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Nichelle Nichols

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In the 1960s it was not common to show an African-American woman with command tasks in television fiction. Nichelle Nichols, who played a communications officer in the legendary science fiction series “Star Trek”, has died of natural causes when she was about to turn 90.

It has been Kyle Johnson, son of Nichelle Nichols, who has published the news on his Facebook page: “Their light, however, like that of the ancient galaxies that are still seen for the first time, will remain with us and with future generations for be enjoyed, learn from it and arouse admiration”, he assured.

Nichelle Nichols was born into a large family of 10 children in Robbins, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in 1932, and studied ballet, so at an early age she sang and danced for the Duke Ellington Orchestra . She put her skills at the service of Sammy Davis Jr. in Porgy and Bess (1959), where she did not appear credited, the same thing that happened in Appointment in Paris (1966). She with James Garner she did The Woman Without a Face (1966), but her celebrity, especially among Trekkies and civil rights defenders, is due to the Gene Roddenberry Star Trek series .. She had previously been the fiancée of a US Army officer who suffered racial discrimination in the series The Lieutenant .

She was especially proud to have met Martin Luther King, telling him that Star Trek “was one of the few shows he was allowed to watch with his wife Coretta and their children.” When she told him that she was going to leave the other series, she replied: “You can’t do that. Don’t you understand that for the first time we have seen what we should see? You have a black role of equal to equal.” She followed her advice, talked to Roddenberry and remained in his character, playing him in up to 6 films in the saga, between 1979 and 1991, plus all kinds of derivatives. Later her character would be inherited by Zoe Saldana in the new film installments.

Always with secondary roles, she remained active almost until the end, for example she could be seen playing a senator in Scooby-Doo! The Curse of the Lake Monster (2010).

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