DeForest Kelley On...     Kelley Filmography Home    

DeForest Kelley On...

His Career Between the Series and the Movies

Night of the Lepus (movie, 1972)
Beginner's Luck (play, 1974)
Roll-out of Space Shuttle Enterprise (9/17/76)
Littlest Hobo (1981)
Commercials

Night of the Lepus (movie)

Oh, you would have to bring that up. Well, I'll just say again, I know that it's not a film... it is not destined for anything on the classic side. But I had a marvelous time. We were on that show for about eight or ten weeks, and we spent most of the time in Arizona. We had a wonderful group of people and the most I can say for it... it was a lovely location and you do learn a lot about rabbits. (laughter)
[Convention: Midcon, England, September 1986, transcribed in Guyer, 1993.]

Beginner's Luck (Play)

Would I like to appear on the stage at all? I'll tell you a funny story. I went to Lubbock, Texas. I wanted to get back on the stage again and I told Carolyn I was ready to try a play again. I hadn't done one in so many years. So a wonderful opportunity came about. I was asked to come down to Texas to do a play and I thought, that's great, I'll get out of town --nobody will see me, you know, from Holly­wood, if I'm a real bomb. So I went down there to do this play and I had engaged myself for a couple of weeks and we ended up staying, I don't know, six or seven. They started bringing Star Trek fans in by the busload. They came from all over. They even chartered a plane out of Kentucky and flew in. But anyhow, I was so nervous, and this play that I chose... I can't even recall the title of it at the time, but it was a comedy. I wanted to do something entirely different, which I did. And I had a great time doing it, but it was such a nerve wracking experience that I went down there and I weighed something like 155 or 160 pounds and I came home weighing around 135. And I have never regained that weight. That is really where I lost that weight. I got down there and I had to have everything altered and all the clothes turned around. So I thought, boy, that does me with the stage. God, can you imagine if I'd have done another play. You wouldn't even be able to see me, except my big head. (laughter)
[Convention: Midcon, England, September 1986, transcribed in Guyer, 1993.]

I met Phil a number of years ago in Lubbock, Texas. I was down there to do a play and Phil directed the play that I was in, and it was quite an experience. I hadn’t been on a stage for quite a number of years, and it was a very nervous experience for me because I was in every scene in the play. During the course of this play an odd thing happened.... I have really forgotten this play, practically, but there was a scene where... It concerned a divorce; I’d divorced my wife and realized I’d made a mistake and I was trying to make it up to her again, trying to get in her good graces, and she finally invited me back to the house. And I was having quite a nice time, we were having a few drinks, and I feigned the fact that I fell and injured my ankle so I could spend the night there. So, she went upstairs to get some blankets, and in the meantime I quickly undressed on stage. And I had a gold necklace around my neck that Carolyn had given me for - I don’t know which one of those many anniversaries that we’ve shared together. And when I started to take off this shirt, I pulled the necklace off. It was a theater in the round, more or less, it was a square stage even though it was in the round, and the stage was very unique, the stage lifted at the end of an act. It went upstairs. They just lifted the whole thing upstairs, and the dressing rooms were upstairs. Anyhow, this necklace came off, and I saw it roll right to the foot of the people sitting there. And here I am taking off my pants, and I got so upset that I pulled my underwear shorts down. True. And I mooned the whole west side. O, god, the things you do when you’re nervous.
At the end of this play each night they had us do something, which I didn’t care too much to do after being on stage for two and a half hours, but you had to come downstairs and sign programs for people. And I was signing these programs after dressing hurriedly and coming downstairs to do that and sitting, and after being there about 45 minutes, suddenly I looked up and Phil Weyland is standing there. I said, “What are you doing? Do you want my autograph?” And he said, “No, I just wanted to tell you your fly is open.”
[Convention: Los Angeles, 10/25/87]

Oh, it was... yes, quite a terrible thing happened. I told you I was very nervous doing that and I had a gold chain around my neck with St. Christopher on it and St. Genesius, who is supposed to be the patron saint of actors and musicians. But he was not very kind to me this particular evening. In the scene of this play, I was separated from my wife and I was trying to get back together again with her. And while she goes upstairs to, as they say, fetch me some bedding to sleep on the sofa downstairs, I am hurriedly getting undressed. And I'm getting my shirt off and the whole bit, as fast as I can, and as I took my shirt off my fingers became tied up with this necklace and the necklace broke and fell in... it was a theater in the round and they were all sitting around, and I saw it roll under this man's seat. It so upset me that I continued to undress and took my shorts down and I'm looking for my necklace and I mooned the whole left side. (laughter) It's a true story. Boy, were they packed in there the next night. (applause)

[Convention: Midcon, England, September 1986, transcribed in Guyer, 1993.]
Roll-out of Space Shuttle Enterprise, 9/17/76
Oh. Well, I knew that they were going to name the shuttle the Enterprise, but I must tell you that when we went there to Edwards to witness that scene, I'm sure that Jimmy and Walter and everyone else have told you, it was a very emotional sight. We're all sitting there, you know, and didn't know what to expect. And, suddenly, way, way down behind the hangar, this huge ship turns the corner and the band strikes up the Star Trek theme. And here are all these hoity toity politicians and all sitting there and it was just... it was so wonderfully ridiculous! And it took the Enterprise forever to get up to the stage and so they just played the Star Trek theme over and over. We all just sat there and cried and cried. (laughter) It was a wonderful experience.
[Convention: Midcon, England, September 1986, transcribed in Guyer, 1993.]

[NASA photo caption: The Shuttle Enterprise rolls out of the Palmdale manufacturing facilities with Star Trek television cast members. From left to right they are: Dr. James D. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, DeForest Kelley (Dr. "Bones" McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (the indefatigable Mr. Spock), Gene Rodenberry (The Great Bird of the Galaxy), and Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Checkov).]

The Littlest Hobo

I went to Canada this fall [...] I made a show there called The Littlest Hobo. It was a very popular show in Canada and it is something that is really not unlike Lassie here. I had never been to Canada before and the money was marvelous. So I went up there and it was an absolutely delightful time. We were there about six or seven days and the whole thing was shot outside, again, in the extreme cold. A delightful crew, the people were beautiful and I enjoyed it very much.
[Convention: New York City, 1980(?), transcribed in Guyer, 1991.]

Commercials

How do I personally feel about commercials? I have a couple of voices that I have done in the past. They run in the east, but they don't run on the west coast. One of them is Pet Milk and another for ice cream. Yes, they were fun to do and they're an awful nice organization and kind of a kick to do. Those are the only two I have done.
[Convention: Baltimore, July 1985, transcribed in Guyer, 1991.]