Where Was Uhura? (Star Trek)
SpannrWrks
Recently saw an episode (The Doomsday Machine) from Start Trek: The Original
Series...
It's been quite a while since I saw a Star Trek episode, but Uhura was nowhere
to be found. There was another actress at Communications.
There seem to be a few (not very many) episodes where another actress played
her part. What's the story on this? Did she have contract disputes or was
something else going on?
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer,
SW
Arthur Lipscomb
There wasn't another actress playing her "part" it was another character
entirely. Although she's a dedicated officer Uhura can't be on the
bridge 24/7. The actress was probably busy or sick, who knows, but the
character has always and only been played by Nichelle Nichols. Although
there weren't any contract disputes, there was a time when Nichelle
thought of leaving the show, but she was persuaded to stay by Martin
Luther King.
Dwayne Allen Day
In article <3D5F0ECA...@ucdavis.edu>, Arthur Lipscomb
<aalip...@ucdavis.edu> wrote:
> character has always and only been played by Nichelle Nichols. Although
> there weren't any contract disputes, there was a time when Nichelle
> thought of leaving the show, but she was persuaded to stay by Martin
> Luther King.
Actually, there were some significant contract disputes. NBC suits really
did not like the idea of a black woman in a prominent role on the show and
told Gene Roddenberry to get rid of her. He had to cancel her contract and
put her on a day rate salary. He then did everything he could to assure
that she worked as many days as possible so that she ultimately made as much
as her co-stars. He told her that NBC objected because she was the last
contract brought on and they had forbidden him from signing anyone else.
Only many years later did she discover that the dispute was racial.
Nichelle Nichols' book is quite good and sheds a lot of light on things that
went on behind the scene.
D
Arthur Lipscomb
Does she talk much about her relationship with Gene and how she got the
job?
Graeme
did not like the idea of a black woman in a prominent role on the show and told
Gene Roddenberry to get rid of her.
>>
That's just one of Gene's self-aggrandizing stories. Similar to the one where
the network wouldn't let him have a female First Officer, when the truth of the
matter was that he voluntarily dropped the idea himself in order to give more
to the Spock character he'd fought so hard for.
Gene liked to make people think he'd forced the idea of a multi-racial crew on
NBC, but the truth is they forced him. If you check pages 76-77 of Inside Star
Trek, you'll see a copy of Mort Werner's letter to Gene of 8/17/66, urging him
to be sure to make an effort to hire minority actors for his new show. On page
60, you'll see their comments on The Cage, in which they say "We applaud the
attempt at a racial mix; it's exactly what we want."
Granted, Gene was probably the kind of guy who would have done it anyway, even
without pressure from NBC. It's unfortunate that he was never the kind of guy
who could accept praise without inventing blame.
>>He had to cancel her contract and put her on a day rate salary. He then did
everything he could to assure that she worked as many days as possible so that
she ultimately made as muchas her co-stars. He told her that NBC objected
because she was the last contract brought on and they had forbidden him from
signing anyone else. Only many years later did she discover that the dispute
was racial.
>>
That may have been what Nichelle was told, and believed at the time she wrote
it, but the Engel biography of Gene tells it a little differently...
>>
In the spring of 1966, NBC had hired Stanley Robertson as an executive, one of
several that the networks employ to work with studios and series producers as a
way of ensuring that the network gets the type of show for which it contracted.
Robertson, as it happens, was black -- the first black television executive in
the industry's two-decate-plus history. His mentors were Mort Werner and Grant
Tinker, both of whom had been adamantly in favor of integrating the executive
suite. (Perhaps in an effort to curry favor, Roddenberry told Nichelle Nichols
that he had to fight NBC to keep her, a black woman, on the show. But NBC
executives had long been in favor of integrating network television. Long
before Star Trek aired, Werner had sent a letter to the producers of every NBC
show, encouraging them to cast their shows with more nonwhite faces.)
>>
The letter mentioned here is clearly the one reprinted in Inside Star Trek.
Weighing these two sources against Gene's penchant for revisionist history, I
tend to believe them.
However, one small point in Gene's favor, the Engel book does go on to say that
Gene specially asked if Robertson could be assigned to Star Trek.
