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DeForest Kelley On...

Film & Television Roles Before Star Trek

Fear in the Night (movie, 1947)
Variety Girl (movie, 1947)
You Are There (1953-56)
Raintree County (movie, 1957)
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (movie, 1957)
Warlock (movie, 1959)
333 Montgomery (pilot, 1960)
Bonanza (1961, 1962)
Marriage on the Rocks (movie, 1965)
Apache Uprising (movie, 1966)

Fear in the Night (movie)

Oh, my goodness. She said how do you feel about Fear in the Night? That is the first movie that I made when I was at Paramount. I love that picture and I'll tell you why. At that time, I think, it was very important to me. It was a B picture and it set a whole new trend afloat in the picture business. It became what they call in the business a sleeper. And it did an awful lot for my career. The opening scene in that movie, for many years... Howard Anderson who did the special effects for us on Star Trek, did that opening scene where I'm falling into space and he said that that was the longest special effect shot that had ever been done in motion pictures. (applause)
[Convention: Anaheim, 6/21/86, transcribed in Guyer, 1991.]

[...] I was in every scene in the film except one, plus the narration of it. It's an interesting film. It had a nice foreign quality to it

[Convention: Baltimore, July 1985, transcribed in Guyer, 1991.]

Variety Girl (movie)

Did I ever act in anything that I regretted doing in later years? Yes. Variety Girl. That was the second film I made at Paramount. I had done this film Fear in the Night first, which created a lot of excitement at that time. And then Variety Girl came along and I didn't want to make the film. And the man who brought me into pictures and saw me on stage and that started my career at Paramount agreed with me. But I had no choice in the matter. They did it as more or less thinking that everybody in the world would see Gary Cooper and Marlena Dietrich and all of those people and it would be a great showcase. But I wanted to go into a more dramatic situation, one of the ways to follow up with Fear in the Night. And for years I just hated that film. But now I look at it in great amusement and, you know, it wasn't all that bad, I guess, at that time. But it was a lot of fun.
That was a great period. I feel very blessed to have had those years at Paramount. That was a period of great excitement in the motion picture industry and that was when they had young people under contract and they worked with them and they guided their careers and saw to it that they were brought up properly in the picture business. That no longer exists today. Everything is an independent situation and it's missed. A great deal of the glamour and the mystery is gone. And to have been a part of that, a part of motion picture making, was really a joy. I'm very proud of it.
[Convention: Midcon, England, September 1986, transcribed in Guyer, 1993.]

You Are There

Gunfight at O.K. Corral

A thing that started me in heavies was, many years ago there was a show out here called You Are There, and Walter Cronkite came out from New York and he narrated it. And it was a kind of a thing where they had actual anchorpeople, like today Jerry Duncan, all those people. They would come out on the set and they would stop us in the middle of a scene. We’d be in a fight scene and they’d say, “Wait a minute,” you know. I was doing “Gunfight at OK Corral” there, and they’d stop me and say, “Mr. Clanton, what... what’s the beef here?” you know, and go into a real documentary type of thing, and then I’d answer and then they’d go on with the show. It was a very effective kind of thing. I was playing Ike Clanton in “Gunfight at OK Corral.” It was not a huge part, but it made a big impression on people in the industry, and that was a favorite role of mine. And it set me off on the heavy thing.
[Convention: Los Angeles, 10/24/87]

Raintree County (movie)

