DeForest Kelley

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Name: DeForest Kelley
Also Known As: De
Occupation: actor, poet
Medium: television, film
Works: Star Trek
Official Website(s): IMDB
Fan Website(s):
On Fanlore: Related pages
a 1977 photo printed in the 3rd Space-Con program book

DeForest Kelley was an American actor best known for his role as Dr. McCoy on Star Trek: The Original Series. Before Star Trek, he was frequently cast in Westerns and appeared in an episode of the legal drama series Perry Mason.[1] He died in 1999 and a memorial fund was set up at one of his charities, the North Shore Animal League.[2] In Feb 2014, some fans resurrected the memorial fund.[3] More info is here.

DeForest Kelley also wrote poetry and was known to read it at conventions.[4] His poems were published in at least two zines: The Big Bird's Dream and The Dream Goes On.

A Frequent and Welcome Convention Guest

Kelley was a very frequent guest of honor at conventions, both fan-run and professional conventions such as Creation Con. Some of these cons included his wife, Caroline Kelly.

There are MANY descriptions of Kelley's appearances and interactions with fans at these cons, as well as at club parties, such as the ones thrown by the DeForest Kelley Fan Communique. Many reports in The DeForest Dispatch wrote about him, the stage appearances as well as one-on-one communication. Kelley's pet tortoise, Myrtle, was a popular topic of discussion and appeared not only in con reports, but in many cartoons.

More about fans and Myrtle:

Fan Clubs

Kelley-Centric Zines

Similar Creations

Fans were very interested in Star Trek's stars, and this interest generated a lot of "side projects."

Shatner and Nimoy, of course, had the for-profit option of big-name publishers, hence the large selection of offerings such as I Am Not Spock, Nimoy's poetry paperbooks, Shatner and Nimoy's spoken and singing LP albums and much more.

The actors with less attention, and therefore less money-making ability, were more available to fans and their fanworks. Nichols, Koenig, and Kelley were much more willing to write poetry and introductions to zines, as well as creating small zines of their own.

Some examples:

Fan Art

References

  1. ^ See Show137, Archived version and Peter Thorpe, Archived version (Perry Mason TV Series Wiki)
  2. ^ DeForest Kelley Tribute page (accessed Feb 14, 2014).
  3. ^ Diane Haddick email dated Feb 14, 2014 to the Gardener's mailing list.
  4. ^ DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner 1995. YouTube video posted by Amalie1701B, January 26, 2009.