Nichelle Nichols

Nichelle Nichols: In "Plato's Stepchildren," Uhura and Kirk were supposed to kiss under duress from their captors. It became an issue with the director and Gene Roddenberry finally decided to shoot the scene with and without the kiss. Bill Shatner kept kissing until there was only time for one more take. When the camera zoomed in, Bill crossed his eyes and the director didn't notice it until the next day in dailies. Of course the last scene was unusable and they had to go with the kiss scene, which became history as the first interracial kiss on TV.

Nichelle Nichols: The day Jimmy Doohan fell into the water off the Bird of Prey. All the actors in the live scene thought it was a joke and jumped in after him. Nimoy, who was directing the film, was flabbergasted but quickly jumped in with them and screamed at the camera crew, "Keep shooting -- keep shooting!" It turned out to be a keeper and one of the best shots in the movie.

Nichelle Nichols: The day the actors took Leonard Nimoy's bike (which he used for transportation around the Paramount lot) and hung it in the rafters on the soundstage. He didn't find it for days, until they finally pointed to it.

Nichelle Nichols:Through conventions, personal appearances, and email, I still am involved. However, I have always had other professional interests, have never stopped working, and almost always look to the future more than the past.

Nichelle Nichols: Musical theatre has always been my first love. I was on my way to Broadway when, as I tell my fans, Star Trek interrupted my career!

(about Star Trek still seen as a children's series) Nichelle Nichols: I don't get fan mail from children, from England. I think anybody with any intelligence sits down and sees the show, sees it's not a kids' show.

Question: Your album Down to Earth is just out on CD. Are you worried that people might think your album is a novelty record? Nichelle Nichols: I don't know. I have no feeling about it. It's an original album that I did years ago and I'm delighted that they want to put it out, but whatever their reasonings are, only God and they know. I had no idea that they were doing that.

(about playing Uhura in Star Trek) Nichelle Nichols: It was unheard of. As a matter of fact, I really did not at first appreciate the magnitude of what he was doing. He never did anything without knowing what and why he was doing it, but I didn't really realize what he was accomplishing. Throughout the first season I was simply so affected by each script, each episode kept getting better and better and better and I thought, "Gene better be careful because they're going to cancel this show: it's too good." It was towards the end of the show and I was really considering leaving the show, for no other reason than I wanted to return to the theatre. I went in to talk to Gene - this was I was getting up nerve to tell him I was leaving the show, but at this point I went in and I said "Gene, I've been watching each of the episodes and they each get better and better" and I said, "And I discovered something: you're writing morality plays." And he said, "Shhh. They haven't figured it out yet."

(about the creation of the first Star Trek convention) Nichelle Nichols: Almost immediately in 1970, after the show was canceled in '69, a group of people in New York got together and they were lawyers and brokers um, Wall Street people, and they put some money together and said, "Let's get some friends together and celebrate how wonderful it was." They decided to go to a hotel, get a hotel ball room, and then they said, "Why don't we invite, friends from out of town?" and so they all decided to throw in three hundred bucks apiece, I think there was about four or five of them. Then somebody said, "Do you think the cast would come and do you think Gene Roddenberry would come?" And they said, "God, I don't think so." "Well, they can only say no. That's the worst they can say." and so they called and everybody said, "That would be wonderful." And it was the first Star Trek convention in New York.

(about her costume on Star Trek) Nichelle Nichols: Well I hated the color, that was all. It was kind of a pea green. Gene hated the color also, and so he called Bill Theiss in and told him he wanted to change that costume, and um, - so I think I wore that pea green thing for a couple of episodes and then they changed to that beautiful red. I thought that Bill Theiss did a pretty good job except for the ruffles around the guy's pants. I didn't like the ruffles around the guy's pants.

(asked bout going another career than entertainment) Nichelle Nichols: No. I was very blessed in always knowing what I wanted to do and what I wanted it to be, and by the grace of God I've been able to succeed in my chosen career.

Reporter: How did you feel about your costume. It was very revealing. Nichelle Nichols: So? I was wearing them on the street. What's wrong with wearing them in the air? I wore 'em on airplanes. It was the era of the miniskirt. Everybody wore miniskirts. It amazes me that people still make some remark about 'the revealing'. They revealed nothing. I had long black stockings on and boots up to my knees and the skirts and panties on and a skirt that gave you freedom to move in, - so what?