A terrible loss in the sci-fi world this past weekend as Nichelle Nichols has beamed up to join some of her fellow Enterprise crewmates. Nichols, best known for playing Lieutenant Uhura, was active throughout the years between Trek shows and movies.
Nichols was a groundbreaking performer, sharing American television's first scripted interracial kiss with "Star Trek" co-star William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, in the 1968 episode "Plato's Stepchildren."
Nichols also used her celebrity to shed light on the civil rights struggle in the 1960s.
In an interview for the Archive of American Television, Nichols explained how she wanted to leave the series for a role on Broadway and how Martin Luther King Jr. talked her into staying at the height of the civil rights movement.
"I said, 'Well I'm leaving Star Trek,' and he said, 'You cannot. You cannot,'" she recalled.
In an interview with StarTrek.com, Nichols explained that during a chance encounter at a fundraiser, King had urged her to remain on the show.
ABC News
For years I've read stories about fan encouters with Nichols who was always kind, generous, and outgoing to everyone. She was a groundbreaking actor and rightfully earned her place amongst the best of the best, not just in the Trek universe but for all of science fiction.
The light of the world is bit dimmer with her passing. She truly did live long and prosper.