June 11 marks a decade without De.... DeForest Kelley, the first of our regular cast to pass on—and perhaps the hardest for me to deal with. Thank goodness we had Communicator then and, selfishly, were able to mourn via the memorial pages of #124—despite its age, perhaps my favorite issue ever as edtor. It was certainly the most personal. I still have copies of this issue and take them to cons; it is perhaps the most popular of the back issues I still have—and we all know why.
Karl Urban's portrayal of McCoy in ST 2009 has won just about universal
acclaim as a perfect blend of homage and originality... and puts a great, timely focus back on the inspiration. The shot above is De at Denver's 1988 Starcon, enjoying his fans. (And yes, note the famous left-hand pinkie ring!)If you're ready to read about De's life story from Georgia to The War to old Hollywood—of which Trek was really just a small, late part—take a look at Terry Rioux's excellent bio and Kris Smith's memory books.
I'm always torn between recalling birthdays versus death days for our celebs. But for De--who cares? It's both.
3 comments:
Thanks again, Larry.
Seeing Urban in action...it was as if he was channelling the best of Kelley's ghost, yet never letting it degenerate into self-caricature.
The Original...will still be missed, yet remembered as still with us even so.
I really loved Karl Urban as McCoy, he did remind me lots of DeForest without being just a caricature of him !
And did you notice the little pinkie ring?
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