Star Trek Legend Nichelle Nichols Dies At 89

Nichelle Nichols, famous for portraying communications officer Uhura on the original "Star Trek" series, died Saturday night in Silver City, N.M. She was 89 years old.

Nichols began her show business career at age 16 singing with Duke Ellington in a ballet she created for one of his compositions. Later, she sang with his band.

She had an appearance in Oscar Brown's high-profile but ill-fated 1961 musical "Kicks and Co."as campus queen Hazel Sharpe, who's tempted by the devil and Orgy Magazine to become "Orgy Maiden of the Month." The play closed after its brief Chicago tryout.

Nichols also appeared in the role of Carmen for a Chicago stock company production of "Carmen Jones" and performed in a New York production of "Porgy and Bess," making her feature debut in an uncredited role as a dancer in an adaptation of that work in 1959. Later in her career she shared her singing talents briefly on Star Trek.

While working in Chicago, Nichols was twice nominated for that city's theatrical Sarah Siddons Award for best actress. The first came for "Kicks and Co.," while the second was for her performance in Jean Genet's "The Blacks."

Nichols was married and divorced twice and is survived by her son, Kyle Johnson.

Read more about Nichelle Nichols' Star Trek career HERE