet, smiling that rare smile of his, is Dr. Martin Luther King. I remember saying to myself, 'Whoever that fan is, whoever that Trekkie is, it’ll have to wait because I have to meet Dr. Martin Luther King.' And he walks up to me and says, 'Yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan.' You know I can talk, but all my mouth could do was open and close, open and close; I was so stunned."

Dr. King revealed to Nichols that Star Trek was the only show that he and his wife Coretta allowed their little children to stay up and watch. Further, he told Nichols what the show meant to him personally and detailed the importance of her having created a character with "dignity and knowledge." Nichols took it all in and finally said, “Thank you so much, Dr. King. I’m really going to miss my co-stars.” Dr. King's smile, Nichols recalled, vanished from his face.

Nyota Uhura

"He said, 'What are you talking about?'" the actress explained. "I told him. He said, 'You cannot,' and so help me, this man practically repeated verbatim what Gene said. He said, 'Don’t you see what this man is doing, who has written this? This is the future. He has established us as we should be seen. 300 years from now, we are here. We are marching. And this is the first step. When we see you, we see ourselves, and we see ourselves as intelligent and beautiful and proud.' He goes on and I’m looking at him and my knees are buckling. I said, 'I…, I…' And he said, 'You turn on your television and the news comes on and you see us marching and peaceful, you see the peaceful civil disobedience, and you see the dogs and see the fire hoses, and we all know they cannot destroy us because we are there in the 23rd Century.'"

"That’s all it took," Nichols continued. "I went back on Monday morning and told Gene what had happened. He sat there behind that desk and a tear came down his face, and he looked up at me. I said, 'Gene, if you want me to stay, I will stay. There’s nothing I can do but stay.' He looked at me and said, 'God bless Dr. Martin Luther King. Somebody truly knows what I am trying to do.' [Roddenberry] opened his drawer, took out my resignation and handed it to me. He had torn it to pieces. He handed me the 100 pieces and said, 'Welcome back.'”

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Star Trek Day 2022 | Nichelle Nichols Tribute

This article was originally published on March 7, 2019.

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com for more details! And be sure to follow @StarTrek on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

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William shatner shares the secrets to staying youthful ahead of his 93rd birthday.

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“Star Trek” actor William Shatner, who celebrated his 93rd birthday Friday, feels as young as ever.

Shatner’s secret to remaining youthful in his 90s is: “Just staying engaged in life, to stay curious. But the luck has a lot to do with it in your health.”

“Your life’s energy, the soul energy of your body is a product of health,” he told People. “If you’re sick, you can’t be energetic. You’re dying. So my luck has been, I’ve been healthy all my life.”

The actor, who starred in the original “Star Trek” show from 1966 to 1969, prides himself on still being “energetic.”

He told People at the premiere of his documentary, titled “You Can Call Me Bill,” Thursday that he largely credits that positive outlook to his “wife,” Elizabeth Martin.

Shatner was married to Martin from 2001 to 2020, when their divorce was finalized. Reconciliation rumors began to spread after the former couple attended the Living Legends of Aviation Awards together in January 2023.

He told the outlet that he doesn’t tend to take birthdays too seriously and prefers a laid-back celebration.

William Shatner shares his secrets to longevity.

“Well, birthdays are purportedly a big day. I suppose there’s a reason for somebody outside to celebrate, ‘Oh my God, 93,’” he said, adding, “I’m not glorying in it.”

Prior to his big birthday, Shatner shared his biggest regret from his long Hollywood career.

Speaking candidly about his 1989 film, “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” Shatner implied that the project was doomed from the start. He reprised the role of Capt. James T. Kirk in the film, which he originally played in the TV series.

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“I wish that I’d had the backing and the courage to do the things I felt I needed to do. My concept was, “‘Star Trek’ goes in search of God,” and management said, ‘Well, who’s God? We’ll alienate the nonbeliever, so, no, we can’t do God,’” he explained to The Hollywood Reporter.

“And then somebody said, ‘What about an alien who thinks they’re God?’ Then it was a series of my inabilities to deal with the management and the budget,” he said of the subsequent steps to making the film, in which he served as director. “I failed. In my mind, I failed horribly.” 

“When I’m asked, ‘What do you regret the most?’ I regret not being equipped emotionally to deal with a large motion picture. So in the absence of my power, the power vacuum filled with people that didn’t make the decisions I would’ve made,” he lamented.

William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols in Season 3 of Star Trek.

When it was released, the “Star Trek” film was criticized for its lack of execution and being an overall disappointment. Shatner noted that he takes all the blame, even if people question his budget or the support he had in hindsight.

“It is on me,” he reiterated, giving an example of mismanaging his $30 million budget. “[In the final scene] I wanted granite [rock creatures] to explode out of the mountain. The special effects guy said, ‘I can build you a suit that’s on fire and smoke comes out.’ I said, ‘Great, how much will that cost?’ They said, ‘$250,000 a suit.’ ‘Can you make 10 suits?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’” 

“That’s $2.5 million. You’ve got a $30 million budget. You sure you want to spend [it on that]?” he remembered thinking. “Those are the practical decisions.”

Shatner’s plan famously didn’t materialize, due to mechanical issues toward the end of filming.

Despite the memorable bump in the road, Shatner has remained successful both in front of and behind the camera. 

“It’s luck. It’s the luck of being healthy,” he told Fox News Digital in June of his longevity in the entertainment industry. “I think that’s the first thing … I’ve had things happen, but nothing debilitating over a period of time. So having the life force within me, is probably, mostly, what it’s all about.”

Fox News Digital’s Caroline Thayer contributed to this report.

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Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura on ‘Star Trek,’ has died at 89

FILE - Actor Nichelle Nichols speaks during the Creation Entertainment's Official Star Trek Convention at The Westin O'Hare in Rosemont, Ill., Sunday, June 8, 2014. Nichols, who gained fame as Lt. Ntoya Uhura on the original "Star Trek" television series, died Saturday, July 30, 2022, her family said. She was 89. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Actor Nichelle Nichols speaks during the Creation Entertainment’s Official Star Trek Convention at The Westin O’Hare in Rosemont, Ill., Sunday, June 8, 2014. Nichols, who gained fame as Lt. Ntoya Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, died Saturday, July 30, 2022, her family said. She was 89. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Actor Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Ntoya Uhura on ''Star Trek,’' waves as she arrives at the “Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond” tribute at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, Sunday, Oct. 6, 1996. Nichols died Saturday, July 30, 2022, her family said. She was 89. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

FILE - Members of the “Star Trek” crew, from left, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, Walter Koenig, William Shatner, George Takei, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols, toast the newest “Star Trek” film during a news conference at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, Dec. 28, 1988. Nichols, who gained fame as Lt. Ntoya Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, died Saturday, July 30, 2022, at age 89. (AP Photo/Bob Galbraith, File)

FILE - Actor Nichelle Nichols expresses her support to striking members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) outside the gates of Paramount Pictures studios in Los Angeles, Monday, Dec. 10, 2007. Nichols, who gained fame as Lt. Ntoya Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, died Saturday, July 30, 2022, at age 89. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

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Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood as communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, has died at the age of 89.

Her son Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico.

“Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. 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 on her official Facebook page Sunday. “Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.”

Her role in the 1966-69 series earned Nichols a lifelong position of honor with the series’ rabid fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited Black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial onscreen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.

Shatner tweeted Sunday: “I am so sorry to hear about the passing of Nichelle. She was a beautiful woman & played an admirable character that did so much for redefining social issues both here in the US & throughout the world.”