Dwayne Allen Day
In article <3D5FFA1D...@ucdavis.edu>, Arthur Lipscomb
<aalip...@ucdavis.edu> wrote:
> Does she talk much about her relationship with Gene and how she got the
> job?
Yes. She was involved with him around 1963 or 1964 for a brief period.
Started out as friends after she appeared in an episode of The Lieutenant in
1962 or so, I believe. She hadn't seen him for over a year when she was
called to read for Star Trek. In fact, she didn't even know he was involved
with the show until she did a casting call.
It's an interesting book. I didn't read the whole thing. Believe it or
not, I actually had to read it for job purposes, in order to write an essay
for an encyclopedia. I'm a Trekkie, but not the kind that reads actor
biographies. She just had a lot of fascinating things to say about various
people she met in the industry. Lots of famous black performers get
mentioned, including Sydney Poitier and Sammy Davis Junior, with whom she
had an affair.
D
Dwayne Allen Day
In article <20020818155356...@mb-fw.aol.com>,
graem...@aol.compost (Graeme) wrote:
>>>Actually, there were some significant contract disputes. NBC suits really
> did not like the idea of a black woman in a prominent role on the show and
told
> Gene Roddenberry to get rid of her.
>>>
>
> That's just one of Gene's self-aggrandizing stories. Similar to the one where
> the network wouldn't let him have a female First Officer, when the truth of
the
> matter was that he voluntarily dropped the idea himself in order to give more
> to the Spock character he'd fought so hard for.
Actually, as he has told it, he was told to get rid of _both_ Spock and the
woman. He went halfway and stuck with Spock.
> Gene liked to make people think he'd forced the idea of a multi-racial crew on
> NBC, but the truth is they forced him. If you check pages 76-77 of Inside
>>>He had to cancel her contract and put her on a day rate salary. He then did
> everything he could to assure that she worked as many days as possible so that
> she ultimately made as muchas her co-stars. He told her that NBC objected
> because she was the last contract brought on and they had forbidden him from
> signing anyone else. Only many years later did she discover that the dispute
> was racial.
>>>
>
> That may have been what Nichelle was told, and believed at the time she wrote
> it, but the Engel biography of Gene tells it a little differently...
Okay, since you know what happened, then explain why she was not on a
regular contract like the rest of the cast members. Roddenberry invented
that because he was the racist?
D
Graeme
woman. He went halfway and stuck with Spock.
>>
He also told the truth halfway. They were dead set against Spock, but they
supported the idea of a female First Officer. It was Majel Barrett personally
that they disapproved of. They didn't think she was a good enough actress to
be co-star on their most expensive new show, and they new she got the job by
sleeping with the producer.
you can see their entire letter to Herb Solow in Inside Star Trek, and it's
very clear. Female First Officer, Good. Majel Barrett, Bad. Not just Majel,
they also didn't seem to think that Laurel Goodwin or John Hoyt were
particularly well cast. But then Gene never invented any myths about those
two. They did however, like Jeff Hunter just fine, and said Nimoy would be
fine too... in a different role.
And the stuff about Nichelle does have a grain of truth to it. Although NBC
had nothing against her, and were actively promoting more minority casting, it
is true that several stations in the South threatened not to broadcast the show
because of Nichelle.
>>Okay, since you know what happened, then explain why she was not on a regular
contract like the rest of the cast members. Roddenberry invented that because
he was the racist?
>>
No, he didn't invent it because he was racist, but for another reason. He was
never above inventing a story to make himself look good or telling people what
they wanted to hear. As with the female First Officer. He didn't abandon the
idea because he was a sexist, he did it to improve the Spock character. But he
DID invent a completely fictitious story about how evil suits forced him to do
it.
As for Nichelle's contract situation, here's what Solow and Justman say about
it (pp. 154-5, Inside Star Trek):
>>
BOB JUSTMAN: Now that he once again had Nichelle, Gene inserted the new
character into an already network-approved script. In The Corbomite Maneuver,
Communications Officer Dave Bailey suddenly became Navigator Dave Bailey, and
some of his original dialogue was given to Nichelle, our new communications
officer, Lt. Uhura. Thus, Dave Bailey had been demoted without benefit of
court-martial.