That’s a very interesting experience. Montgomery Clift in Raintree County. Now, I had... the way I happened to be in that film was, the director [Dmytryk] saw “Gunfight at OK Corral” on You Are There. He saw that small piece of film and he called me in for it, and he explained to me that it was "not a big role," he said, “DeForest, but” he said, “it’s an important role and an important... he’s the only southern officer that’s seen. So, I was thrilled to know that I would be working with Clift.
But I learned that, very sadly, Clift had a... a severe drinking problem that I was unaware of at the time, and he indulged to a certain extent so much that we would have to wrap at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, many days. It was tragic, I... because this was one of the most talented actors, I think, that I have ever seen, or been with or worked with; I just admired him so much. But a funny little thing happened. I went to the dailies - they showed ‘em at night at Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer. And I went in there one night and I was sitting with Lee Marvin, and Monty Clift came in with his driver, and he was... he was really kinda tanked. I’m not talking out of school here, because every... I wouldn’t go around saying this, but everybody knows it about Clift, see. But he was really tanked, and he came in and he sat down and looked at the rushes, the dailies, and I was right behind him and Marvin is sitting back there, too, looking at Clift like, My God, you know, I can’t believe a man would do this kind of a thing, a professional man. Well, God bless Lee, he later was pouring ‘em down, too. But anyhow, he had this beautiful scene with this actress whose name escapes me, that was in it, she was the lead, one of the leads... not Elizabeth Taylor, the blonde - Eva Marie Saint. So, he was so stoned that he had to kind of stagger out. And as he was going out, he looked around at me, and I said to him, “Monty,” I said, “that was a beautiful scene.” He said, “Thank you very much, very much.” Now, the next day we were working on the set and we were inside the Southern mansion, Lee and Clift and myself, and Eddie Dmytryk, the director, said, “I want to tell you, Monty, what a nice scene that was with Eva Marie Saint, that ran last night.” Now, I thought this man was so out of it, and he was really that loaded, that he didn’t even know I was there. He said, “Yes, DeForest told me last night, he said that he enjoyed that scene, too.” Well, I almost flopped over. I thought, you know, if I had been that loaded, man - I’ve been less than that loaded and said, “What happened last night?”
[Convention: Los Angeles, 10/24/87]

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (movie)

How’s it feel to be one of the actors who’s worked both sides of the O.K. Corral? You know, I first did O.K. Corral on a show years ago that Walter Cronkite had, called You Are There. I played Ike Clanton, who was a mean, tobacco-chewing guy with this big moustache and... [mimes spitting chaw], you know, and they... It was very clever, they used local anchor newsmen on the show, real newsmen that we have on the coast. And we’d be in the middle of a scene, if any of you... as some of you know who may have seen some of these old shows. They’d stop us, you know, and say, “Excuse me, Mr. Clanton, what are you about to do?” “Well,” I’d say, “I’m gonna go over and shoot Joe Blow’s brains out.” “What do you want to do that for?” They’d question you right in the middle of the scene, then, “Thank you very much,” and we’d go ahead and continue to do the scene. That’s the first time I did it.
Now Hal Wallis saw it and wanted me to do the same role with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in Gunfight at O.K. Corral. But I was doing another movie. Another guy saw it. That was really the first heavy that I had played. So, I got another movie off of it, and I had to wait. And Wallis wanted me to go on it anyhow, and I ended up doing Morgan Earp instead of Ike Clanton, the heavy guy in it.
Now, then, along comes Star Trek, and we do Spectre of the Gun, Gunfight at O.K. Corral. That’s the third time.
I’m looking forward to doing it as a musical.
[Convention: Vulkon, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 1/17/88]

We were doing a scene in Arizona and we were approaching the Gunfight at the OK Corral and we were near a great, big ditch. And in this gunfight, I've been wounded at this time. I'm shot, I fall into this ditch and Kirk Douglas pulls me to safety. He had to pull me about at least 50 yards. Now, I had fallen on my right arm on a shotgun. I tore all the cartilage loose from the side, which I didn't know at the time. I just knew I was in terrible pain. Kirk, of course, didn't know this. So I'm flat on my back and he gets down on his knees and he's pulling me this way and the camera is following me. And each time he's pulling me, I'm going, "Uh, uh, oh, oh," until they finally said, “Cut!” And Kirk said, "Jesus, De, that's great!" He said, "You sounded really..." (laughter) You know, I couldn't get up. I said, “I'm afraid something's wrong. I can't get up. I can't move." They tried to get me up and I couldn't get up.

So they finally brought the company doctor over and he pressed me and he said, “Something's happening to him.” They gave me a shot for the pain and took me to a local hospital there in Tucson. So, by the time I got into the hospital, they gave me another shot and put me up on the x-ray table and x-rayed me. The doctor said, "All your car­tilage is torn loose. You should remain in the hospital certainly overnight and maybe tomorrow." I got up and I had had this morphine that they had injected in me and I said, "Well, I feel fine." I said, "I'd rather go back to the hotel." And he said, "Well, you're being very foolish, young man." He said, "You really should stay here." I said, "No, I'm okay. I'll go back to the hotel .”

