A Look Back at the Groundbreaking Life and Tragic Death of 'Star Trek' Icon Nichelle Nichols

Photo byblackfilm.com

July 31, 2024, will mark two years since the passing of Nichelle Nichols, the elegant and graceful Star Trek actress. Nichols, who died at 89, will be forever remembered for her groundbreaking role as Communications Officer Lt. Uhura on the original NBC 1966-1969 Star Trek TV series and initial feature films.

A Closer Look

Along with Diahann Carroll, star of NBC's 1968-1971 Julia TV sitcom, and Gail Fisher, from the CBS TV's 1967-1976 detective series, Mannix, Nichelle Nichols was among the first African-American Black women to have a leading role in a television program. She later worked with NASA to recruit minorities for the space program.

However, what many do not know is that Nicholas had auditioned for the role of Fisher's Peggy Fair role on Mannix, which starred Mike Connors. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry would not allow Nichols to appear in the crime drama, which though airing on CBS, another network, was produced at the same time studio as Trek: Desliu (run by entertainment industry legend Lucille Ball).

Nicholas was also an established stage actress, appearing in iconic productions like The Fantastiks! on Broadway.

Other of her monumental TV appearances include an episode of Roddenberry's short-lived NBC TV series, The Lieutenant.

The Lieutenant starred actor Gary Lockwood, who would go on to guest-star (and help sell!) the second Star Trek pilot ("Where No Man Has Gone Before").

As fate would have it, an episode of The Lieutenant, titled, "To Set It Right," also featured a guest appearance by a pre-superstar actor named Dennis Hopper.

Nichols, meanwhile, had also worked with actor Don Marshall on an episode of Star Trek, titled, "The Galileo Seven." Marshall would star in the short-lived but popular sci-fi series, Land of the Giants, which was produced by Irwin Allen and aired on ABC.

Marshall had also guest-starred on the classic 1971 episode of Bewitched, titled, "Sisters at Heart" (which just so happened to be Bewitched star Elizabeth Montgomery's favorite episode).

A Trailblazing Interacial TV Kiss

It was on Star Trek with series male lead William Shatner that Nichelle Nichols shared one of the first interracial kisses in TV history.

The 1968 episode, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” featured a sequence in which Nichols' Uhura and Shatner's Captain Kirk did not freely kiss but were forced to do so by aliens.

Before that monumental moment, there had been only a few interracial kisses on American TV.

In 1967, on the Movin’ With Nancy TV show, Sammy Davis Jr. kissed Nancy Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra, on the cheek in what appeared to be a spontaneous gesture but was, in reality, carefully orchestrated.

The Uhura-Kirk kiss on Star Trek, meanwhile, was the first televised White/Black American direct lip-to-lip lock.

Decades Later

In 2007, Nichelle Nichols recurred on the second season of the NBC superhero drama, Heroes. She portrayed Nana Dawson, the matriarch of a New Orleans family devastated by Hurricane Katrina who cares for her orphaned grandchildren and great-nephew, Micah Sanders (played by series regular Noah Gray-Cabey).

In 2008, Nichols appeared in the films Tru Loved and The Torturer.

In 2015, Nichols suffered a stroke and, three years later, she was diagnosed with dementia which, according to the Los Angeles Times, ignited a conservatorship dispute between her manager Gilbert Bell, and her son Kyle Johnson, as well as a friend.

Conclusion

Throughout her life and career, Nichelle Nichols amassed countless fans who will forever cherish her performance as Lt. Uhura on Star Trek and the impact she made on pop culture and the world.