Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura in ‘Star Trek’ franchise, dies at 89

 Nichelle Nichols, an actress who played the role of the communications chief Uhura in the original “Star Trek” franchise in the 1960s and helped break ground on TV by showing a Black woman in a position of authority and who shared with co-star William Shatner one of the first interracial kisses on American prime-time television, died July 30 in Silver City, N.M. at the age of 89.