Nichelle was hired as a "day player"; she wasn't a "regular" member of the
cast. Nevertheless, ene kept on writing her in: "We have to have a
communications officer, Bob. Someone that the audience sees every week;
someone who's part of the Star Trek family. Nichlle's great and she's not that
expensives. Someone else would cost a whole lot more."
As usual, our series episode budget was tight; the cast budget was
even tighter. On The Corbomite Maneuver, Nichelle was guaranteed two days'
work on a "$700 for five days" rate, $140 per day. Not much today, and, come
to think of it, not much then, either. But even that small amount of extra
money was hard to come by.
Gene wanted her to be in the show often, so I attempted to get Nichelle
into more episodes without breaking our cast budget. Even a minimum "seven out
of thirteen shows" series deal like we had with DeForest Kelley, George Takei,
and Grace Lee Whitney was not in the cards.
I asked Joe D'Agosta to make an oral agrement with Nichelle's agent in
which we "promised to keep her working as often as we could." (Gene saw to
that part of the arrangement.) Her salary was prenegotiated. If she worked
one day, she got a higher rate. For two days, less per day. For three days,
even more so. We made up for short money by giving her a "featured player"
credit. Her salary was a "no quote," meaning that we helped maintain the
fiction that she was making a lot more than she actually earned. Her ego was
salved and our budget was saved.
>>
And here's where it starts getting interesting:
>>
HERB SOLOW: Nichelle later claimed that, at the time, she had a firm agreement
with Gene Roddenberry for $1000 per week with a guarantee of appearing in ten
out of each group of thirteen episodes and costar billing, and that the studio
reneged on her deal. In actuality, those were the terms her agent attempted to
negotiate for her services on the *second* season of Star Trek. Nichelle had
told her agent what Gene had promised.
But Gene, knowing full well the studio's financial conditions at the time,
knew that I could not -- and would not -- approve anything other than the
actual final terms and conditions of her employment.
To quote a March 17, 1967, memo from Business Affairs attorney Ed
Perlstein to Gene Roddenberry, subject, "NICHELLE NICHOLS - Star Trek":
"Since Nichelle Nichols' agent, Harry Lipton of the Mitchell-Gertz Agency,
requested a minimum deal of $1000 per show for ten out of each 13, I turned
down the deal as per your advice and since our budget could not withstand this
extreme price..."
Copies of Perlstein's memo were sent to "H. Solow; G. Coon; B. Justman; J.
D'Agosta."
Gene had obviously told Nichelle what she wanted to hear and, later, told
the studio to turn down the "deal."
>>
So no, Gene wasn't a racist. But he wasn't exactly the world's most honest man
either (to put it mildly!).
He simply promised Nichelle something he knew the studio couldn't deliver, told
her they'd agreed to it, then turned around and advised Ed Perlstein to say no
when her agent came asking them to make good. He plays both sides against each
other and looks like a hero to both.
Rough business, television. It's a jungle out there. He also told De Kelly
that NBC had turned him down for the doctor's role in both pilots and only
relented when they saw his work in Police Story. Uh uh, the truth was that
they hadn't rejected him, because Gene had never even submitted his name.
Nothing racist about that, either. Just cutthroat business.
Graeme
Started out as friends after she appeared in an episode of The Lieutenant in
1962 or so, I believe. She hadn't seen him for over a year when she was called
to read for Star Trek. In fact, she didn't even know he was involved with the
show until she did a casting call.
>>
Uh, they were more than friends. Let's just leave it at that. That's fairly
well known, but considering how well she ended up doing in the role, it's not
worth arguing about. She may not have got the job on merit, but she certainly
had merit.
Adam H. Kerman
>Uh, they were more than friends. Let's just leave it at that. That's fairly
>well known, but considering how well she ended up doing in the role, it's not
>worth arguing about. She may not have got the job on merit, but she certainly
>had merit.
What merit? If you ignore the military setting, it was a traditional female
role, clerical/switchboard operator. She didn't need to be coached by Lee
Strassburg. She got to stretch her acting muscles in a couple of shows, but
that was it. On one episode, she sang in the recreation room and briefly
interacted with a few of the other crew members. Nice scene; I wish they'd
done more of those.
