#R.I.P. Nichelle (Grace Dell) Nichols

[njtare]

[jbird5by5]

Saddened to hear of the passing of Actress/Singer/Dancer Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022)

Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, has died.

She was 89 years old.

Nichols died Saturday Silver City, New Mexico.

Cause of death listed as natural causes

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 also served for many years as a NASA recruiter, helping bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps.

More recently, she had a recurring role on television’s “Heroes,” playing the

great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

Born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois Dec 28, 1932, Nichols first worked professionally as a singer and dancer in Chicago at age 14, On stage she was twice nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award as Best Actress of the Year while on film she danced with Sammy Davis Jr in Porgy and Bess, and opposite James Garner in Mister Budwing (1965) and in a complete change around soon after the Star Trek television series came to an end played a blousey madam in the 70’s Blaxploitation classic “Truck Turner” Opposite Issac Hayes, then co starred with Lynn Redgrave n Antony and Cleopatra. She's been married twice and has a son Kyle Johnson from her first marriage to a tap dancer. 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.

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.

My Condolence to Family and Friends.

#R.I.P. 😔🙏🥀

[sgthch]

R.I.P.  Nichelle Nichols/Lt Uhura. 🥺😢  Born Grace Dell Nichols · December 28, 1932 · Robbins, Illinois,. Died July 30, 2022 She was a beautiful woman.. She had a good long life and broke many barriers in the television & movie industry.so other Black actresses could follow. She’ll be missed. 🥺😢 Nichelle had no idea that this was a breakthrough role for Black women! She said, "It didn't hit me at the time until somebody told me! I splashed onto the TV screen at a propitious historical moment. Black people were marching all over the South. Dr. King was leading people to freedom, and here I was, in the 23rd century, fourth in command of the Enterprise."  Nichelle vividly recalls how America reacted when her Uhura character first hit the television airwaves."Oh, man, there were parts of the South that wouldn't show 'Star Trek' because this was an African American woman in a powerful position, and she wasn't a maid or tap dancer." • She was the first Black woman to play a high-powered non-stereotypical role on primetime American television.• Her on-screen influence, which ran from 1966 to 1991, reached far beyond the fictional alternate universe.• Nichelle Nichols was hired by NASA to recruit women and minorities for the space shuttle program.