back to article Star Trek's Lt Uhura hospitalised in LA after stroke

Star Trek actress and NASA recruitment ambassador Nichelle Nicols is recovering in hospital following a stroke. Nichols – best known for playing Lt Nyota Uhura on TV and in the Star Trek film franchise – suffered a mild stroke while at her home in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening. Her agent Zach McGinnis informed Nichols’ …

  1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    Fingers crossed for a full recovery

    1. AbelSoul

      Re: Fingers crossed for a full recovery

      +1 for a speedy recovery - always one of my favourite characters.

      Obligatory Eddie Izzard skit

  2. sorry, what?
    Devil

    "Awake and eating as of Thursday evening"...

    Interesting priorities; Given the Uhura role, I'd have expected awake and relaying messages to be more appropriate.

    Still, wishing her all the best.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: "Awake and eating as of Thursday evening"...

      She did eat in the series. Hope she recovers well. Still gorgeous. Still admired.

  3. Paul Crawford Silver badge

    I wish her all the best for a speedy recovery.

    I still find it hard to believe that in my own lifetime that kiss was such a big deal, but then looking around the world today at some of the morons out there it is less of a surprise.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's bothered me for years that interracial marriage is still overwhelmingly not represented on prime time TV, such that when one is depicted it looks brave of the producers. One would suppose it's pandering to the sponsors - who are pandering to perceived unease in the target audience. The fact it effectively goes unmentioned would seem to confirm that the viewers are comfortable with things the way they are. Not prejudiced, perhaps, just afraid of controversy. Still.

  4. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    May she recover speedily.

    LLAP

  5. Stevie

    Bah!

    I once saw Nichelle Nicols speak as the media guest of honor at I-Con, a sadly defunct Science Fiction convention that was held at the end of every March on the Stoneybrook campus of SUNY.

    I've seen many Star Trek actors speak at that venue. Nichelle Nicols was without doubt or fear of contradiction the hardest working one, and possibly the most effortlessly pleasant.

    Media guests were expected to give an hour's talk on Saturday, and another on Sunday. These typically ranged from 45 minutes of talk and 15 of Q&A to a 50/50 mix, and Sunday was always a reprise of Saturday.

    Not so for Ms Nicols. On the Saturday, she spoke eloquently and easily for 45 minutes, reminiscing about her career and the people she'd known, as did the other guests. But she gave a completely different talk on the Sunday. My wife and I were astounded.

    I wish this most excellent ambassador of the Star Trek franchise, fine actress and raconteur a speedy and full recovery. She will endure in the memories of my family for her dedication and hard work as well as her demeanor.

  6. 0765794e08

    Get well soon Uhura

    Here's hoping she recovers at warp factor nine.

    Strokes are horrible things. It’s like Death wants to take you for his own, but he can’t get to you yet, so he whacks you on the head instead.

    Fortunately Nichelle’s stroke was mild, so with the right treatment (which I’m sure she’s getting), her prospects for recovery are good.

  7. Ocular Sinister

    No offence to the lady

    but I think she was cast as little more than a supporting actor. I certainly don't remember her doing much other than occasionally passing on messages to the Good Captain or one of his blue shirts.

    1. John G Imrie

      Re: No offence to the lady

      and in fact so got depressed and wanted to quit because of this. It was Martin Luther King who persuaded her to say with the series, telling her that she was the only positive black role model on TV at that time.

    2. Tom 13

      Re: No offence to the lady

      She got off the command deck about as often as Sulu left the Helm and has always been counted as part of the core group. I'll concur her role was limited and in keeping with the thinking of the times at the network level. Despite the limitations imposed on her, she was a leader in breaking down the barriers.

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: No offence to the lady

        She did a damn sight more in the later films as well, don't forget.

    3. DaddyHoggy

      Re: No offence to the lady

      A female black Officer on the bridge of the Star Ship, on a TV show - that was a real watershed/breakthrough moment as Whoopi Goldberg is often quoted as saying...

      http://ohnblog.com/newohnblog/2013/11/15/whoopi-goldberg-explains-how-the-star-treks-uhura-impacted-her-fan-then-explains-how-whoopis-role-on-star-trek-impacted-him/

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: No offence to the lady

        Yea, I remember seeing an interview with her about the part, it is hard to imagine now but she was considering leaving it after the first year for a different roll. Who talked her out of it was a bit mind blowing, Martin Luther King Junior, that was how different that role was verses what was being offered to black actors/actresses at that point in time.

  8. Kharkov
    Angel

    Fingers crossed for speedy recovery, and hats off for an amazing career!

    She could have been just another TV actress, she could have just sat back and lived on the residuals or done the movies and had a quiet life thereafter...

    But she didn't, she went on to a new life, one where she could contribute and inspire other people to go where no man, where no-one has gone before, and if not that, to at least help to make it possible for people to boldly go...

    So, again, fingers crossed for a quick return to health, and hats off to an amazing woman!

  9. Dave 32
    Thumb Up

    Live long and prosper

    May she live long and prosper.

    Dave

  10. TRT Silver badge

    I can only say one thing...

    Healing frequencies open.

  11. Turtle

    Ever.

    Nichelle Nicols: possibly the sexiest woman to ever appear on television

  12. Trigonoceps occipitalis

    "such as simply riding on a bus"

    That was OK, it was riding at the front of the bus that was an existential threat to Mom, apple pie and the American way. Ask Rosa Parks, another icon in the battle for civil rights. I just hope, that had I been there, I would have had the guts to protest against the segregation.

  13. Bucky 2

    She is always so elegant and poised. I hate this reminder that her immortality will only be metaphorical.

  14. Alistair

    An great personality and a wonderful person all round

    I do absolutely wish her a speedy and full recovery. I have memories from a Trek convention when I was 14 or 15.

    She was just wonderful to the folks who got to chat with her.

  15. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    Where's McCoy??

    CAT scans, MRI - are they primitive savages there? Did anybody call Bones??

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