Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� television series, has died at the age of 89.

Her son Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico.

B次元官网网址淟ast night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration,B次元官网网址� Johnson wrote on her official Facebook page Sunday. B次元官网网址淗ers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.B次元官网网址�

Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lt. Uhura earned Nichols a lifelong position of honor with the seriesB次元官网网址� rabid fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited Black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial onscreen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.

B次元官网网址淚 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,B次元官网网址� George Takei wrote on Twitter. B次元官网网址淔or today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend.B次元官网网址�

Like other original cast members, Nichols also appeared in six big-screen spinoffs starting in 1979 with B次元官网网址淪tar Trek: The Motion PictureB次元官网网址� and frequented B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� 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 televisionB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淗eroes,B次元官网网址� playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

The original B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� premiered on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene RoddenberryB次元官网网址檚 message to viewers that in the far-off future B次元官网网址� the 23rd century B次元官网网址� human diversity would be fully accepted.

B次元官网网址淚 think many people took it into their hearts B次元官网网址� that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate,B次元官网网址� Nichols said in 1992 when a B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� exhibit was on view at the Smithsonian Institution.

She often recalled how Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights gathering in 1967, at a time when she had decided not to return for the showB次元官网网址檚 second season.

B次元官网网址淲hen I told him I was going to miss my co-stars and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said, B次元官网网址榊ou cannot do that,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� she told The Tulsa (Okla.) World in a 2008 interview.

B次元官网网址淏次元官网网址橸ouB次元官网网址檝e changed the face of television forever, and therefore, youB次元官网网址檝e changed the minds of people,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� she said the civil rights leader told her.

B次元官网网址淭hat foresight Dr. King had was a lightning bolt in my life,B次元官网网址� Nichols said.

During the showB次元官网网址檚 third season, NicholsB次元官网网址� character and ShatnerB次元官网网址檚 Capt. James Kirk shared what was described as the first interracial kiss to be broadcast on a U.S. television series. In the episode, B次元官网网址淧latoB次元官网网址檚 Stepchildren,B次元官网网址� their characters, who always maintained a platonic relationship, were forced into the kiss by aliens who were controlling their actions.

The kiss B次元官网网址渟uggested that there was a future where these issues were not such a big deal,B次元官网网址� Eric Deggans, a television critic for National Public Radio, told The Associated Press in 2018. B次元官网网址淭he characters themselves were not freaking out because a Black woman was kissing a white man B次元官网网址� In this utopian-like future, we solved this issue. WeB次元官网网址檙e beyond it. That was a wonderful message to send.B次元官网网址�

Worried about reaction from Southern television stations, showrunners wanted to film a second take of the scene where the kiss happened off-screen. But Nichols said in her book, B次元官网网址淏eyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories,B次元官网网址� that she and Shatner deliberately flubbed lines to force the original take to be used.

Despite concerns, the episode aired without blowback. In fact, it got the most B次元官网网址渇an mail that Paramount had ever gotten on Star Trek for one episode,B次元官网网址� Nichols said in a 2010 interview with the Archive of American Television.

Born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, Nichols hated being called B次元官网网址淕racie,B次元官网网址� which everyone insisted on, she said in the 2010 interview. 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. Hence, B次元官网网址淣ichelle.B次元官网网址�

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 1959B次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淧orgy and Bess,B次元官网网址� the first of several small film and TV roles that led up to her B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� stardom.

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. They later learned she had a strong supporter in the showB次元官网网址檚 creator.

In her 1994 book, B次元官网网址淏eyond Uhura,B次元官网网址� she said she met Roddenberry when she guest starred on his show B次元官网网址淭he Lieutenant,B次元官网网址� and the two had an affair a couple of years before B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� began. The two remained lifelong close friends.

Another 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 an AP interview before her flight, Jemison said she watched Nichols on B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� all the time, adding she loved the show. Jemison eventually got to meet Nichols.

Nichols was a regular at B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� 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.

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Former Associated Press Writer Polly Anderson contributed biographical material to this report.

Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press

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