Fan-Favorite Star Trek Legend Dead At 70 

While her time as Nurse Ogawa means that Yasutake will always best be remembered as a television star, she had an impressive feature film resume as well. After majoring in theater and graduating from UCLA with honors, she spent six years as a stage actor before making her theatrical debut in the 1986 Ron Howard film Gung-Ho. Later, she’d star in fan-favorite films like Drop Dead Gorgeous and shows like Grey’s Anatomy, and her last acting role before her death was appearing as George’s mother in Beef.

For Star Trek fans, one of the most surprising things about Yasutake’s career is how relatively late she appeared in The Next Generation. She didn’t pop up as Nurse Ogawa until the show’s fourth season, debuting in the ambitious episode “Future Imperfect.” She would appear in 15 more episodes after that, including the series finale; between that and her appearance in the first two TNG films, it really did feel like she was part of the series for much longer than she actually was.

Of course, one of the reasons we remember Nurse Ogawa so well is the warmth and humanity that Yasutake brought to the role. In a fictional world filled with starships and aliens, her gentle smile and easy demeanor always kept her scenes remarkably grounded. Certainly, Yasutake ended up wowing the Star Trek producers, which is how she became such a frequently recurring character.

The actor didn’t think Nurse Ogawa would come back after “Future Imperfect,” but she kept getting invited back as the show slowly developed a name (Alyssa, though it was originally spelled “Alissa”) and background (the character was deliberately given a Japanese name, though her exact origins are never verified onscreen).

It was script coordinator Eric A. Stillwell who insisted on naming this character and writers Ron Wilkerson and Jean Louise Matthias who brought her into the “Lower Decks” episode that inspired the show of the same name. Yasutake’s character became so popular that she eventually starred as Nurse Ogawa in a Hallmark commercial advertising Star Trek ornaments.

While it is a true blow to lose someone as talented as Patti Yasutake at such a relatively young age, we were blessed to witness her talents as Nurse Ogawa and so many other roles. She is survived by siblings Steven Yasutake and Linda Hayashi and will be remembered by both her extended family members and friends, including fellow Star Trek supporting actor Jonathan Del Arco (last seen playing Hugh in Picard).

A memorial will be held for her at the Asian-American theater East West Plays on August 21, but we are confident that Yasutake’s many fans will continue celebrating her amazing life long, long after that day.