George Takei, who shared the bridge of the USS Enterprise with her as Sulu in the original “Star Trek” series, called her trailblazing and incomparable. “For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend,” he tweeted.

Nichols’ impact was felt far beyond her immediate co-stars, and many others in the “Star Trek” world also tweeted their condolences.

Celia Rose Gooding, who currently plays Uhura in “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” tweeted that Nichols “made room for so many of us. She was the reminder that not only can we reach the stars, but our influence is essential to their survival. Forget shaking the table, she built it.”

“Star Trek: Voyager” alum Kate Mulgrew tweeted, “Nichelle Nichols was The First. She was a trailblazer who navigated a very challenging trail with grit, grace, and a gorgeous fire we are not likely to see again.”

Like other original cast members, Nichols also appeared in six big-screen spinoffs starting 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 bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps.

More recently, she had a recurring role on television’s “Heroes,” playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

The original “Star Trek” premiered on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry’s message to viewers that in the far-off future — the 23rd century — human diversity would be fully accepted.

“I think many people took it into their hearts ... that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate,” Nichols said in 1992 when a “Star Trek” exhibit was on view at the Smithsonian Institution.

She often recalled how Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights gathering 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 co-stars and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said, ‘You cannot do that,’” she told The Tulsa (Okla.) World in a 2008 interview.

“‘You’ve changed the face of television forever, and therefore, you’ve changed the minds of people,’” she said the civil rights leader told her.

“That foresight Dr. King had was a lightning bolt in my life,” Nichols said.

During the show’s third season, Nichols’ character and Shatner’s Capt. James Kirk shared what was described as the first interracial kiss to be broadcast on a U.S. television series. In the episode, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” their characters, who always maintained a platonic relationship, were forced into the kiss by aliens who were controlling their actions.

AP entertainment correspondent Oscar Wells Gabriel reports on Obit Nichelle Nichols

The kiss “suggested that there was a future where these issues were not such a big deal,” Eric Deggans, a television critic for National Public Radio, told The Associated Press in 2018. “The characters themselves were not freaking out because a Black woman was kissing a white man ... In this utopian-like future, we solved this issue. We’re beyond it. That was a wonderful message to send.”

Worried about reaction from Southern television stations, showrunners wanted to film a second take of the scene where the kiss happened off-screen. But Nichols said in her book, “Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories,” that she and Shatner deliberately flubbed lines to force the original take to be used.

Despite concerns, the episode aired without blowback. In fact, it got the most “fan mail that Paramount had ever gotten on ‘Star Trek’ for one episode,” Nichols said in a 2010 interview with the Archive of American Television.

Born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, Nichols hated being called “Gracie,” which everyone insisted on, she said in the 2010 interview. When she was a teen her mother told her she had wanted to name her Michelle, but thought she ought to have alliterative initials like Marilyn Monroe, whom Nichols loved. Hence, “Nichelle.”

Nichols first worked professionally as a singer and dancer in Chicago at age 14, moving on to New York nightclubs and working for a time with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands before coming to Hollywood for her film debut in 1959’s “Porgy and Bess,” the first of several small film and TV roles that led up to her “Star Trek” stardom.

Nichols was known as being unafraid to stand up to Shatner on the set when others complained that he was stealing scenes and camera time. They later learned she had a strong supporter in the show’s creator.

In her 1994 book, “Beyond Uhura,” she said she met Roddenberry when she guest starred on his show “The Lieutenant,” and the two had an affair a couple of years before “Star Trek” began. The two remained lifelong close friends.

Another fan of Nichols and the show was future astronaut Mae Jemison, who became the first black woman in space when she flew aboard the shuttle Endeavour in 1992.

In an AP interview before her flight, Jemison said she watched Nichols on “Star Trek” all the time, adding she loved the show. Jemison eventually got to meet Nichols.

Nichols was a regular at “Star Trek” conventions and events into her 80s, but her schedule became limited starting in 2018 when her son announced that she was suffering from advanced dementia.

Nichols was placed under a court conservatorship in the control of her son Johnson, who said her mental decline made her unable to manage her affairs or make public appearances.

Some, including Nichols’ managers and her friend, film producer and actor Angelique Fawcett, objected to the conservatorship and sought more access to Nichols and to records of Johnson’s financial and other moves on her behalf. Her name was at times invoked at courthouse rallies that sought the freeing of Britney Spears from her own conservatorship.

But the court consistently sided with Johnson, and over the objections of Fawcett allowed him to move Nichols to New Mexico, where she lived with him in her final years.

Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles. Former AP Writer Polly Anderson contributed biographical material to this report.

michelle nichols on star trek

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Creation Entertainment has announced three new Star Trek conventions for their return to regional events, following their recent San Francisco con in mid-March.

The Creation “Trek Tour” will voyage next to the Nashville, TN area from Spetember 13-15 (at the Embassy Suites Nashville SE Murfreesboro ), followed by a visit to Secaucus, NJ from November 8-10 (at the Meadowlands Expo Center ). The circuit will then return to San Francisco, CA in 2025, taking the “Trek Tour” back to the Hyatt Regency SFO Airport Hotel from January 24-26.

michelle nichols on star trek

An additional event is being planned for the Chicago area (first reported by TrekMovie ), however the original October target dates are being rescheduled to account for guest availability.

Their next big  Trek  event is, of course, the long-running annual “STLV” Las Vegas convention at the Rio Hotel & Casino, running from August 1-4 this summer.

1:6-scale action figure company EXO-6 continues to expand their  Star Trek character lineup with two new preorders: Dr. Julian Bashir from  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Ensign Ro Laren from  Star Trek: The Next Generation .

michelle nichols on star trek

The two figures, modeled after actors Alexander Siddig and Michelle Forbes, come clad in their period-appropriate Starfleet uniforms along with interchangable hands and multiple accessories tied to each character. Each is up for preorder now at a price of $195 (including a $20 deposit) plus $25 shipping.

Mattel has announced a new  Star Trek themed UNO card game, with newly-designed artwork featuring the crew of the original  USS Enterprise .

michelle nichols on star trek

The company has offered previous editions of Trek UNO in years past (now out of print), so this will give fans who missed those earlier releases a new opportunity to deal themselves into the game. The new edition of  Star Trek UNO is available for preorder today.

Finally, company Theory11 has released a unique set of Star Trek  playing cards with custom artwork merging the Original Series and Kelvin Timeline films together.

michelle nichols on star trek

Each face card showcases a familar character from the classic starship  Enterprise , represented by both actors to portray the officer — for example, both William Shatner and Chris Pine appear as Kirk, Nichelle Nichols and Zoe Saldana appear as Uhura, and so forth.

michelle nichols on star trek

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William Shatner on Kirk/Uhura Kiss Concern, Star Trek Return Terms

Posted in: Star Trek , TV | Tagged: gene roddenberry , star trek , Star Trek: The Original Series , william shatner , You Can Call Me Bill

William Shatner on his concern regarding the Kirk/Uhura kiss and what he would be looking for to consider an on-screen Star Trek return.

Few can ever accomplish what William Shatner has across his seven-decade career as an actor, writer, director, and philanthropist. With over 250 credits to his name, he'll be forever synonymous with Star Trek , regardless of what his castmates and critics alike thought of him at the time. No one can deny his impact on the franchise. While promoting his upcoming documentary You Can Call Me Bill from Legion M, Shatner spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about a variety of Star Trek-related topics. In the following highlights, Shatner shares how he tried to maneuver through the Kirk-Uhura kiss with Nichelle Nichols in the episode "Plato's Stepchildren" to avoid the kiss being edited and what it would take for him to consider returning as Kirk.

