DeForest Kelley

A veteran of television and film Westerns, he has portrayed two different participants in the legendary 1881 O.K. Corral gunfight between the Earps and the Clantons. In 1955 he played Ike Clanton in an episode of the series You Are There (1953), and in 1957 he played Morgan Earp in the film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). On Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) the USS Enterprise away team beam onto a planet and he again finds himself at the O.K. Corral, playing Tom McLaury. This was in the third season, in Episode 6 entitled "Spectre of the Gun".

Jackson DeForest Kelley was born on January 20, 1920 in Toccoa, Georgia, to Clora (Casey) and Ernest David Kelley. He graduated from high school at age 16 and went on to sing at the Baptist church where his father was a minister. At age 17, he made his first trip outside the state to visit an uncle in Long Beach, California. He intended to stay for two weeks but ended up staying a year. Upon returning home, he told his parents he was moving to California to become an actor. His mother encouraged him but the idea did not go over well with his father. In California, Kelley was spotted by a Paramount talent scout while working on a United States Navy training film. He became a reliable character actor (often in Westerns in which he often played the villain), but hit the big time when he was offered the role of the somewhat irascible Dr.

Attended Decatur High School in Decatur, GA, graduating in 1936.

Played a medic in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956). Foreshadowing things to come, his character says, "This man is dead, Captain".

Had a prominent starring role as a doctor on the television series Bonanza (1959) (episode "The Decision" (1962)). In the episode, he also uttered his signature catchphrase from Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) when he said "Not a doctor - a condemned murderer!".

Leonard "Bones" McCoy on the television series Star Trek: The Original Series (1966).

Told close friends that he always felt more comfortable in Westerns than science-fiction. In Star Trek: The Original Series: Spectre of the Gun (1968)(#3.6) he got to do both.

Reportedly disliked doing Star Trek: Animated (1973) because he was never recording his lines at the same time as William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Kelley did not like this because he never got to interact with them and develop any rapport, which made reading his lines all the more difficult.

He later reprised his role for a string of successful Star Trek films: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).

Was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd. on December 18, 1991.

Shortly after his passing, "He's dead, Jim" was forever memorialized by being added in tribute to Dr. McCoy for two 1999 video games: StarCraft: Brood War (1998) and Shatner-oids, a spoof of the classic Atari game "Asteroids".

The Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) character, Adm. Maxwell Forrest, played by Vaughn Armstrong, is named after him.

Pictured as the character Dr. Leonard McCoy on one of a set of five Canadian commemorative postage stamps celebrating the 50th anniversary of the television series Star Trek: The Original Series (1966), issued May 5, 2016. Price on day of issue was 85¢. Other stamps in the set honored William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan and John Colicos.