She’s the first lady of Space – but actress Nichelle Nichols has revealed she wanted to quit her role of Star Trek’s Lt Uhura
after the debut series. She was only beamed back onboard the show that became a TV phenomenon thanks to her biggest fan – civil rights legend Martin Luther King. Nichelle, now 76, revealed King’s fateful intervention as a new Star Trek movie opens in UK cinemas. She also told how she originally sought the part of pointy-eared Spock – not realising it was a man’s role. And while praising newcomer Zoe Saldana, 30, who now plays Uhura, she was less complimentary about her old co-star William “Captain Kirk” Shatner. Nichelle was a rare black face on US telly when she joined Star Trek in 1966.
Sister Act star Whoopi Goldberg once told Nichelle how, as a nine-year-old, she screamed to her family: “Come quick, come quick, there’s a black lady on television and she ain’t no maid.” But Nichelle only fully realised her role in America’s race equality battle when she tried to quit the show but was stopped by King, whose I Have a Dream Speech inspired a generation.