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When there was pushback from network censors on Shatner's interracial kiss with Nichols and he tried to make every take as real as possible, "I do remember saying, 'Maybe they'll try and edit it. What can I do to try and discourage the editing of the kiss itself?' I don't remember quite what I did because it's difficult to cut away [from the kiss in an edit]. But yeah, I remember thinking that," he said. When it comes to returning to the Star Trek franchise after two shows and seven films akin to when TNG star and Shatner's Generations (1994) co-star Sir Patrick Stewart did for Picard , the actor was specific about the terms of his return.

"Leonard [Nimoy] made his own decision on doing a cameo [in J.J. Abrams' 2009 'Star Trek']. He's there for a moment, and it's more of a stunt that Spock appears in the future. If they wrote something that wasn't a stunt that involved Kirk, who's 50 years older now, and it was something that was genuinely added to the lore of Star Trek, I would definitely consider it." Shatner's surviving TOS co-stars Walter Koenig (Chekov) and George Takei (Sulu) made their returns to the franchise in recent years. Koenig makes a voice cameo playing his character's grandson Federation President Anton Chekov in the Picard finale. Takei reprised Sulu on the animated Lower Decks with a nod to Generations joking that Sulu looks after Kirk's ranch.

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William Shatner on His Biggest ‘Star Trek’ Regret – and Why He Cried With Bezos

From Captain Kirk to ‘Boston Legal’ lawyer Denny Crane, the 92-year-old THR Icon reflects on career reinvention and what could lure him back to the captain’s chair.

By Aaron Couch

Aaron Couch

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When writing about a legend who’s still working as a nonagenarian, it’s almost obligatory to include a line about how they are seemingly busier than ever. William Shatner , 92, may no longer be on set 12 hours a day for the roles that made him the first Comic-Con celebrity ( Star Trek ), or that transformed him into a late-career regular at the Emmys podium ( The Practice , Boston Legal ), but it’s difficult not to marvel at the pace at which he lives his life. 

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Now, Shatner is the subject of the crowdfunded documentary You Can Call Me Bill (in select theaters March 22, his 93rd birthday), a meditation on his life, career and mortality. 

The Montreal-born actor began performing at the age of 6 at camp and never stopped, transitioning from Canadian radio dramas to Broadway to 1950s TV Westerns. He’s been an omnipresent pop culture fixture since 1966, when he was cast as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek under unusual circumstances never seen again in Hollywood. NBC had a pilot that didn’t work, but the network wanted to try again with a mostly new cast. Where the original pilot was a somewhat dry affair, Shatner brought much-needed humor to the Enterprise. 

Though the show was canceled after just three seasons, it earned a cult following in syndication, and Shatner reprised the role for seven feature films. 

His comedic chops led him to the Saturday Night Live stage — 38 years later, people still ask him about a sketch in which he mocked Star Trek fans with the exasperated line “Get a life!” — as well as multiple Emmy wins playing lawyer Denny Crane on David E. Kelley’s ABC procedural The Practice and then Boston Legal , which concluded after four years in 2008. And he has penned books, released albums and directed documentaries.

During a Zoom conversation in early March, Shatner discussed why Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , his first and only theatrical feature as a director, was the biggest regret of his career; that history-making Star Trek kiss with Nichelle Nichols; and what could lure him back to the captain’s chair.

Some say acting is a way to find the love they aren’t getting elsewhere. Was that true for you?

I’m sure it’s true. I spent a very lonely life in my younger years. Being able to join a cast and be a part of a group of people, I’m sure that was an element in my starting to be an actor when I was very young.

Though you acted throughout childhood, you got a practical degree, a bachelor of commerce, from McGill University in Montreal. Was the plan to use that degree? 

But as an actor, you do have some control, right? You understudied for Christopher Plummer on Henry V in 1956, and he once said, “Where I stood up to make a speech, he sat down. He did the opposite of everything I did.”

I had no rehearsal. I didn’t know the people. And it was five days into the opening of the show [when Plummer got sick]. The choreography was one of the other things that I didn’t know. I was in a macabre state of mind. So that had nothing to do with “I stood where he sat.” [It was, rather], “I’ve got to move around the stage somewhere. I think I’ll sit down here, I’m exhausted!”

You worked with director Richard Donner on the classic Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” which was in fact a nightmare for him, as it was technically complicated and the shooting days were halved. Did you sense the pressure he was under?

It’s complicated. When you get those science fiction choices: The guy is dressed in a furry little suit and you say, “Well, why isn’t the suit aerodynamic? Why is it a suit that’ll catch every breeze that blows?” What kind of logic do you use in any science fiction case? When I looked at the acrobat [Nick Cravat, who played a gremlin terrorizing Shatner’s character from the wing of a plane], I said to myself, “That isn’t something you’d wear on the wing of a 747,” but then again, what do you wear on the wing of a 747? So yeah, it was complicated in that way.

He was in the military, and he was a policeman. So there was this militaristic vision of “You don’t make out with a fellow soldier.” There are strict rules and you abide by the rules. Around that, [the writers] had to write the drama. But within that was the discipline of “This is the way a ship works.” Well, as Star Trek progressed, that ethos has been forgotten [in more recent shows]. I sometimes laugh and talk about the fact that I think Gene is twirling in his grave. “No, no, you can’t make out with the lady soldier!” 

The writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation butted heads with Gene when he was alive. 

The fights that went on, to my understanding, were big, because the writers had their difficulties. “We need some more material.” “We need to get out of here. It’s claustrophobic.” 

When you joke that Gene is twirling in his grave, you mean he wouldn’t approve of onscreen romances between crewmates on the later shows?

Yes, exactly. I haven’t watched the other Star Trek s very much, but what I’ve seen with glimpses of the Next Generation is yes, the difficulty in the beginning, between management, was all about Gene’s rules and obeying or not obeying those rules. 

You and Nichelle Nichols are credited with the first interracial kiss on TV. Is it true that you pushed to make every take real, despite the network asking for faked takes so they would have the option?

After three seasons, NBC cancels Star Trek in 1969, and you find yourself broke, doing summer stock theater on the East Coast. Did you think acting might be over at that point? 

I’m broke, living in a truck, sleeping in the back and trying to save that money so I could support my three kids and my [ex-]wife, who were living in Beverly Hills. The only thing that ever occurred to me was, “I can always go back to Toronto and make something of a living as an actor there.” I never thought, “Oh, I’ve got to become a salesman.” It never occurred to me from the age of 6 to do anything else. Which is weird because [today] I hear it all around me: “God, I can’t make a living anymore [as an actor].” And that’s true. People with names can’t make a living under the circumstances that the business has fallen into. 

In 1979, Paramount needed an answer to Star Wars , so it revived Trek in the form of movies. Then T.J. Hooker came along a few years later. What did you get out of the show?

It was a terrific show. It had all kinds of drama. I got to direct several of the episodes. And some of my shots are in the opening. I was totally involved, committed to the writing, committed to the directing. You’re running all the time. You’ve got to make decisions and you don’t have enough money.