Andrew Ryan Chang
>That may have been what Nichelle was told, and believed at the time she wrote
>it, but the Engel biography of Gene tells it a little differently...
>
>>>
>executives had long been in favor of integrating network television. Long
>before Star Trek aired, Werner had sent a letter to the producers of every NBC
>show, encouraging them to cast their shows with more nonwhite faces.)
>>>
Boy, those /were/ different times.
--
When I log into my Xenix system with my 110 baud teletype, both vi
*and* Emacs are just too damn slow. They print useless messages like,
'C-h for help' and '"foo" File is read only'. So I use the editor
that doesn't waste my VALUABLE time. -Patrick J. Lopresti
ANIM8Rfsk
>show, encouraging them to cast their shows with more nonwhite faces.)
>>>
Boy, those /were/ different times. >>
Not at all. One of the first things producers say now when they look at a
script is 'which kid are we going to make black'
Graeme
>>If you check pages 76-77 of Inside Star Trek, you'll see a copy of Mort
Werner's letter to Gene of 8/17/66, urging him to be sure to make an effort to
hire minority actors for his new show. On page 60, you'll see their comments
on The Cage, in which they say "We applaud the attempt at a racial mix; it's
exactly what we want."
>>
Et cetera.
In addition, I've found a section that directly deals with what Nichelle wrote
in her book. From pages 244-5:
>>
HERB SOLOW: In the portion of her autobiography, Beyond Uhura, dealing with
encountering racism at Desilu and NBC, Nichelle chose not to name those
individuals who treated her with hostility and malice because of her color.
Unfortunately, by not naming names or indicating their status, she
indicted all those at both companies who had anything to do with Star Trek. I
felt a clarification was in order and subsequently discussed the issue with
her.
The number of people at Desilu and NBC who, directly and indirectly, were
involved in production and broadcast aspects of Star Trek could be
conservatively put at three hundred. In my discussion with Nichelle, she
averred that one middle-management executive at NBC attempted to force himself
on her and one lower-level production executive at Desilu used racial epithets
and made derogatory remarks. Additionally, she said that a clerk in the Desilu
mailroom and a clerk in the NBC photo gallery did not treat her as they treated
other performers of Nichelle's status and importance.
I told Nichelle that if I had been made aware of this totally unacceptable
behavior, there was no way in Hell these deplorable actions would have been
tolerated. I would have fired the Desilu executive on the spot. And the NBC
executive (who, I later learned, forced himself upon other women in the
industry) would have been banned from Desilu with a phone call to the President
of NBC.
Nichelle further explained to me that, during the last Star Trek
production year, the Desilu executive tearfully renounced his shameful behavior
and asked her forgiveness. Nichelle, being the decent person she is, forgave
him.
It must be understaood that NBC executives Mort Werner, Grant Tinker, Herb
Schlosser, and Jerry Stanley were unanimous in their desire to feature and
protect all minorities, including women, in the product that they broadcast to
the American audience. To set the record straight, once and for all, no one at
NBC ever commented negatively to me about Nichelle because of her race, or
approached me or any other Desilu executive to hint, instruct, or demand that
Nichelle Nichols be fired.
>>
In light of Mort Werner's letter, and Gene Roddenberry's penchant for
revisionist history, this sounds to me like another imaginary threat he
concoted so that he could claim he fought it off. Just like NBC's imaginary
refusal to accept a female First Officer and their imaginary refusal to accept
DeForest Kelly in the doctor's role.
Since I've alluded to Mort Werner's letter, sent to every producer of an NBC
show, I might as well type that in. It's not long.
>>
August 17, 1965
Dear Gene:
Census figures, in the mid 1960s, indicate that one American in every eight is
non-white. It is reasonable to assume that this percentage also applies to the
television audience.
I choose this statistic to call your attention once again to NBC's longstanding
policy of non-discrimination. Our efforts in the past to assure the fact that
the programs broadcast on our facilities are a natural reflection of the role
of minorities in American life have met with substantial success. I would like
to congratulate those producers who have extended themselves in this regard and
I invite all of our creative associates to join us in an even greater effort to
meet this fact of American life.