I went back to the hotel and that night I felt so good that I... I was all taped and had all this tape around me. I got dressed and it was in the hot summer, I'll never forget, and I had a white silk shirt on. Jack Elam knocked on the door and he opened up the door with his wicked eye and said, "How you doing, Kelley?" I said, “I feel great." He said, "Well, come on downstairs, we're gonna have a drink."

So I went downstairs to a private club that they had in this hotel. It was for members only, and they would let motion picture cast people come in there to have dinner, so then the local citizens were able to enjoy Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas and all those people who were celebrities. So I went downstairs and I joined the table with the Kirk Douglas and John Sturgess, the director, Burt Lancaster, Jack Elam, and an actor named John Ireland. And we're sitting at this table.

Suddenly I began to get warm and perspiration started to form on my forehead. And I looked over and I said to John Sturgess, "I think I'll go upstairs and rip off this tape. It's getting hot in here." He said, “Well, have the guy turn the air conditioning up." So the guy turned the air conditioning up and I continued to get warm and I said, "No, I'm still warm. I'm gonna take this tape off." So I reached over and I got the check as I got up to pay for the round of drinks. I walked to the bartender and by the time I got to the bartender, I looked down and I could see water pouring on to this silk shirt. And the bartender said, "Yes? Can I do something for you?" And I said, "Yes, you can catch me." (laughter) I fell and the horrible part is here it is, this lovely club with these leather sofas on the side and everything, and when I came to, I was throwing up in a gold spittoon and everybody said, "Another drunken actor!" (Laughter)

[Convention: New York City, 1980(?), transcribed in Guyer, 1991.]

Warlock (movie)

Incidently, you're looking at a man who knows how to handle royalty. Years ago, I was doing a film called Warlock, a western, and the director of this film came to me and he said, "DeForest, I would like for you to be up on that scene with Henry Fonda tomorrow because Princess Sophia of Greece is going to be here." Well, we thought he was kidding because he has a very dry sense of humor. And I went home and I told Carolyn about it and I said, "Maybe he means Sophia Loren." (laughter) So the next day I went back to the studio to appear and work and I was standing outside the soundstage having a smoke when this entourage drives up. Certainly enough, it was Princess Sophia and all of her ladies and gentlemen in waiting. Fonda and I had been doing a scene in a saloon, a shoot-out kind of a thing, and I had been work­ing for a very long time with a famous Indian actor in Hollywood. His name was Rod Red­wing and he worked with actors to teach them how to handle guns properly and tricky gun spins and that sort of thing. He had been work­ing with me on a holster job. I had to do what they call a fly-away. Pick up this gun off the floor, flip it around and shoot it into the holster. And I was rather sweating that out without the Princess being there watching because I was very nervous about doing it anyhow.
So, anyhow, we got into this scene. In the meantime, we're in this big barroom and there's a stairway that goes up to the second floor behind us. And they were all stationed up above there. We're down front and the cameras are here as the scene is going on. And there's a scene where I come in to have a fast draw to find out how fast Henry Fonda is. He's supposed to be a fast man and I was supposed to be a fast man. And he out-draws me and tells me to drop the gun. And then, eventually, he tells me to take my men and get out of the saloon. That's when he says, "Now pick up your gun," at the end of the scene, "and get out of here." So I pick up the gun to do that fly-away and I'm sweating it out. And there's some bat wing doors there in the bar that we exit through. So I pick up the gun, do the fly-away, it slips into the holster and I said, "Thank God" to myself. I started to back out and I tripped (laughter) over a chair, a saloon chair. And as I fell... this is a true story... the Princess... they're all sitting there... I said, "Oh, shit!" (laughter) And I was so carried away with the scene, I had forgotten that she was there. So you could have heard a pin drop. I crawled out on my hands and knees and the rest of the guys were in the back choking off laughter. The director comes out... Dmytryk... he always smoked a big cigar and, as I said, had a great dry sense of humor. And he looked over at me and he said, "De, I'll bet you sat up all night trying to decide what you wanted to say in front of the Princess." I went to lunch that day in the commissary and I got a standing ovation. (applause)
Henry Fonda attended a big bash... this is a true story... a big ball on that weekend. This happened on a Friday and Fonda was not there because a very famous actor at that time, Tyrone Power, had died, and he had gone to attend the funeral. So the director stood in and fed me Fonda's lines for that scene that day. But he heard about it, naturally. Everybody heard about it. Monday morning Fonda comes in and we start to work again and he said, "Come here, De, I want to tell you something. I attended the ball last night and I danced with the Princess, and she doesn't know what shit means." (laughter, applause) Guess that saved me.
[Convention: Midcon, England, September 1986, transcribed in Guyer, 1993.]

