Star Trek's Patti Yasutake dead at 70

Star Trek and Beef star Patti Yasutake has died after a cancer battle.

The veteran actor's longtime manager and friend Kyle Fritz confirmed the news to Deadline on Tuesday.

"Patti was my first client when I began over 30 years ago. We enjoyed every day we got to work together, and I will miss her spirit, talent and tenacity, but most of all her friendship."

He shared that she passed away peacefully, surrounded by friends and family.

Yasutake was known for her portrayal as Nurse Alyssa Ogawa on Star Trek: The Next Generation, a role she later reprised in Star Trek: Generations in 1994 and Star Trek: The First Contact in 1996.

Her latest TV role was as George's overbearing mother Fumi Nakai in the Emmy Award-winning TV series Beef.

Yasutake first made a name for herself in Hollywood following her debut in Ron Howard's 1986 comedy Gung Go, in which she played Umeki Kazuhiro, a Japanese woman adapting to life in America.

She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female in 1988 for her role in The Wash.

Yasutake died of a rare form of T-cell lymphoma on 5 August. She was 70.