I wish that I’d had the backing and the courage to do the things I felt I needed to do. My concept was, “ Star Trek goes in search of God,” and management said, “Well, who’s God? We’ll alienate the nonbeliever, so, no, we can’t do God.” And then somebody said, “What about an alien who thinks they’re God?” Then it was a series of my inabilities to deal with the management and the budget. I failed. In my mind, I failed horribly. When I’m asked, “What do you regret the most?,” I regret not being equipped emotionally to deal with a large motion picture. So in the absence of my power, the power vacuum filled with people that didn’t make the decisions I would’ve made.

You seem to take the blame, but outside observers might say, “Well, the budget wasn’t there. You didn’t get the backing you needed.” But in your mind, it’s on you.

Paramount+ is rumored to have tossed around ideas for you to reprise your role, à la Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Picard . Is that something you would entertain? 

Leonard [Nimoy] made his own decision on doing a cameo [in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek ]. He’s there for a moment, and it’s more a stunt that Spock appears in a future. If they wrote something that wasn’t a stunt that involved Kirk, who’s 50 years older now, and it was something that was genuinely added to the lore of Star Trek , I would definitely consider it.

Did hosting SNL feel like a breakthrough, in terms of showing what you could do with comedy? 

That was a new show then, it was a big sensation, and hosting it was good. They really wrote comedy for me. I played comedy since I was 7. There is a timing. There is a way of characterizing a line. It’s a kind of spiritual thing playing comedy, letting the audience know they’re open to laugh.

After decades in the industry, you achieved your greatest critical success in your 70s playing Denny Crane on Boston Legal . What was the genesis of Denny? 

In 2021, at age 90, you became the oldest person to go to space. Upon landing, you had a tearful exchange with Jeff Bezos. How have you processed that? 

I was weeping uncontrollably for reasons I didn’t know. It was my fear of what’s happening to Earth. I could see how small it was. It’s a rock with paper-thin air. You’ve got rock and 2 miles of air, and that’s all that we have, and we’re fucking it up. And, that dramatically, I saw it in that moment.

What are your thoughts on legacy? 

At Mar-a-Lago, I was asked to help raise funds with the Red Cross. I had to be at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night, and Leonard’s funeral was Sunday morning. I couldn’t make both. I chose the charity. It just occurred to me: Leonard died. They got a statue up. It’s not going to last. Say it lasts 50 years, 100. [Someone will say], “Who is that Leonard Nimoy? Tear the statue down, put somebody else up.” But what you can’t erase is helping somebody or something. That has its own energy and reverberation. That person got help — and then is able to help somebody else. You’ve continued an action that has no boundaries. That’s what a good deed does

This story first appeared in the March 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe .

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William Shatner At 93: 10 Greatest Star Trek Moments

  • William Shatner's Captain James T. Kirk exemplified courage, loyalty, and originality, leading to significant and memorable Star Trek moments.
  • Kirk's adaptability, quick thinking, sacrifice, and moral compass are clearly seen through iconic episodes like "Arena" and "Amok Time."
  • Shatner's nuanced portrayal of Kirk showcases the character's remarkable dedication, strategic genius, and deep bonds with the crew.

William Shatner, who plays the iconic Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series , celebrates turning 93 on March 22, 2024. The actor behind the franchise’s most famous captain, William Shatner, was born in Montreal on March 22, 1931. A classically trained Shakespearean actor, Shatner enjoyed a number of small stage, movie, and television roles before being cast as the compassionate, intrepid Captain of the USS Enterprise. Shatner’s Kirk led audiences on a five-year mission of adventure, amity, and collaboration to push the boundaries of scientific and academic accomplishment and boldly go among the stars.

Captain Kirk’s complex character exhibited courage, daring, passion, measure, loyalty, verve, and heart. Leading the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series alongside Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Kirk’s USS Enterprise command triumvirate was a significant and positive force of power, logic, and morality that – literally – saved worlds. Airing 3 seasons between 1966 and 1969, Star Trek: The Original Series showcased many significant moments and paved the way for multiple movies and subsequent Star Trek series. In celebration of William Shatner’s 93rd birthday, here’s a look at the legendary actor’s greatest Star Trek moments.

Among other franchise credits, William Shatner starred in 3 seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series , 1 season of Star Trek: The Animated Series , and 7 feature film Star Trek movies.

How To Watch All Star Trek TV Shows In Timeline Order

Star trek: the original series, season 2, episode 20 - "a piece of the action", captain james t. kirk invents the game "fizzbin" to escape capture..

Captain Kirk and a small away team visit Sigma Iotia II, a remote planet affected by accidental cultural contamination one hundred years earlier. Assigned by Starfleet to collect the offending artifact – a book on Earth’s 1920s Chicago mobsters – the Enterprise landing party quickly learns that the planet has developed a gangster-style culture with warring families. Tossed between the opposing factions, Kirk finds himself a pawn in the deadly competitive rivalry .

Captured to extort a supply of phasers from Captain Kirk's Enterprise , Kirk demonstrates originality, creativity, and quick thinking to stage an escape. As their guards pass time with card games, Kirk subtly diverts them with Fizzbin, a card game with complex, meandering rules to bamboozle and confound . Kirk and his friends are quickly able to overcome the distracted guards and escape. Though amusing and somewhat incidental, Kirk’s Fizzbin is an excellent example of the Captain’s adaptable and innovative nature and a delightfully memorable, original, and quirky character highlight.

Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 2, Episode 13 - "The Trouble With Tribbles"

On space station k-7, captain kirk becomes buried in a pile of tribbles..

In this fun Star Trek classic episode, Captain Kirk faces challenges from multiple directions with the USS Enterprise assigned to aid in a diplomatic project over claim of a disputed planet. With tensions high between the Klingon and Enterprise crews attending shore leave on space station K-7 , demanding Federation bureaucrats making threats and misusing priority communications, and Tribbles multiplying at a fantastic rate across the ship and space station , Captain Kirk becomes increasingly fraught and frustrated.

William Shatner effortlessly communicates Kirk's professionalism, curiosity, gentility, and exasperation.

Realizing that the Tribbles are in the ventilation ducts, Kirk and Spock rush to protect the Federation’s quadrotriticale. When Kirk opens K-7’s access hatch, he is quickly buried in a huge heap of Tribbles – all engorged on the grain. This absurd image is simultaneously adorable and entertaining yet increasingly disturbing and revealing of Kirk’s patience, self-control, and level-headedness. William Shatner effortlessly communicates Kirk's professionalism, curiosity, gentility, and exasperation. The episode is a favorite among fans, and the image of Kirk in Tribbles is weird, warm, informative, and memorable .

Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 2, Episode 6 - "The Doomsday Machine"

Captain kirk risks his life to destroy the planet killer..

When Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise find a distress signal from the USS Constellation in the wake of a trail of ruined worlds, they embark on a deadly quest of sacrifice and survival. Commodore Matt Decker (William Windom), Kirk’s friend, alone on the wrecked starship, is the sole survivor of an encounter with a planet-destroying ancient doomsday device .

"The Doomsday Machine" offers an important glimpse at Kirk’s multifaceted and commendable psyche.

Decker’s foiled attempt to take the Enterprise into the machine’s maw leads to a mildly successful but self-sacrificial run with an Enterprise shuttle and prompts Kirk to make a similar attempt on a grander scale with the rigged-to-explode devastated USS Constellation. Kirk’s obvious dedication and unfaltering commitment to the safety and welfare of others in this episode reveals a courageous willingness to take great risks alongside tactical and technical acumen and a steady nerve. "The Doomsday Machine" offers an important glimpse at Kirk’s multifaceted and commendable psyche.

Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 1, Episode 19 - "Arena"

Captain kirk fights the gorn..

Invited to a colony on Cestus III, Captain Kirk's landing party is greeted with the revelation that the message they received had been faked and the colony destroyed. Under attack, Kirk suspects a prelude to invasion. The battle quickly moves back to the ship as the Enterprise pursues the enemy vessel at high speed into Metron space. Objecting to the conflict, the Metrons remove Kirk and the enemy captain – a Gorn – to the surface of a suitable world for them to settle their differences.

Engaged in a personal battle for survival, Kirk learns that the Gorn regarded Cestus III as their territory and were repelling invaders – that, potentially, Starfleet had been at fault. Kirk balances intellect, speed, and flexibility against the Gorn’s superior strength and stamina to triumph, ultimately refusing to meet the life-or-death terms of the engagement set by the Metrons. "Arena" is an instructive moment for Kirk, who demonstrates an openness befitting his role when confronted with the possibility of guilt and wrongdoing. It’s also an iconic, much-loved moment as Captain Kirk battles the ruthless Gorn captain .

Complete History Of The Gorn In Star Trek

Star trek: the original series, season 1, episode 2 - "the corbomite maneuver" & season 2, episode 11 - "the deadly years", kirk saves the enterprise with a skillful bluff..

When the USS Enterprise encounters the Fesarius in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” Kirk is locked in a pattern of escalating diversions and ruses with the clock counting down to the destruction of the Enterprise. Kirk is increasingly stymied until a chance mention of chess and bluffing leads to the realization of a large-scale poker match. Feigning impatience, Kirk raises the stakes with a bluff about a defensive corbomite device installed on the ship that results in the destruction of any attacking ships and ultimately cultivates a first contact and friendly exchange scheme with the Fesarius’ commander, Balok (Clint Howard) .

In “The Deadly Years,” a rapidly aging Captain Kirk is removed from command, with Commodore Stocker (Charles Drake) taking over in his stead. Stocker quickly has the Enterprise violating the Neutral Zone and under attack. When the virus’ potential remedy “ could cure or kill ,” Kirk doesn’t hesitate to receive the first dose. Recovered, he returns to the bridge and broadcasts a bluff over a coded channel known to be broken by the Romulans, allowing for the Enterprise’s escape. These episodes highlight Kirk’s quick thinking, command experience, and dedication to the security and well-being of his crew , even in the face of emotional loss and personal suffering.

Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 1, Episode 24 - "Space Seed" & Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

Captain kirk fought & defeated khan noonien singh.

Star Trek: The Original Series introduces the franchise’s greatest villain in the season 1 episode, “Space Seed.” Awoken from suspended animation, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) and his crew of genetically advanced augments scheme to take over the Enterprise through a campaign of influence, violence, and deliberate cunning. A later appearance in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan sees Khan acting on a personal vendetta against William Shatner’s multi-faceted Admiral Kirk.

Outmuscled and outmaneuvered, Kirk must employ originality and lateral thinking in both instances in order to defeat his greatest foe. Spanning multiple levels of emotional manipulation, control, and physical threat, the shared respect, intellectual struggle, and balance of skill between these two heavyweight characters is a thrilling and weighty ride that continues to influence the franchise’s many characters and series. A reflection of each other’s limits and vulnerabilities, Kirk and Khan are opposing characters that occupy a revealingly similar space .

Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 2, Episode 5 - "Amok Time"

Kirk fights spock in a battle of life and death..

When Spock enters pon farr (the Vulcan time of mating), and Kirk is selected as the opposing champion for Kal-if-fee (challenge) , the two close friends and crewmates must fight each other in ritual combat. Desperate to save his friend, driven crazed by blood fever, and awed by the presence of T’Pau (Celia Lovsky) – whom Kirk considered to be “ all of Vulcan in one package ,” Kirk is hindered by a different atmosphere, superior Vulcan strength, and limited understanding of (secretive) Vulcan customs.

With Star Trek ’s two most iconic figures pitted against each other in a battle for survival, this episode – and fight scene – marks a significant moment for Captain James T. Kirk, carefully navigating a sensitive cultural ritual and now facing a personal no-win scenario. As Kirk struggles between the choice of killing Spock or being killed by Spock, it’s Dr. McCoy who ultimately saves both parties. Kirk’s willingness to defy orders and accept risk and sacrifice is again showcased here, alongside an exploration of Vulcan culture, friendship, and morality.

Star Trek: The Original Series, Season X, Episode X - "Balance of Terror"

Captain kirk faces off against a formidable romulan enemy..

A mysterious, unidentified vessel attacks multiple Starfleet outposts along the Neutral Zone. The attacker is soon identified as a Romulan ship capable of cloaking, and Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise embark on a deadly battle of nerve and tactical mastery . Identified as one of Star Trek: The Original Series and Captain Kirk's best episodes , “Balance of Terror” showcases Kirk’s ingenuity and strategic genius to great effect.

William Shatner’s performance as Kirk is skillful and measured here, allowing for an unusual insight into the character’s thinking processes, morality, and tactical genius. At all times, he’s considered, sensitive, responsible, commanding, and capable. Offering a unique perspective on the progression between Human and Romulan relations and a valuable understanding of Captain Kirk’s balance of instinct, analysis, and control, this episode absolutely deserves mention among his greatest moments.

Everything Pike Changed From TOS' "Balance Of Terror" In Strange New Worlds

Star trek: the original series, season 1, episode 28 - "city on the edge of forever", back in time to save dr. mccoy, captain kirk embarks on a tragic love story..

When Dr. McCoy accidentally injects himself with a large dose of cordrazine, he becomes hysterical and inadvertently alters the timeline when he jumps through the Guardian of Forever and loses himself in the past. To save their friend and recover their timeline, Kirk and Spock follow McCoy on an unusual journey to America’s Depression. Kirk meets and falls in love with the community-minded and visionary Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) , Captain Kirk's best known love interest , but the fate of everything pivots on her unfortunate demise.

Alongside impressive performances from the whole cast, William Shatner convincingly communicates the tender, heartfelt romance and savagery of the choice he is ultimately forced to endure . Considered one of Star Trek ’s all-time best episodes for good reason, this deep and resonating story expertly weaves a multi-layered, thought-provoking, and tragic tale of friendship, selflessness, sacrifice, and love.

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

Kirk steals the uss enterprise..

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock sees Kirk returning to the now off-limits Genesis Planet to save both of his closest friends. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, this emotionally courageous and thrilling movie follows a wayward Admiral Kirk and the Enterprise command crew sacrificing everything they have for the sake of friendship and family. Kirk disobeys direct orders and commits multiple crimes , engineering the theft of the USS Enterprise and setting a course for Spock.

Star Trek III is raw, dramatic, and emotionally intense, with Star Trek ’s iconic heroes giving up everything to save their friends. Kirk’s close bond with Spock and the ailing Dr. McCoy sets the stakes as incredibly personal and of the utmost importance, later intimately compounded by the murder of Kirk’s son David Marcus (Merritt Butrick) and the destruction of the USS Enterprise on Kirk’s command – an unthinkable act in any other circumstance. This movie vitally enhances Kirk’s established character , his raw emotions conflicting with the morality of his Starfleet vow, originating a later uncharacteristic resentment against the Klingons and fracturing a carefully cultivated façade.