In that same film, we were doing a scene where we're all riding, about 25 of us, riding down the street hellbent for leather. And we swing off, one in a row, the horses whipped in one in a row, and we're each getting off the horses, going into the saloon. And as we whipped in for this scene, I had a pair of spurs on. That was the first mistake. As I got off the horse, my spur hit the actor's horse on the rump. It kicked in the air and I went into the air and I did an entire loop in the air and fell flat on my back. And as I was in the air, I said something. I knew how ridiculous it was going to be, but I plopped down and here are all these horses looking me in the face. Eddie Dmytryk, the director, comes over and he looks over the rail and the first thing he said is, "Are you hurt, De?" I said, "No, I'm all right." He said, "God, I'm glad I hired a real cowboy." (applause)

[Convention: Midcon, England, September 1986, transcribed in Guyer, 1993.]

333 Montgomery (pilot)

I enjoyed one of the things that -- I don’t know, maybe just because it was a memorable experience -- which I did for Gene Roddenberry. I did a show in San Francisco in 1960 for him called 333 Montgomery. It just recently played again, oddly enough, on Arts and Entertainment. And I enjoyed looking at it again. I thought at that time... for that time, it was a very good piece. But Carolyn, she – my wife, looked at it and she said, “I don’t ever remember you looking like that.”
[Convention: Los Angeles, 10/24/87]

[Gene Roddenberry] had written a show called 333 Montgomery, which was a legal show that told the story of a very famous criminal lawyer in San Francisco naemd Jake Ehrlich, who was a very famous man on the coast, and we... I did a pilot film of this with him, which played not too long ago on Arts & Entertainment, a real old thing, but it’s a real good show and like most of Gene’s stuff that he writes, it was a little ahead of its time and the networks were afraid to go with it. It was shot with two endings. I had defended this guy that I knew had killed another person, and at the end of the show, why, he comes to me to shake hands with me for getting him off with a sentence of some sort, and I tell him that I don’t give a damn about him, you know, not to shake my hand, I just did what I had to do. The networks... anyhow, the networks were afraid of it, didn’t do it.

[Convention: Vulkon, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 1/17/88]

Bonanza

Dan Blocker, you know, with the big hat? He used to be a great practical jokester, and we were doing a scene in one of the Bonanza’s that I did, I’ve forgotten which one. One of them, I killed a bunch of Indians I know, and they were chasing me all over the valley... Anyhow, one day we were on the set and Dan has this big hat. So we were doing this scene together and Dan had a little transistor radio and he stuck it on under his hat and had it turned on very low. We’d go out to do the scene and the sound boom was right above our heads. We started to do the scene, the soundman would say, “Cut! Cut! Cut! We’re getting some outside interference.” Dan and I would just step out and the soundman would say, “Okay, it’s all clear, let’s do it again.” Start again, the guy said, “Cut! Cut!” We did that about 8 or 10 times. Finally Dan took his hat off and there was the radio.
[Convention: Vulkon, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 1/17/88]

There was another thing that happened with them, but it’s a bit risque, I better not tell it. Okay, you people with young people here, they asked me to tell you this. We were doing a scene and I was playing a wild cat of a guy, a real mean cat. He’d poisoned a bunch of Indians, remember that? And I’m riding hell bent for leather, and I mean I’m really riding. These Indians are after me and they chase me into a gully and I get off this horse and I seek refuge with the Bonanza boys, who happen to be down in the gully. So, they’re trying to protect me and Lorne wants to go out and talk to the Indians. So he grabs his white handkerchief. And I’m in the gully there with Mike Landon and Pernell Roberts. And Lorne is going out with this handkerchief, waving the handkerchief. And Mike Landon yells out - oh, I can hardly do it - he says, right in the middle of the scene, this is the truth -- there was a new director, Don McDougall, I’ll never forget that. I thought he’d blow his lid, ‘cause these guys were driving him crazy. Right in the middle of the scene Michael says, “Hey, Lorne,” - Lorne’s out going like that [waving kerchief] - “those are redskins, not foreskins!” I keep looking to see if my wife is back there. I’m sure she’s home with Fancy. I’d never have told that if she’d been here.

