Nichols said he died of natural causes.
Nichols portrayed Lieutenant Colonel Nyota Oora in the TV series “Star Trek” and several of his films.
When “Star Trek” began in 1966, Nichols was a rarity on television: a black woman playing a prominent role in a prime-time television series. There were African American women on television before, but they often played domestic workers and had small roles; Nichols’ Uhura was an integral part of the multicultural “Star Trek” crew.
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. described it as “the first atypical role portrayed by a black woman in television history.”
After running “Trek” for three seasons, Nichols has dedicated herself to the space program. NASA has helped make the agency more diverse, and has helped recruit astronauts Sally Ride, Judith Resnick, and Jon Bluford, among others.
George Takei, who portrayed USS Enterprise captain Hikaru Solo, posted a touching tribute to his co-star.
“We lived long and prospered together,” he added, with a photo of the two giving the famous Vulcan salute.
Nichols was born Grace Dale Nichols near Chicago in 1932. (Unhappy with Grace, she took the name Nichelle when she was a teen.) Her grandfather was a Southern white who married a black woman, causing a rift in his family.
She moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and landed a role on Gene Roddenberry’s series, “The Lieutenant.” Also on the show were a number of Star Trek veterans, including Leonard Nimoy, Walter Koenig, and Magel Barrett.
When Roddenberry was composing Trek, Nichols remembered. She was in Europe when she received the call.
Uhura was not in the original, and Nichols was responsible for the name. She was reading a book called “Uhuru” – “Freedom” in Swahili – and suggested that her character take the name. Roddenberry thought it was too tough.
‘I said, ‘Well, why don’t you change it, soften the end with an ‘A’, and it’ll be Uhura?’ You remember.” He said, “That’s it, that’s your name! I named it; it’s yours.” ”
Nichols is survived by her son, Kyle Johnson.