Monday, January 21, 2013

Happy birthday De: even belatedly, a special wish

Ever since I launched TREKLAND a few years back, I always make it a point to mark at least one Trekland birthday every year, out of all the many involved: my own personal fave, our own DeForest Kelley—and do it by sharing a photo from the file I collected from friends after his death in 1999.

This year, I am a day late—but I hope not a dollar short. In fact, this year of all years it's been a bittersweet personal moment for me after all the younger years feelings for De and his iconic role among roles... then meeting him as a fan, and then meeting him as a colleague—though for all too short a time.

And now, to know him as an item of research of sorts: playing McCoy, on short notice, in the debut full episode of Star Trek Continues, as I tweeted and Facebook'd a couple days ago on the run.  It's a labor of love that must also be real work, fitted in on a month's notice amid other new cramped deadlines—though I'd like to think I've been doing the research by osmosis all along.

So it's not only a belated birthday wish—but one made on the road, to boot. Even so, I wanted to share a photo—and this one, a Trek topic from the second season, will bear special meaning, as I'll share eventually: ...and my big thanks to trekcore.com for being the online site that had it handy where I could find it on short notice!

Happy birthday, De—I hope somewhere, somehow, you know why I'm late...and accept it as a gift in spirit.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awww, thanks so much for remembering De Kelley's birthday. I thought of it on Saturday, too. We miss you Mr. Kelley, "Bones".

Larry Nemecek said...

Glad you like that. I think his memory gets stronger each passing year. If you check out the last few years' post links I think you'll enjoy the photos—which I try to steer even away from "Star Trek common." :-)

Devon said...

Nicely done; very much appreciated by this 45 year-old. It seems he was loved by all on the ST cast and fans, myself included. My wife snickers when I point him out in his "Bonanza" episodes. That he was included in TNG "Farpoint" was precious.

DesLily said...

If he somehow touched your life.. you never forget, and the longer he's gone the more I miss him. (and his very same wife, Carolyn too)