Nichelle Nichols was best known for playing Lieutenant Uhura on the original “Star Trek” TV series, which ran from 1966 to 1969. She played the same character in six “Star Trek” movies. Nichelle became very popular at conventions as her career went on. She could make between $10,000 and $50,000 to speak at conventions, depending on how big they were and how long she was there.
Nichols was making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from these conventions before health problems forced her to retire. Nichelle has been in more than 60 movies and TV shows, such as “Snow Dogs” (2002), “Are We There Yet?” (2005), and “The Young and the Restless” (2016).
Nichols made the movies “Lady Magdalene’s” (2008) and “Unbelievable!!!!” (2020), as well as the documentary “Woman in Motion,” which is about her work with NASA. She has lent her voice to many animated shows, such as “Gargoyles” (1994), “Batman: The Animated Series” (1994), “Futurama” (2000, 2002), and “The Simpsons” (2004).
Nichelle is also a good writer. She wrote the memoir “Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories” in 1994 and the science-fiction books “Saturn’s Child” and “Saturna’s Quest” in 1995 and 1996, respectively (2002). “Down to Earth” (1967) and “Out of This World” (1991) are two albums she has put out.
Nichelle Nichols Early Life
Grace Dell Nichols was born on December 28, 1932, in Robbins, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago. This is where Nichelle Nichols grew up. She grew up with her mom, Salish, her dad, Samuel, and her little brother, Thomas. Her father worked in a factory and was the mayor of Robbins and chief judge.
Nichelle’s brother, who was a member of the Heaven’s Gate cult, died in the group’s mass suicide in March 1997. Nichols got her start in show business when she was 16 and worked as a dancer with Duke Ellington’s band. Ellington asked her to sing for him, and when she did, he was so impressed that he thought she should be the leader of the band.
Nichelle Nichols Career
In 1961, Nichols played the lead role in the Oscar Brown musical “Kicks and Co.” This got the attention of “Playboy” publisher Hugh Hefner, who hired her to perform at the Chicago Playboy Club. She also played the main character in a Chicago production of “Carmen Jones,” and she was in a New York production of “Porgy and Bess.” Her first film role was as a dancer in the 1959 version of “Porgy and Bess” with Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge.
She was not given a credit for this role. Then, in 1966, Nichelle was in the movies “Tarzan’s Deadly Silence,” “Made in Paris,” “Mister Buddwing,” and “Doctor, You’ve Got to Be Kidding!” in 1967, and in January of that year, she was on the cover of “Ebony” magazine. In 1964, she was a guest star on “The Lieutenant,” a show created by Gene Roddenberry.
Two years later, he gave Nichols the role that would change her life: Lieutenant Uhura on “Star Trek.” The first episode of the show aired on NBC on September 8, 1966. It ended in 1969, after 79 episodes. During the first season, Nichelle thought about leaving the show to try to make it on Broadway, but Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. persuaded her to stay by telling her, “You can’t just quit, because this is a very important job. We are marching because of this. We didn’t think we’d ever see this on TV.”
Nichelle Nichols Net Worth
Nichelle Nichols was an American singer, actress, producer, and author who died in July 2022 with a net worth of $500,000. On July 30, 2022, Nichelle Nichols died at the age of 89.
Nichelle Nichols Personal Life
In the 1960s, Gene Roddenberry, who made “Star Trek,” was in a relationship with Nichelle. She said they broke up before the show started. Roddenberry died in 1991, and Nichols sang “Gene,” a song she had written with another person, at his funeral.
Foster Johnson was a dancer, and Nichelle married him in 1951. They split up later that same year. On August 14, 1951, their son Kyle was born. Then, in 1968, Nichols married Duke Mondy. In 1972, they split up. In 2012, she met with President Barack Obama at the White House.
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Nichelle Nichols NASA Work
After “Star Trek” ended, Nichols went to work for NASA to find women and people of color who wanted to be astronauts. Dr. Sally Ride, Air Force Colonel Guion Bluford, Dr. Judith Resnik, and Dr. Ronald McNair were some of the people she found to be good candidates. Nichelle joined the board of governors of the National Space Society around the middle of the 1980s.
In 2015, she took part in an eight-hour NASA mission in which she flew on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy Boeing 747SP to study the atmospheres of Saturn and Mars. In September 1976, Nichols and other “Star Trek” cast members went to Palmdale, California, to celebrate the launch of the first space shuttle, Enterprise.
In 2010, Nichelle went to Johnson Space Center to see Mission Control and the space shuttle simulator. In 2001, NASA named Asteroid 68410 “Nichols” in honor of Nichelle’s work as “a global ambassador for NASA, a recruiter of astronauts, and an inspiration to millions as an author of science fiction,” as well as her role on “Star Trek.”
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