NBC's employment policy has long dictated that there can be no discrimination
because of race, creed, religion or national origin and this applies in all of
our operations. In addition, since we are mindful of our vast audience and the
extent to which television influences taste and attitudes, we are not only
anxious but determined that members of minority groups be treated in a manner
consistent with their role in our society. While this applies to all racial
minorities, obviously the principal reference is to the casting and depiction
of Negroes. Our purpose is to assure that in our medium, and within the
permissive framework of dramatic license, we present a reasonable reflection of
contemporary society.
We urge producers to cast Negroes, subject to their availability and competence
as performers, as people who are an integral segment of the population, as well
as in those roles where the fact of their minority status is of significance.
An earnest attempt has been made to see that their presence contributes to an
honest and natural reflection of places, situations and events, and we desire
to intensify and extend this effort.
We believe that NBC's pursuit of this policy is pre-eminent in the broadcasting
industry. It is evident in both the daytime and nighttime schedules and
particularly in such programs as I SPY, THE ANDY WILLIAMS SHOW, THE MAN FROM
U.N.C.L.E., RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, and many other presentations. While we have
made noticeable progress we can do better, and I ask for your cooperation and
help.
Sincerely,
Mort Werner
>>
In light of all this, I tend to believe Solow, Werner's letter and the
Perlstein memo over Gene. There doesn't seem to be any evidence outside of him
that NBC tried to fire her, and he's notoriously unreliable about such things.
It sounds to me like one of his hooks, so that if she ever gave him trouble he
could say "How can you do this when I fought for you?" Even though he really
didn't. The guy was definitely a TV producer in both the good and bad senses
of the word.
Dwayne Allen Day
In article <20020819021232...@mb-ca.aol.com>,
graem...@aol.compost (Graeme) wrote:
You should read more closely. But I'll re-word it more explicitly:
-she met him, they became friends
-they became "involved" (figure it out yourself)
-they stopped being "involved"
-she had not seen him for several years when she did a casting call for Star
Trek
-she claims to have NOT been involved with him when she was picked for Star
Trek
D
Dwayne Allen Day
In article <20020819183640...@mb-cj.aol.com>,
graem...@aol.compost (Graeme) wrote:
I'm willing to acknowledge that this is what he wrote. However, I'll
comment anyway.
> In light of Mort Werner's letter, and Gene Roddenberry's penchant for
> revisionist history, this sounds to me like another imaginary threat he
> concoted so that he could claim he fought it off. Just like NBC's imaginary
Actually, you put Roddenberry's account up against this other account and
quickly label Roddenberry the liar, and you acknowledge that Hollywood is a
cutthroat and nasty business, why are you willing to accept one source over
the other? Is it equally possible that what Solow was trying to do was
attack a dead man?
> Since I've alluded to Mort Werner's letter, sent to every producer of an NBC
> show, I might as well type that in. It's not long.
[SNIP]
> In light of all this, I tend to believe Solow, Werner's letter and the
> Perlstein memo over Gene. There doesn't seem to be any evidence outside of
him
> that NBC tried to fire her, and he's notoriously unreliable about such things.
To which I might point out that the civil rights movement was in full swing
in the mid-1960s and the "we like black people" letter sounds a lot like the
kind of cover-your-ass letter that big bureaucracies produce so that they
can show them to their critics in times of strife: "But see? We have a
POLICY of hiring Negroes..." It's rare, but historians have to be wary of
occasional CYA letters that are stuck in filing cabinets and generally
ignored, only to see the light of day years later.
I think that the real test of such an official NBC policy would be a survey
of how it was actually applied across the network. Did NBC hire blacks for
prominent roles for shows OTHER than Star Trek? Was Nichelle Nichols the
only black woman in a starring role on a prime time NBC series for that
period? If not, who were the others? If so, then doesn't this say a few
things about that NBC policy? And what about other black men in leading
roles on NBC prime time series from 1966-1969. Were there? Who were they?
And if there were, what have they said about the network?
Also, the way to get to a less biased source than one of the participants
would be to check any books about blacks in television during the 1960s. Is
there a scholarly book that mentions NBC's policy on race relations in the
1960s?
