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Another TV Icon Gone - & This One Was Groundbreaking
Nichelle Nichols only really had one major role in her acting career - but it made a major impression. She starred as Lt. Uhura in the original Star Trek and some of the subsequent movies, one of the first Black actors to portray a respected and competent officer and an equal onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.
The famous story is that she wanted to quit the show but was dissuaded by none other than Martin Luther King Jr., who urged her to keep going so young Black viewers could see her as a role model. She was also involved in the first real inter-racial kiss on that show, when she apparently locked lips in a scene with William Shatner, a plot point that caused an uproar in some parts of the more unenlightened southern U.S.
She was 89.
Nichelle Nichols, Uhura in ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 89
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Re: Another TV Icon Gone - & This One Was Groundbreaking
After giving a speech that criticized the lack of female and minority NASA personnel in both what we now refer to as the STEM fields and the astronaut corps; the space agency invited her to take an official role in helping to resolve the issue.
Her first assignment would result in a continued relationship with the space program, long after she completed this project.
Last edited by Media Observer (July 31, 2022 5:31 pm)
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Re: Another TV Icon Gone - & This One Was Groundbreaking
so many people are paying tribute to Nichelle Nichols, including her Star Trek family and extended family 🖖🕯️
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Re: Another TV Icon Gone - & This One Was Groundbreaking
A literal out of this world tribute.
"Nichelle Nichols, who blazed a trail for Black actors as Lieutenant Uhura on the original “Star Trek,” never got to go to space while she was alive — but her ashes and her DNA are due to reach the final frontier as early as this year.
"The symbolic samples are scheduled to fly beyond the moon, along with the ashes of other dearly departed Star Trek pioneers such as James Doohan (“Scotty”); Majel Barrett Roddenberry (“Nurse Chapel”); the TV series’ creator, Gene Roddenberry; and visual-effects wizard Douglas Trumbull."
‘Star Trek’ Cast Members Ashes Will Be Flown Into Space As Part Of Memorial Mission
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