The Enduring Legacy of DeForest Kelley: Actor, Healer, Friend
DeForest Kelley was once asked how he would like to be remembered. He responded with a contrite laugh, “Well, you know, sometimes I wonder if they will remember! There‘s nothing deader than a dead actor… That‘s almost a question for someone else to answer.”
I will answer it. De‘s fans have answered it resoundingly since his passing in 1999 and at every convention celebrating STAR TREK since then.
To this day – and far beyond, I can predict with confidence – warm memories and thoughts of the actor who brought Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy to life the first time are being held as priceless treasures in the hearts of millions of people, young and old, across the globe, including Karl Urban’s discerning heart. His spot-on ‘channeling’ of Dr. McCoy continues to keep him right where he belongs in the Star Trek universe: front and center.
After losing my mentor and friend De, while still floundering in a fog of shock and nearly numb from unexpressed, pervasive grief, I wrote a book called DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal: A Harvest of Memories From the Fan Who Knew Him Best. As I worked my way through the history of our association, De came back to life and, with each passing page, I began to feel that I would be able to retain the joy and delight inherent in the vast majority of the story. I realized then what so many of us have realized since then: that it was his life, not his death, that affected us most deeply, and that shaped many of us as personalities.
His legacy will extend far beyond those left by most actors, even though he didn‘t get the amount of press that other actors received in life or in death.
Good guys don‘t always finish last. DeForest Kelley was always a winner — from day one.
