Jackson DeForest Kelley

January 20th, 1920 - June 11th, 1999
(2001.20 - 9906.11)

Our beloved "old country doctor" has moved on with the Great Bird of the Galaxy. He finally lost long-term battle with stomach cancer at the Motion Picture and Television Country Home and Hospital, a retirement facility, in suburban Woodland Hills on Friday, June 11th. Unlike his counter part who lived to be over 137, Kelley was 79.

Known the world over as Dr. Leonard Horatio McCoy, DeForest Kelley also had a distinguished movie and television career for nearly 20 years before Star Trek. He was a staple supporting man in the western movies - including "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. He also starred in an unsold pilot as a prosecuting attorney where he met, and got to slap around, George Takei.

He was said to be a true southern gentleman who personified the best of humanity.

Little is publicly known about the private side of DeForest Kelley. Never one to revel in the limelight, he never made tabloid headlines. He was the only regular cast member not to write an autobiography. Even during the filming of TOS, he rarely went out with his castmates after work.

Of the actor's curse that followed most of the Star Trek cast, Kelley said, "Had I not had a career on TV and in motion pictures before Star Trek, I might have felt disapointed that it was the only thing I had done. But having had a background before that, it's like the cream on top of the coffee for me."

De, as his family and friends knew him, came to Long Beach from Atlanta, Georgia in 1937 for a 2-week visit to his Uncle's. The 2 weeks turned into a full year after which he went back home to pack and take up permanent residence in Southern California to try his hand at acting.

We were fortunate to have De around for as long as we did. He was hospitalized and almost died before filming began on ST: III.

His wife, Carolyn, of nearly 55 years thanks all well wishers for their support and asks that all flower and gift money instead be given to the DeForst Kelly Memorial Fund with the North Shore Animal League or the new Harvard Medical School DeForest Kelley Fellowship Fund.

Here is a detailed bio of Kelley at the StarTrek.com.

Here is a list of Kelley's non-Trek projects.