Hollywood has lost another icon.
On Saturday night, trailblazing actress Nichelle Nichols, best known for her role as Nyota Uhura on the original Star Trek series, passed away at 89.
Nichols' son shared the news on her official website on Sunday.
“I regret to inform you that a great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years,” Johnson wrote. “The light, however, like the ancient galaxies being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration. Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.”
With Nichols' death, William Shatner and George Takei are the only surviving members of the USS Enterprise's original crew.
“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,” Takai tweeted Sunday. “For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend.”
“People keep saying, ‘You've inspired women of color.' ” Nichols told StarTrek.com in 2010. “And I say, ‘Yes, Black, white, yellow, brown, red and probably some with green blood and pointy ears!' Gene's brilliance was in casting people from all over the Earth, and an alien. It made everyone feel like they belonged. I wasn't a Black communications officer. I was a communications officer who happened to be from Africa, who happened to have brown skin. So I have had women of all stripes tell me how Uhura inspired them to reach for the stars. I've had women who've named their children after Uhura, and even after Nichelle.”
Nichols had additional health-related issues in recent years and suffered a minor stroke in 2015.
Dont recall her in any TV show or move Pre Star Trek TOS era
So sad! RIP