Stretched to his limits, Kirk’s many sacrifices are borne of desperation and attachment – contrasting a lifetime of sacrificial moments stemming from responsibility and inner strength. Over the course of Kirk’s multi-decade adventures, many moments of significance and valor demonstrate the character’s deepest motives, fond charm, and giant heart. Shatner’s excellent and nuanced portrayal of Star Trek ’s most famous captain cements a legacy of exceptional standout moments. Happy Birthday, William Shatner!

Star Trek: The Original Series is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek movies I-X are available to stream on Max.

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew - Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) - with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.

Release Date September 8, 1966

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Directors Gene Roddenberry

William Shatner At 93: 10 Greatest Star Trek Moments

TrekMovie.com

  • March 22, 2024 | Podcast: All Access Digs Into Star Trek Business News And Reflects On The New William Shatner Documentary
  • March 21, 2024 | Filming On The ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Streaming Movie Has Wrapped
  • March 21, 2024 | Check Out New Posters Celebrating The Final Season Of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
  • March 21, 2024 | Interview: Michelle Paradise On ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Series Finale Tweaks And Rayner’s DS9 Connection
  • March 20, 2024 | Apollo Bids $11 Billion For Paramount TV And Film Studios [UPDATE: Redstone Prefers Skydance Deal]

Podcast: All Access Digs Into Star Trek Business News And Reflects On The New William Shatner Documentary

All Access Star Trek podcast episode 177 - TrekMovie

| March 22, 2024 | By: All Access Star Trek Pod Team 34 comments so far

Anthony and Laurie are joined by Brian Drew from the  Shuttle Pod podcast this week. They start by looking at the latest competing offers to buy Paramount Global, what else is on the table, and how all these high-level business dealings might impact the Star Trek franchise on TV and the big screen. And in other business news, we hear what some executives had to say about the future of Trek on the big screen and why Star Trek: Legacy has not been greenlit for the small screen. There is also some production news to catch up on for the Section 31 movie and Strange New Worlds  and a few Discovery season 5 tidbits.

The trio then moves on to talk about the new William Shatner documentary You Call Call Me Bill and the NYC premiere event (that Brian and Laurie attended) where Shatner and his director, Alexandre O. Philippe, did a Q&A with Neil deGrasse Tyson. All three offer their thoughts on the doc and how it fits its subject perfectly.

They wrap up with a Star Trek prediction update from the BBC, a look forward to Adam Nimoy’s new memoir about his father, and a look back at Gene Roddenberry’s The Lieutenant .

Apollo Bids $11 Billion For Paramount TV And Film Studios [UPDATE: Redstone Prefers Skydance Deal]

Paramount Has A Plan To Bring Star Trek Back To The Big Screen, Says Roddenberry Entertainment Exec

CBS Chief Says Star Trek Remains A Priority For Paramount, Answers Why ‘Legacy’ Has Not Been Greenlit

Anson Mount Teases Filming “Something Different” Today For ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3

Filming On The ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Streaming Movie Has Wrapped

Watch: Full ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5 SXSW Panel Video

Check Out New Posters Celebrating The Final Season Of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

Watch Trailer For ‘William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill’ Documentary Coming In March

Adam Nimoy’s newsletter  Thoughts from Talos IV

Sanctuary Districts And Irish Unification: Star Trek’s Vision Of 2024 Comes Strikingly Close

Anthony: The ‘banned’ Star Trek episode that promised a united Ireland [BBC] Laurie: Gene Roddenberry’s first TV series,  The Lieutenant , on YouTube Brian: Adam Nimoy’s The Most Human: Reconciling with My Father, Leonard Nimoy

Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and should you be so inclined,  please review us on Apple .

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Happy Birthday Mr. Shatner! 93 years young!

No need to be formal, VZX…. he says you can call him Bill :P

Lol that’s right! If I ever met him I still don’t think I would call him Bill, though. I met Nichelle Nichols once and I was too nervous to say a word!

Same happened with me and Jonathan Frakes. Of course, I met Frakes and his wife while manning the drive-through at a Burger King in Bangor, Maine… not exactly where one expects to meet Will Riker and Laura from “General Hospital”

Looking forward to his documentary. The one and only James T. Kirk, to me.

Happy Birthday to William Shatner – the best Captain Kirk and best Star Trek captain!

Happy Birthday, Shatner! More energy and good health for you to enjoy!

When you have time off from new Star Trek episodes, you could do some reviews of The Lieutenant. I bet you could even get Gary Lockwood too…

Happy Birthday, Mr. Shatner!

Adam Nimoy’s autobiography — My Incredibly Wonderful, Miserable Life, published in 2009 — blames his addictions and failed marriages on his father’s preoccupation with his career. He writes as if everything he doesn’t like about his life is his father’s fault and as if he has no contribution to his own problems. So I hope Adam has grown up a heck of a lot since he wrote that book!

I fear he may not have, though, because his documentary about his father, made in 2016, includes a lot of the same material. In that documentary, Adam talks about his troubled relationship with his father and makes it clear that he didn’t get what he wanted from his father until the last few years of Leonard’s life. He never tells us, though – I learned this from Shatner’s book about Leonard – that when Adam wanted to stop being a lawyer and start being a director, Leonard arranged for Adam to shadow a director on  The Next Generation  and essentially be tutored in the craft by a working professional, something that a person whose last name was NOT Nimoy could probably not have arranged at all, and if they had been able to arrange it, they’d have had to show some talent and training first.

Adam doesn’t seem to take the cultural standards of the time into account. Leonard Nimoy was born one year before my own father was born; Adam is two years older than I am. I remember the times during which he and I were raised, and the cultural standard then was that the woman raised the children and the man worked hard and supported the family. It was considered normal, natural, and desirable for the wife to devote herself to the children and for the husband to devote himself to his career so that he could provide financial support for his family. Nowadays, we find those attitudes sexist and limiting, and I’m glad that our cultural standards have changed. But I think it’s unfair to judge a man for not living up to standards that didn’t exist at the time!

A reading of Leonard’s autobiographies shows that he spent an enormous amount of time and energy on his career because he needed and wanted that creative outlet. But it also shows that during the years of the TV show, he made a huge number of personal appearances all over the country for anyone who would pay him – at a time when he was exhausted from working 12-16 hours a day on the show – in order to provide for his family while he could. He thought that his popularity and marketability would decline after the TV show went off the air – a reasonable conclusion, given what happens to most TV actors – and he was determined to take advantage of every available opportunity while he still had them. There was no creative outlet for Leonard in all those public appearances; he did them to support his family.

By the standards of the time,  Leonard was doing the right thing and more than the right thing, was going above and beyond and working himself into exhaustion to provide for his family.

Leonard never got what he wanted and needed from his own father, or from his mother, either. They were very invested in the success of his older brother and had less attention for him, plus they never understood either his ambition to be an actor or the show that made him a star. Leonard’s parents disappointed him at least as much as Leonard disappointed Adam … and Leonard went on to become a great man. Not just a great actor, though he was that, but a man whose intimates (except for Adam) all talk about his goodness, kindness, and generosity.

So I’m very skeptical about Adam’s new book; I fear he may be taking yet another opportunity to trash his father, to live off of his father’s fame even while badmouthing it. I devoutly hope that I’ll be proven wrong, but Adam was already 60 years old when he made the documentary.

So, Adam, what have YOU accomplished that’s one-tenth as meaningful as what your father did?

