August 1, 2022
On Saturday, July 31, 2022, actress Nichelle Nichols passed away from natural causes in New Mexico at age 89. Nichols started her career as a singer and dancer but was most known for playing Lieutenant Uhara on the long running Star Trek show from 1966-1969. She also voiced the character in the cartoon series in the 1970s.
She made history as one of the few black actors to have a leading role involving an intelligent character in an esteemed position. She also paved the way for actresses such as Zoe Saldana to play the iconic role in the 2009 'Star Trek' film and Sonequa Martin-Green to play 'Michael Burnham' in the streaming television series 'Star Trek: Discovery.' Nichols was also instrumental in NASA recruiting more diverse recruits to its space program.
She filmed her last movie, 'Renegades: Ominara', a sci-fi film where she played the role of 'Ominara' the caption of a pirate ship. Nichols was suffering from Alzheimer's and planned to retire after this last project.
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