[Convention: Los Angeles, 10/25/87]

Marriage on the Rocks (movie)

How did I enjoy working with Sinatra on Marriage on the Rocks? God, you all see everything! What were those pictures, you said, you hated most... No, I’m not gonna get in trouble with the Mafia. Here’s to ya, Frank. [takes drink of water] I tell you that was some experience. A cameraman saw... I had done a motion picture with Susan Hayward and Bette Davis called Where Love Has Gone, [applause] Thank you. And they saw this film and they called me. Joey Bishop was gonna do that as a cameo. So they called me in for it and painted my hair solid white and we started to do the scene and Sinatra was - there was a piano there or something - and he flipped up a half-dollar and he says, “50 cents,” he says, “that DeForest goes up on the first take.” And Dean Martin puts down 50 cents. I’m scared to death. You know, these guys have been working on the film for like 2 or 3 months and I come in for this thing. So, that went on for quite a while. But all I kept saying to myself, I need this money, because I need a new roof on the house. If I blow this I’m in deep trouble. So, I just kept saying, [teeth clenched] just remember the lines, just say the lines. And all through that thing they every time, I bet, they would drop the script, they would stop the take somehow on purpose, so it started... and they kept betting on it. Finally, Sinatra said, “Okay,” he said, “that’s enough,” he said, “let’s give him a break.” And in the meantime, Lucille Ball comes in and sits down on the cameraman... in the camera operator’s seat to watch this scene. There’s Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin -- and DeForest Kelley, scared to death. Biggest thing of my life, I got through it. I did it. That was a very frightening experience.
[Convention: Los Angeles, 10/24/87]

Apache Uprising (movie)

Apache Uprising, I played a very nice guy in that one, didn't I? (laughter) A very sweet guy named Toby Jack. Towards the end of the picture I was doing a scene, my death scene, where they tied me to a wagon wheel outside. This is true. (laughter) They tied me to this wagon wheel. It was raning and the Indians were shooting arrows in my body. They called for lunch and left me tied up. They had walked away and left me tied to this wagon wheel, but the first assistant came back real fast when I said I'm on golden time.
[Convention: Baltimore, July 1985, transcribed in Guyer, 1991.]

Oh, boy. Did Rory Calhoun and I get along, she wants to know. He’s the worst guy in the world. I told them yesterday and I’ll tell you, in Apache Uprising... I did a couple or three films with Rory, and he never stops. He’s very mischievous, and always playing those corny jokes, you know. I was sitting one day in my chair, waiting for him to come by and join us for a scene or something, and I was reading as he came by and he had a cup of coffee in his hand. He accidentally on purpose tripped. He was with Chill Wills. Coffee poured all over my boots and all up... and he says, “Oh, I’m so sorry, De, I’m so sorry” and he just kept going. Later on in the day, I hear this big sneeze from behind me and I fell this wet on my neck. I look around and there’s Rory. He’s standing there with a coffee cup, he had dipped his fingers in it and sneezed. I happen to see the maintenance man, who’s cleaning up after the horses. This was in the wintertime. True story. And we had little canvas dressing rooms, with electric heaters in them. We were on location outside. And those little canvas rooms get very warm, very hot. So I went over to the maintenance man and handed him a couple of bucks and I asked him to do me a favor and shovel up a fresh shovelful of that, which he did, and I said, “Follow me.” So we walked into Rory’s dressing room and it had a little bitty closet, you know, just a little curtain in front of it, and I took the electric heater and placed it... well away, but toward the closet. And here was this beautiful sport coat hanging there and flannel trousers. And we placed that fresh manure in there. Fortunately, I got off at 3:30 that afternoon, and Rory was still working; he had not been back to his dressing room.
Next morning, I’m doing a fight scene in a corral, and I’m on the ground. This guy’s holding me down and I look up and I see Rory coming after me. I said, “Let me up! Let me up!” I leaped over that corral, and he grabbed me by the back, and he said, “You little son of a bitch!” He’s a big, husky guy. He said, “I had to go on Art Linkletter’s show last night.” He said, “I had to take those damned clothes and take them off in the front of my house and drop them on the porch and go in and get showered and rush back.”
He never played another joke on me.
[Convention: Vulkon, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 1/17/88]