He directed a pretty good BABYLON 5 and an NYPD BLUE also, I think, but like you said, the op he got wasn’t necessarily earned. I say that with a bit o’ sour grapes, since I was told via phone in January 91 that I was under consideration — based only on a letter I sent to Meyer, sight unseen — for an assistant’s job on TUC that I didn’t even know was available. The caller — it might have been Denny Flinn, I don’t honestly know — hoped I could come in that day for a meeting, not realizing I lived 400 miles north of there. Anyway, that’s the first ‘in the biz’ job Adam got.

Sorry you weren’t close enough to take the job!

And yeah, okay, Adam directed a few decent episodes, AFTER his father arranged for him to be tutored. That still doesn’t amount to much, compared to all that his father did, not just Spock but all the directing and the photography, and the various times Leonard stood up for people with less power than he had and made sure they were treated fairly.

Thoughtful post. And Adam isn’t the least bit unique in his experience with his Dad. My father was born during the same era as Leonard, and acted the exact same way towards me. We were never close, and he was basically absent from my life until shortly before he died. As you indicated, these fathers were products of their time. Respectfully, Adam needs to get over it if he hasn’t. I learned long ago that carrying around that resentment and anger is toxic and does you no favors. LLAP.

It’s a shame that the cultural standards of the time allowed so many fathers to be emotionally absent, and I’m glad things have changed. But Adam’s holding Leonard to standards that didn’t exist at the time is really unfair. Sorry to hear that you didn’t get what you needed from your father, but glad to hear that you managed to deal with it.

Nelson Mandela famously said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies.” He was a wise man.

Isn’t Rod Roddenberry’s situation a bit similar though as well? I remember reading in several different sources about how he never had a really good relationship with his father. But now he kind of became the defacto “protector” of the franchise in his name.

Both of these ‘kids’ of famous people are simply riding the financial coattails of their Dads, imo. I’ve always thought so. Who knows, I may probably do the same thing if that was the case, but without the bad-mouthing. I hope Shatner’s daughters don’t do the same, reap the monetary benefits of their parent and smack-talk him at the same time once he’s gone. It’s disingenuous.

I haven’t kept up with what Rod Roddenberry is doing, so I didn’t realize that he was talking about a bad relationship with his father.

The thing is, though, a LOT of people want to talk about what a jerk Gene Roddenberry could be, whereas Adam is the ONLY person I’ve ever seen who says bad things about Leonard Nimoy. Nichelle Nichols wants to tell you about the time Leonard got her pay parity with Takei and Koenig; Grace Lee Whitney wants to talk about how gentle and supportive Leonard was after she was sexually assaulted; Takei and Nichols want to tell you about how Leonard ensured that they were hired for the animated series. Leonard is described as kind and generous by everyone but Adam.

Honestly I think everyone should avoid dismissing Adam’s story just because it’s about an actor they admire. Everyone’s life is more complicated than black and white, especially if you have a workaholic and alcoholic father. Or if you are that workaholic and alcoholic father.

From what I’ve seen, it’s not some Christina Crawford hit job – it’s an account of his experience, which includes a reconciliation by the end of Nimoy’s life, and I’m sure it could be helpful for a lot of people out there.

Happy Birthday, William Shatner.

Happy Birthday, Laurie.

Laurie mentioned that she was going to watch Boston Legal. Shatner created two iconic characters – Denny Crane is a great achievement. Shatner’s chemistry with James Spader is the backbone of that show, but there are also great performances by Candice Bergen, Betty White, Rene Auberjonois, et al. It’s fun to see Trek folks popping up throughout the series, and occasional inside jokes are made. Jeri Ryan is in a memorable episode as a movie star accused of murder. There is an episode where a 1950s television drama with young Shatner is repurposed in the story as a Denny Crane flashback.

Captain Kirk had a 20th/21st century lawyer ancestor, and his name was Denny Crane.

We rewatched THE INTRUDER again last year, and I still think it is Shatner’s best work, a role that really required the full range of his talent.

I love THE ANDERSONVILLE TRIAL, but actually don’t think he is great in that (still very much in Kirk mode), which is too bad because Jack Cassidy is phenomenal in it — even Cameron Mitchell really brings it, possibly for the only time I’ve ever seen him to do so.

Just saw him on Kimmel promoting the film, and boy, he looked better than he has in years. Ozempic maybe, he seemed much lighter.

The Intruder is hands down Shatners best role I think. That movie scared the hell out of movie. Also did you see him in Incubus? Making a full length movie in a made-up language (esperanto) shouldn’t have been an easy task. Whenever people make fun of Shatner’s acting, I refer to them to both The Intruder and Incubus to show that he was more than the stereotypes made about his acting.

I have a faint memory of seeing INCUBUS in the early 80s, but I’m not sure if it was a fuzzy VHS copy or something on a station like WGN or TBS. I think poster VOKAR here mentioned it to me, as Leslie Stevens of THE OUTER LIMITS was its principal creative force. Probably ought to give it another go in higher def (have rewatched some original OL recently and remain impressed with them, though I was cherry-picking through the ‘best’ of them, including the Ellison eps, so that shouldn’t have been a surprise.)

I don’t know if there is a higher definition version of Incubus out there. It is quite a rare film to find actually. For this reason I try to keep the version I have as a cherished possession although it is of lower quality. The original Outer Limits is also very good and needs to be seen by the lovers of pure science-fiction.

The just ordered The Intruder, don’t know how I missed that one all these years. Thanks for that.

I definitely want to check out The Lieutenant, curious about that one. I saw almost all of the other Roddenberry pilots, were impressed by some not so much by others.

Shatner is a worldwide national treasure. The Academy should really give him an honorary Oscar before he passes away.

Happy birthday to the wonderful William Shatner. The absolute legend of Star Trek

And damn you Paramount for robbing us of a final Shatner Kirk performance in Orcis ST3 (choosing instead to go ‘Fast Furious meets Guardians’ for added box office that did not materialize and sunk the movie franchise) damn you

Amen to that.

There has been no attempt from Paramount to rectify this. New shows, multiple Legacy characters and no William Shatner!

I saw You Can Call Me Bill last night with 3 fellow Trekkies. I’m still thinking about it today. It’s perfectly Shatnerian, at the same time we all agreed that a few of the segments went on too long. Tighter editing would have improved it. BTW I used to work in TV back in the 80s, just saying.

Another excellent episode in a long line. And great guest in Brian. Really appreciate the both of you and Happy Birthday, Laurie! Live long

What a great podcast!

I’m a huge fan of Bill Shatner. I love his films, tv shows, books, and music. I am the teacher I am today because of his portrayal of Captain Kirk. I learned about compassion, empathy, justice, love, risk, family, friendship, and human decency from him. And everyday I bring those values to my kids because I want them to build a better future for humanity. He is the person I aspire to be in life. Thank you Bill! Happy Birthday! We love you!

IMAGES

  1. What made Nichelle Nichols essential to 'Star Trek' as Uhura

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  2. Nichelle Nichols As Lieutenant Uhura from Star Trek Nichelle Nichols

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  3. 'Star Trek' Icon Nichelle Nichols on Why We Should All Live the Classic

    michelle nichols on star trek

  4. Actress Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura of TV series “Star Trek” 1967

    michelle nichols on star trek

  5. Nichelle Nichols, who starred as Lt Uhura in Star Trek, dies aged 89

    michelle nichols on star trek

  6. Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols dead at 89

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COMMENTS

  1. Nichelle Nichols, trailblazing 'Star Trek' actress, dies at 89

    Actress and singer Nichelle Nichols, best known for her groundbreaking portrayal of Lt. Nyota Uhura in "Star Trek: The Original Series," has died at age 89, according to a statement from her ...

