![]() ![]() _Īssociated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles. Her name was at times invoked at courthouse rallies that sought the freeing of Britney Spears from her own conservatorship.īut 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. 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. ![]() 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. 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. In an AP interview before her flight, Jemison said she watched Nichols on “Star Trek” all the time, adding she loved the show. The two remained lifelong close friends.Īnother 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 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. They later learned she had a strong supporter in the show’s creator. 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. 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. 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. 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.īorn Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, Nichols hated being called “Gracie,” which everyone insisted on, she said in the 2010 interview. 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.ĭespite concerns, the episode aired without blowback. Worried about reaction from Southern television stations, showrunners wanted to film a second take of the scene where the kiss happened off-screen. ![]() In this utopian-like future, we solved this issue. “The characters themselves were not freaking out because a Black woman was kissing a white man. 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. 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.ĪP entertainment correspondent Oscar Wells Gabriel reports on Obit Nichelle Nichols “I think many people took it into their hearts. 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. The original “Star Trek” premiered on NBC on Sept. More recently, she had a recurring role on television’s “Heroes,” playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers. She also served for many years as a NASA recruiter, helping bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps. 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 was a trailblazer who navigated a very challenging trail with grit, grace, and a gorgeous fire we are not likely to see again.” “Star Trek: Voyager” alum Kate Mulgrew tweeted, “Nichelle Nichols was The First. ![]()
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