Posted on 07/31/2022 12:33:20 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
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 at 89.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Is this woman not worth anything beyond the color of her skin?
She was having an affair with Gene Roddenberry while he was married and he was also fooling around at the same time with Nurse Chapel who later became his wife.
And her photon torpedoes
Spock. Gone.
Scotty. Gone.
Bones. Gone.
Now Uhura. Gone.
That leaves Sulu, Checkov, and James Tiberious Kirk.
In her later years when she was already suffering from memory loss some ‘fan’ showed up at her door in Los Angeles and over time ended up taking care of things for her, even moving in. Her son did not like what was going on and he found out she had transferred title of her home she had bought some 40 years before to him.
It would now be worth over a million dollars. The son had a lawsuit against him and he also moved her to another state away from him. I do not know the outcome of the lawsuit and who gets the house.
Unfortunately that is what happens as you get older.
Hailing frequency closed.
Sometimes she would sing. She had a lovely voice.
“Work with NASA
Nichols (fourth from the left) with most of the cast of Star Trek visiting the Space Shuttle Enterprise at the Rockwell International plant at Palmdale, California, U.S., 1976
After the cancellation of Star Trek, Nichols volunteered her time in a special project with NASA to recruit minority and female personnel for the space agency. She began this work by making an affiliation between NASA and a company which she helped to run, Women in Motion.
The program was a success. Among those recruited were Dr. Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut, and United States Air Force Colonel Guion Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, as well as Dr. Judith Resnik and Dr. Ronald McNair, who both flew successful missions during the Space Shuttle program before their deaths in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986. Recruits also included Charles Bolden, the former NASA administrator and veteran of four shuttle missions, Frederick D. Gregory, former deputy administrator and a veteran of three shuttle missions and Lori Garver, former deputy administrator. An enthusiastic advocate of space exploration, Nichols served from the mid-1980s on the board of governors of the National Space Institute (today’s National Space Society), a nonprofit, educational space advocacy organization.[50]
In late 2015, Nichols flew aboard NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Boeing 747SP, which analyzed the atmospheres of Mars and Saturn on an eight-hour, high-altitude mission. She was also a special guest at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on July 17, 1976, to view the Viking 1 soft landing on Mars. Along with the other cast members from the original Star Trek series, she attended the christening of the first space shuttle, Enterprise, at the North American Rockwell assembly facility in Palmdale, California. On July 14, 2010, she toured the space shuttle simulator and Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center.
Nichols’ work with NASA is given significant focus in the documentary Woman in Motion about her life”
“In her autobiography, Nichols wrote that she was romantically involved with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry for a few years in the 1960s. She said the affair ended well before Star Trek began, when she realized Roddenberry was also involved with her acquaintance Majel Hudec (known as Majel Barrett). Hudec went on to marry Gene Roddenberry and have a regular supporting role as nurse Christine Chapel on Star Trek”.
“Nichols’ younger brother, Thomas, was a member of the Heaven’s Gate cult. He died on March 26, 1997, in the cult’s mass suicide that purposely coincided with the passing of Comet Hale–Bopp. A member for 20 years, he frequently identified himself as Nichelle’s brother in promotional materials released by the cult”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichelle_Nichols
RIP Nichelle Nichols.
Nichols and Russell. I wonder who will be the third.
Dang. I had such a crush on her back in the day. RIP.
Classy lady. May she rest in peace...
She certainly was.
R.I.P. Ms. Nichols.
Jack Benny; “Rochester have you seen my pet monkey?’’
Rochester: “Yes sir Mr. Benny he’s in the library reading Esquire Magazine’’.
Jack Benny: “Esquire Magazine!?!’’
Rochester “Aw now Mr. Benny, he been around!’’.
Rip. She had a grace and poise that those playing her character haven’t captured
She’ll have Mr Adventure eating it off her hands. She played Uhura with a Class that hasn’t been seen in modern incarnations
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