  2. Nichelle Nichols

    Nichelle Nichols (/ n ɪ ˈ ʃ ɛ l / nish-EL; born Grace Dell Nichols; December 28, 1932 - July 30, 2022) was an American actress, singer and dancer whose portrayal of Uhura in Star Trek and its film sequels was groundbreaking for African American actresses on American television. From 1977 to 2015, she volunteered her time to promote NASA's programs and recruit diverse astronauts ...

  3. Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura on 'Star Trek,' dead at 89 : NPR

    Actress and singer Nichelle Nichols, best known as Star Trek 's communications officer Lieutenant Uhura, died Saturday night in Silver City, New Mexico. She was 89 years old. "I regret to inform ...

  4. Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura on 'Star Trek,' Dies at 89

    July 31, 2022. Nichelle Nichols, the actress revered by "Star Trek" fans for her role as Lieutenant Uhura, the communications officer on the starship U.S.S. Enterprise, died on Saturday in ...

  5. Nichelle Nichols dead: Played Uhura in 'Star Trek' series

    Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on 'Star Trek,' dies at 89. Actress Nichelle Nichols in Malibu in 2017. Nichelle Nichols, who played the communications officer on the Starship ...

  6. Nichelle Nichols, trail-blazing Star Trek actress, dead at 89

    Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on TV's Star Trek, has died at 89, her family said on Sunday. (Barry Brecheisen/Invision/The Associated Press) Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black ...

  7. Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt Uhura in original Star Trek, dies aged

    Nichelle Nichols, who played communications officer Lt Nyota Uhura on the original Star Trek series and helped to create a new era for television in the 1960s, has died in New Mexico at the age of 89.

  8. Nichelle Nichols, actress of 'Star Trek' fame, dies at 89

    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. Her ...

  9. Nichelle Nichols, Uhura in Star Trek franchise, dies at 89

    Nichelle Nichols, an actress whose role as the communications chief Uhura in the original Star Trek franchise in the 1960s helped break ground on TV by showing a Black woman in a position of ...

  10. Nichelle Nichols, Uhura in 'Star Trek,' Dies at 89

    Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed communications officer Uhura on the original " Star Trek " series, died Saturday night in Silver City, N.M. She was 89 years old. Nichols' death was confirmed ...

  11. Remembering Nichelle Nichols, 1932-2022

    StarTrek.com honors the late, pioneering actress and her legacy. StarTrek.com is deeply saddened to report the passing of Nichelle Nichols, the Star Trek franchise's beloved Lt. Uhura, who passed away on July 30, 2022. The radiant, ebullient actress embraced Star Trek, her role and the fans; spending parts of five decades as a favorite guest at ...

  12. Nichelle Nichols Dead: 'Star Trek' Lieutenant Uhura Was 89

    Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura on 'Star Trek,' Dies at 89. The actress earned the admiration of Martin Luther King Jr. by playing a Black authority figure, rare on 1960s television.

  13. Nichelle Nichols, groundbreaking 'Star Trek' actor, dead at 89

    By Kalhan Rosenblatt. Nichelle Nichols, the groundbreaking actor who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on the original "Star Trek" series, has died. She was 89. Nichols' death was confirmed on Sunday ...

  14. Trailblazing Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols dies at 89

    Nichelle Nichols (far right) on the set of the film Star Trek: The Final Frontier in 1989. American actress Nichelle Nichols, best known for her role in 1960s sci-fi TV series Star Trek, has died ...

  15. Nichelle Nichols, groundbreaking "Star Trek" star, dies at age 89

    Bill Russell, Nichelle Nichols remembered 01:45. Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Uhura on "Star Trek" in a groundbreaking role for Black actresses before going on to help recruit people of color ...

  16. Nichelle Nichols

    Nichelle Nichols. Actress: Star Trek. Nichelle Nichols was one of 10 children born to parents Lishia and Samuel Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. She was a singer and dancer before turning to acting and finding fame in her groundbreaking role of Lt. Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek (1966) series. As long as she could remember, she wanted to do nothing but sing, dance, act and write ...

  17. Star Trek's Lt. Uhura, Nichelle Nichols, dies at 89

    Nichelle Nichols, best known as the communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura of the starship Enterprise, died July 30. She was 89. Her groundbreaking performances in Star Trek, corresponding with ...

  18. Nichelle Nichols, Pioneering 'Star Trek' Actress, Dies at 89

    Nichelle Nichols, who captivated television audiences as Nyota Uhura in the original " Star Trek " series, died on July 30 at age 89. " [A] great light in the firmament no longer shines for ...

  19. Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols flying on memorial spaceflight

    Nichelle Nichols of 'Star Trek' to boldly go on unique memorial spaceflight in 2022. The late actress will be honored on a deep-space mission from Celestis. Nichelle Nichols in a scene from "Star ...

  20. Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura on 'Star Trek,' has died at 89

    Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played Lt. Uhura on the original "Star Trek," has died at the age of 89. Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lt. Uhura ...

  21. Nichelle Nichols Dies: 'Uhura' In Star Trek Was 89

    Nichelle Nichols, who broke down barriers with her portrayal of translator and communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek TV series and later in its film franchise, died ...

  22. Nichelle Nichols Remembers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

    Every day is a good day to celebrate Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols, the legend who first embodied the role of Nyota Uhura.But today, we're also taking time to pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who played a crucial role in Star Trek history.. On March 7, 1965, the historic Selma to Montgomery civil rights march began, sadly with "Bloody Sunday."

  23. REVIEW: Star Trek: Picard: The Art & Making of the Series ...

    Star Trek: Picard: The Art & Making of the Series showed how much thought, hard work, and passion was put into Capt. Jean-Luc Picard's return. ... It would've starred Nichelle Nichols and Patrick ...

  24. William Shatner shares the secrets to staying youthful ahead of his

    William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols in Season 3 of Star Trek. When it was released, the "Star Trek" film was criticized for its lack of execution and being an overall disappointment.

  25. Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura on 'Star Trek,' has died at 89

    Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood as communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original "Star Trek" television series, has died at the age of 89. Her son Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico. "Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away.

  26. Weekend STAR TREK News Roundup: SECTION 31 Wraps, New Regional

    First up: the Michelle Yeoh-led Star Trek: Section 31 movie has wrapped principle photography, after two months of filming which kicked off in late January. ... Nichelle Nichols and Zoe Saldana appear as Uhura, and so forth. Keep coming back to TrekCore for the latest in ...

  27. William Shatner on Kirk/Uhura Kiss Concern, Star Trek Return Terms

    William Shatner/Nichelle Nichols (Image: Discovery UK Screencap) When there was pushback from network censors on Shatner's interracial kiss with Nichols and he tried to make every take as real as ...

  28. William Shatner Calls Star Trek V Biggest Regret of Career

    William Shatner on His Biggest 'Star Trek' Regret - and Why He Cried With Bezos. From Captain Kirk to 'Boston Legal' lawyer Denny Crane, the 92-year-old THR Icon reflects on career ...

  29. William Shatner At 93: 10 Greatest Star Trek Moments

    Star Trek: The Original Series ... (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) - with his life. Facing ...

  30. Podcast: All Access Digs Into Star Trek Business News And Reflects On

    The All Access Star Trek podcast has joined the long-running ... I met Nichelle Nichols once and I was too nervous to say a word! Reply. Ambassador Sybok Reply to VZX March 22, 2024 3:58 pm ...