Nichelle Nichols Talks About Visionary Gene Roddenberry

You know Nichelle Nichols as chief communications officer Uhura in the television series Star Trek, and the Star Trek films.  What started out as just an acting job, turned into a lifetime role that was an inspiration to women, African-Americans, and young people everywhere.  She stopped by the SiriusXM studios to talk with Ron Bennington about a new documentary created by Gene Roddenberry’s son– Trek Nation.  What follows are a few excerpts from that interview.

Ron Bennington: Star Trek, Trek Nation premiers tonight on the Science channel. Is it amazing that after all these years you still are telling so many of these stories and mean so much to so many people.

Nichelle Nichols: Yes, it is amazing. It’s amazing, and it’s gratifying. And what this young man, Eugene Roddenberry Jr. has done to bring his father into focus– it’s a young man’s journey to find out who his father was. Because he was 17 when his father died, and he wanted to know who this man was. Because Gene’s up at the crack of dawn going to work and coming home late at night. And he didn’t care about Star Trek, he didn’t know what it was. And like he said, he found the good the bad, warts and all. And with it all he found out that this person that he hardly knew– he fell in love with him. He said he understood finally. When he went to his first Star Trek Convention he was a full-grown man and it just blew him away.

Ron Bennington: None of this could have happened without Gene Roddenberry. It was very very early on, and he’s battling the networks.

Nichelle Nichols: He changed the face of television to begin with in the most positive way. He produced the first interracial all-star cast with men and women as equals. Unheard of! And he gave the world a new vision of who they were, and who we are vis-a-vis one another. It really changed everyone including we who were on the show, because we were experiencing something very very new.

Ron Bennington: And at the time– it’s hard for young people to understand this – the fact that there were races that were coming together. The hoses are still out in the south, women’s liberation hasn’t happened yet.

Nichelle Nichols: The first season I was going to leave the show and I told Gene and he was very upset about it and he said take the week and think about it. I went to an NAACP fundraiser the next night, and I was a celebrity guest at the dais. A producer came and said, Ms. Nichols someone wants to meet you, he says he’s your greatest fan. And I said certainly and get up and turn around into the face of Dr. Martin Luther King. My leader. I couldn’t even speak. And he’s telling me how wonderful he thinks my role is and how I’ve created it. And I said thank you Dr. King, I’m going to miss my co-stars. And he says what are you talking about? And I told him what I had just done with Gene. And he said you cannot do that. You can not do that. What Gene Roddenberry has done, has given us a vision of ourselves– has given the world a vision not only who we are but who we can be. For the first time, we see ourselves as we should be seen. That’s what we’re marching for. That’s why we’re out there. Then he said, this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I allow our little children to stay up and watch.

Ron Bennington: Now was that lost on you before that moment?

Nichelle Nichols: No I felt very guilty. I thought I should be out there marching with them, and here I have this very cushy role on television doing what I was born to do– to act and sing. I was living the life but I wanted to get back to my first love which was theater. Musical theater.

Ron Bennington: And at the time, I think what he was saying was– your character wasn’t struggling to be equal. The war was over, the victory was won, everybody was there.

Nichelle Nichols: What his genius was, was setting it in the 23rd Century. And there, Hollywood didn’t have to feel….because it was science fiction and it’s not going to happen for 300 years, so we can go with the flow. People, especially in the south saw that and said they saw themselves as they should be for the first time. And Gene Roddenberry gave that, not only to our country, but also to the world. It freed everybody.

Ron Bennington: And the interesting thing is, it probably works on a subconscious level first. You accept it because, this play is being acted out in your living room. You’re watching it, you’re not really thinking about it.

Nichelle Nichols: There were a lot of people thinking about it and they’re going, “Wow at last!” And it liberated a lot of people.

Ron Bennington: And at the time, the studios weren’t recognizing this.

Nichelle Nichols: They wanted no part of it. As a matter of fact, it was not Star Trek that he was trying to sell. He was trying to sell another script that was a trek across the country when we were still in wagons. But it was an all-star cast of men and women as equals of all colors. And they said, “You can’t do that Gene.” Finally a friend of his, who was head of a studio said, “Gene you can’t do that, we can’t sell, it this is America, they’re not going to buy it. Gene, maybe in 300 years.” And Gene said he stood up, he thanked him and went home and wrote Star Trek.

Ron Bennington: And it’s still kind of a pioneer story. It’s a wagon train story.

Nichelle Nichols: Exactly. It’s the same story. And the characters, for the first time he could have a black chief communications officer, female, who is fourth in command. I mean gosh. An asian who drives the ship. A half alien from another planet second in command.

Ron Bennington: It’s about humanity even though it’s in the middle of all this technology.

Nichelle Nichols: Yes, first people are human. And then we discover what greatness we are and how to affect it.

Ron Bennington: Now when it was over, did you think, okay it was a nice ride, but it’s over.

Nichelle Nichols: That’s show biz. Next! Weren’t we surprised?

Ron Bennington:  Were you shocked when it came around that you were going to get to make movies?

Nichelle Nichols: I was outraged! I was finally making it back to where I belonged– theater– and I’m getting ready to go Broadway, and they called and said, come back we’re going to do Star Trek: The Motion Picture. So I went to do the motion picture and put my dream on hold again. And the next thing I knew they were signing me up for the next three and the next three. I just threw my hands up because now I’m Uhura forever. I give up! I love her!

Ron Bennington: Do you still love theater though?

Nichelle Nichols: Oh yes, I’m remounting my one woman show– Reflections.

Ron Bennington: When you do a one woman show like that– the part where you’re connecting with the audience that night– is that what brought you to acting in the first place?

Nichelle Nichols: All I remember was being 5 years old and getting my dad and mom to sit down and I had something for them– I had learned a song, and it was called “moanin low, my sweet man I love him so.” My parents fell on the floor! I heard it on the radio, and it was a beautiful song. (Laughs) And so I was a singer. And I would write these scenes, so I was an actor. And by the time I was seven, I was in dance, I was a ballerina. So I was a singer, dancer, actor, and writer and I thought– doesn’t everybody?

Ron Bennington: You were a one woman show by 5 years old. So no looking back, it’s just something that was in you.

Nichelle Nichols: Yes I think that is what keeps you alive and vital and pertinent and valid. To keep that child alive and still be a woman, and have responsibilities.

Ron Bennington: Nichelle Nichols, thanks so much for stopping by to see us.

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You can hear this and other great interviews in their entirety, exclusively on SiriusXM satellite radio.  Don’t have a subscription yet?  Click here for a free trial.

For more information on Nichelle follower her on twitter @realnichelle

Trek Nation will air on the Syfy Network on December 18th and December 28th at 9pm est/6pm pacific.