On July 31, Variety reported that groundbreaking "Star Trek" actor Nichelle Nichols died at the age of 89 in Silver City, NM. The news was confirmed by the star's talent manager, Gilbert Bell. Nichols played chief communications officer Lt. Uhura in the original "Star Trek" TV series and the first six films in the franchise. The actor was so influential that NASA recruited her to help encourage women and Black Americans to pursue careers as astronauts.
As Uhura, Nichols shared one of American TV's first interracial kisses with William Shatner in the 1968 "Star Trek" episode "Plato's Stepchildren." In 1991, she made history again when she became the first African-American woman to have her handprints included at the famed Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
Nichols's "Star Trek" costar George Takei honored her legacy on Twitter. "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," he tweeted. "For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend."