D
ANIM8Rfsk
once last time before I plonked him in this group too:
<< Did NBC hire blacks for
prominent roles for shows OTHER than Star Trek? Was Nichelle Nichols the
only black woman in a starring role on a prime time NBC series for that
period? If not, who were the others? >>
See, if once in a while you'd actually READ the posts, instead of concentrating
on always ALWAYS being wrong, you might have noticed the letter said EXACTLY
what you're asking for, and mentioned specific shows, such as I Spy, and 2 or 3
others.
It's so so so scary that someone invariably wrong on his facts would get work
writing for encyclopedias.
Dwayne Allen Day
In article <20020819213342...@mb-dh.aol.com>,
anim...@aol.comNOSPAM (ANIM8Rfsk) wrote:
> See, if once in a while you'd actually READ the posts, instead of
concentrating
> on always ALWAYS being wrong, you might have noticed the letter said EXACTLY
> what you're asking for, and mentioned specific shows, such as I Spy, and 2 or
> 3 others.
I didn't see that. Thanks for pointing it out.
> It's so so so scary that someone invariably wrong on his facts would get work
> writing for encyclopedias.
Good zinging insult. You're quick there. I haven't insulted you yet, so
shoot some more at me before I can come up with something myself--maybe I'll
try a variation of your momma and combat boots...
D
Andy Jakcsy
<<
>Not at all. One of the first things producers say now when they look at a
>script is 'which kid are we going to make black'
>
>>
...or, in the case of an all-black comedy it's..."which kid are we gonna make
WHITE"...
...and Lori Beth Denberg has that stigma on her for life...(Jenna Von Oy would
have it, too, except everyone's yelling, "HEY, SIX!")
Andrew Ryan Chang
... Yeah, but in the case of Friends, Will & Grace, Frasier, The
West Wing (first season), apparently the answer was "no one". Hell,
remember the general surprise last season (or was it this one) when
Friends introduced a new black character for one episode? First one since
Monica's co-worker in the first season IIRC; just about every other
secondary and tertiary character in the history of that show has been
white.
--
Wiggum: This bullet matches the one we pulled out of Mr. Burns! Homer
Simpson, you're under arrest for attempted murder.
Homer: [getting cuffed] D'oh!
Wiggum: Yeah, that's what they all say. They all say "D'oh".
ANIM8Rfsk
West Wing (first season), apparently the answer was "no one". >>
Oh, sure, the answer isn't always yes, but the producer sending memos asking
the question is the same today as 35 years ago.
Andrew Ryan Chang
>Oh, sure, the answer isn't always yes, but the producer sending memos asking
>the question is the same today as 35 years ago.
Oh, I see. I really had thought the networks just quit asking.
--
Skinner: Oh, relax, kids, I've got a _gut_ feeling Uter is around here
somewhere. [chuckles] After all, isn't there a little _Uter_ in all
of us? [chuckles] In fact, you might even say we just _ate_ Uter and
he's in our _stomachs_ right now! [laughs] Wait...scratch that one.
ANIM8Rfsk
I'm sure they haven't. I'm involved in production at the commercial and
educational/industrial level, and it's always asked. The last couple of years
agencies send out design specs that call for "brown eyed black haired medium
dark skin children of indeterminate origin"
Adam H. Kerman
Does Giancarlo Esposito have any kids in shoe biz? He's played all sorts of
ethnic characters over the years.
Brian Thorn
> ... Yeah, but in the case of Friends, Will & Grace, Frasier, The
>West Wing (first season),
Huh? Charlie was introduced in the second episode of "West Wing", I
think.
Brian
Andrew Ryan Chang
D'oh.
IIRC, there was a little more hubbub in general leading up to that
season's openers. Charlie was introduced early, seemingly in response to
complaints about NBC whitewashing, but I'm told (as I didn't start
watching TWW till the 2nd season) that his plots and character development
was much smaller than in the 2nd season.
--
"Essentially, he's saying the government is a giant money laundering
machine that gives back your taxes so you can give it to the oil
companies or electric companies," says Rep. Robert Filner, D-Calif.
[http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/05/17/energy_plan/index.html]