Celeste Yarnall, a famed actress of the 1960s and 70s best known for her memorable turn on Star Trek, has died. She was 74.
The official Star Trek website was the first to report the news. According to the site, Yarnall — who played Yeoman Martha Landon on the October 1967 episode “The Apple” opposite Chekov (Walter Koenig) — died Sunday at her home in Westlake Village, California, after a four-year battle with ovarian cancer.
Yarnall’s husband, British artist Nazim Nazim, confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.
“She was magnificent in everything she did,” Nazim said. “She was my beloved queen.”
Yarnall, who also appeared opposite Elvis Presley in the 1968 film Live a Little, Love a Little, chronicled her cancer battle on StarTrek.com, writing several guest columns after she was diagnosed in late 2014.
“My doctor has some exciting things for me planned, as we banked a bit of my tumor for future use to make a vaccine to give me to help my body defend itself against this cancer,” she wrote in her first entry, in February 2015. “This is very expensive and not covered by insurance and I will need to travel most likely by air to Texas to get these shots regularly. He has other things in mind, too, but again this requires your help.”
“Please join me on my journey so that I can get well and get back out in the world and be of help to others, which is what I like doing best, through my books, personal appearances, speaking engagements, film production and on and on,” she continued. “However I can reach and inspire people to help themselves personally and help our planet come together in oneness and peace, I want to do it, and sharing my cancer story is part of that.”
In addition to her husband, Yarnall is survived by her daughter Cami, son-in-law Stephen and granddaughter Gaby, THR reports.
