Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 18, 1994 TAG: 9410180085
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: IAN SPELLING
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Those who think they know ``Star Trek's'' Cmdr. Uhura may be surprised at some of the revelations in Nichols' new autobiography, ``Beyond Uhura.''
``One thing I want people to understand is that I didn't write a `Trek' book,'' Nichols, a warm and dramatic conversationalist, says by phone from her Los Angeles home. ``There wouldn't be as much `Trek' as there is if my publisher hadn't insisted on more anecdotes.
``Even if it may seem to some people that `Trek' and nothing else happened in my life, that's not the case. That's why the book is my opportunity to delve into my life and share it with people.''
Nichols takes readers on her terrestrial journey, beginning with her birth in Robbins, Ill., in 1932. The saga, alternately sad, humorous and inspirational, follows Nichols' incarnations as a dancer and as a singer who performed with Duke Ellington.
It traces a near rape (while she was working in Canada), her two marriages, the birth of her son Kyle, her work on the 1959 film ``Porgy and Bess'' with Sammy Davis Jr. and Dorothy Dandridge, and the joys and heartbreaks of her drive to recruit minorities into NASA's space program.
``So many things came flooding back when I started writing,'' she says. ``Everything, really, from my relationship with my mother to the attempted rape.
``Those were things I thought I'd coped with already, but writing the book was better than 10 years in a psychologist's office. Coming to terms with all that was incredibly cathartic.''
Though the book's main focus is not on ``Star Trek,'' fans eager for both old stories and new disclosures about Nichols' Enterprise days won't be disappointed.
The actress acknowledges, for example, that she and ``Trek'' creator Gene Roddenberry were involved in a romantic relationship, but says it ended well before ``Trek''-classic began.
``That's the entire Roddenberry section. I couldn't let it go around that there'd been dillydallying between Gene and I during `Trek' because we were only friends by then and the relationship never resumed.
Another subject Nichols addresses is her relationship with William Shatner, whom she once adored but now describes in the book as ``an insensitive hurtful egotist.''
She writes that Shatner was difficult on the set, undervalued the supporting cast and distanced himself from the other actors both personally and professionally.
What truly earned her wrath, however, was that he chatted with her to ``jiggle his mind'' about ``Trek's'' early days, then broke his promise to not quote her in his ```Star Trek' Memories'' book.
``I'll say this once and I really don't want to talk about him,'' she says tartly. ``There would've been precious little in the book about Bill if he hadn't written distortions and outright lies and had he had the integrity to stand up to what he told me about not quoting me.''
Hailing frequencies closed on that subject.
When asked about the upcoming ``Generations'' movie, Nichols voices surprise that once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to feature the entire ``Trek'' and ``Next Gen'' casts and an Uhura-Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) encounter were disregarded.
But she doesn't sound bitter about not having been included in the film. Perhaps that's because she's so busy with other projects.
She's promoting ``Uhura''; guesting at conventions; preparing to relaunch ``Reflections,'' her one-woman musical tribute to famed African-American singers; and fine-tuning ``Saturn's Child,'' the first of a planned Putnam sci-fi novel series she is writing with Margaret Bonano.
``I'm very excited about `Saturn's Child,' about reviving my singing career,'' she says. ``I also still love my `Trek' association.
``The question has always been: If I had it to do all over again, would I? The answer is, and will always be, most assuredly yes.''
Con calendar Oct. 28-30
Big ``E'' at the Omni Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Va., featuring James Doohan. (Call 410-825-3017.)
Dreamcon at the Holiday Inn in Everett, Wash. (206-742-8943)
Trek/sci-fi alert
If you have Trek or science-fiction news or trivia to share - or if you have questions relating to ``Star Trek'' - write to Ian Spelling, care of The Features Department, Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va., 24010-2491. Be sure to enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you would like a reply.
by CNB