Celestis Memorial Spaceflights has added another member of the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek The Original Series star DeForest Kelley.
The actor who died in 1999 is best remembered for versatility on film and television especially in Westerns before landing the iconic role of Dr. Leonard Bones McCoy on the NBC series in 1966. He would appear in all three seasons of TOS its animated the series premiere of Star Trek The Next Generation all six TOS feature films and various video games. Writer Kris Smith was responsible that would see Kelley join the Enterprise flight with cast mates Nichelle Nichols Uhura James Doohan Scotty Majel Barrett Roddenberry Chapel creator Gene Roddenberry, and visual effects specialist Douglas Trumbull. She spoke with Bleeding Cool about how she heard about the mission and the lifelong friendship she had with Kelley.
Smith: I heard about the mission several months ago. As we got closer to the launch I was in contact with Mark Lee who is kind of an ambassador for Celestis. I told him I had a lock of Des hair and I wondered if that could be processed in some way so that he could go on to the space launch. He said I think so. Let me check with Celestis and the next day they said Absolutely. I sent off the lock of hair to their lab, and they processed it and thats how it happened.
I met him in a parade in Wenatchee Washington when I was a teenager and Star Trek was on TV for the first time. I know that carbon dates me but he was such a gentleman and an absolute delight unlike a lot of actors. I wrote an article about meeting him called The Real McCoy and I submitted it as an English writing assignment to my teacher and he said Oh my gosh Kris. This is excellent. Why do not you send a copy to Mr. Kelley? I said Oh my gosh not. I do not write to TV stars.
At that point I was a fan on the outermost reaches of fandom. After that, we stayed in touch. They encouraged me to move to Hollywood to get into the entertainment industry in some form or fashion. When I moved down there it was like they practically adopted me. It was just incredibly unbelievable to me. Thats how it started and at the end of his life, Carolyn had already fallen and broken her leg and she was in a hospital about a year before he also ended up in the hospital. She had been his assistant all of their marriage.
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