Today is a sad day for all Star Tre fans. Star Trek: The Next Generation's very own, Patti Yasutake, has passed away at the age of 70. Yasutake played many parts in Hollywood over her long career. She got her first role on the Williaim Shatner-led T.J. Hooker. Shatner of course would go on to be one of the biggest names in Trek history.
After T.J. Hooker, she appeared in such shows as Knots Landing, Mr. Belvedere, Tales from the Crypt, and Murphy Brown. Yet, in 1990 she would land the role that most of us here would know her for. The role of Nurse Alyssa Ogawa on the critically acclaimed and beloved series; Star Trek: The Next Generation.
During her time on the show, she appeared in 16 episodes starting in season four and running through season seven. She even featured in two of the show's most prominent episodes. The critically acclaimed episode "Lower Decks", which of course was the inspiration for the show of the same name. As well as appearing in the series finale, "All Good Things..."
That wasn't the end of her Star Trek involvement, as she'd be one of the secondary characters that would be brought back for the next round of films. She would reprise her role as Nurse Ogawa in Star Trek Generations and then later in Star Trek: First Contact. She would further lend her talents to the Star Trek video game, "Star Trek Armada II", before reuniting with Shatner once again on his new show, Boston Legal.
Her last Star Trek-adjacent project would end up being the film Unbelievable. The panned film may not have been a hit, but it did feature arguably the largest collection of former Star Trek actors in years, if not ever. Featuring names like Garrett Wang, Tim Russ, and Robert Picardo from Star Trek: Voyager, Marina Sirtis, and Robert Dorn from The Next Generation, Linda Park and Connor Trinneer from Enterprise, as well as Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig from The Orignal Series.
Deep Space Nine's Chase Masterson and Nana Visitor were also in the film.
The movie wasn't well received and not many people liked it, but to see her once again rubbing shoulders with her former castmates and other members of the Trek family was still a good thing. Yasutake will be dearly missed.