From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley, Star Trek's Dr. McCoy [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

When you finish reading a really well done biography, you are left feeling as if you have gotten to `know' the subject of the book. As if you have not only gained insight into the person, but also the era in which they lived and the factors that helped shape their life. Based on that criterion, From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley, Star Trek's Dr. McCoy by Terry Lee Rioux is better than well done; it is excellent.

For most of us, when we think of DeForest Kelley, we think of "Bones" McCoy but Jackson DeForest Kelley already had over 20 years in Hollywood under his belt before Gene Roddenberry tapped him to play the crusty southern doctor on Star Trek. Terry Lee Rioux traces that career through its ups and downs, all the while building a portrait of a gentle, caring man of deep beliefs and strong convictions. Meticulous research and countless hours of interviews with numerous friends and collegues who were close to the Kelley's have enabled Rioux to provide a revealing narrative that is rich with previously unknown details about DeForest Kelley's life and career.

Despite his humble beginnings in Conyers, Georgia, De Kelley had big dreams. He took his first steps toward realizing those dreams as a member of the Long Beach Community Players and gradually learned his craft under the ever looming shadow of war. His service in World War II, his marriage to Carolyn, the years of struggle as a contract player at Paramount and the failure of the studio system are all covered in the first two parts of the four parts that make up the book.

A fortune teller once predicted that De's real success would come after he turned 40, and indeed DeForest Kelley was contemplating retirement when Gene Roddenberry came calling. At 46 years of age he reported for work on Star Trek on May 23, 1966 hoping the show would last the seven episodes he had contracted for. The rest, as they say, is history.

From Sawadust to Stardust is not your typical Hollywood biography. It is an impressive piece of scholarship and writing that has broad appeal beyond the obvious allure it will hold for Star Trek fans. Inspirational and moving, it is an outstanding portrait of a true gentleman, Jackson DeForest Kelley, the kind of person you would be proud to know, and if you read From Sawdust to Stardust, you will `know' DeForest Kelley.

He did not write his own biography, unlike everybody else on the Enterprise. But he left his papers and memorabilia organized so that somebody else could. Terry Lee Rioux has done a commendable job drawing together details from Kelley's papers and interviews with people who worked with him in TV and movies, or were his friends during his early years in Long Beach.

Our crusty Dr. McCoy isn't someone you can really imagine having a dewy-cheeked youth. He was the Star Trek character we knew the least about, and Kelley was the most private of all the cast. So this book does a great service in opening up his life to us, in a remarkably tender and sensitive way. In fact, Rioux does something daring for an actor's biography: she acknowledges that humans have spiritual lives, and that Kelley's upbringing as a poor preacher's son in Conyers, Georgia gave him a faith and a spirituality that both protected and haunted him.

The other remarkable accomplishment of the book is that, in following Kelley's development as a young Georgia boy coming of age in Long Beach, California (beaches, surfing, racial diversity, gambling, drink, tobacco, and girls), rapidly discovering himself as an actor with real talent, Rioux recreates the energy and atmosphere of a sunny Navy port town just before World War II breaks out - and how it all changes after Pearl Harbor. She works the same magic with the crumbling of the Hollywood studio system, the blossoming of television, and the rise and fall of TV westerns, all seen from the POV of a struggling actor who seems to keep missing the big break.

The book's verbal failings - such as rushed, cliché'd sketching of world events - can be attributed to editorial pressure to get the word count down. More glaring is the lack of photographs. There are no portraits of Kelley as a boy, nor of his family: the Reverend David Kelley, mother Clora, and older brother Casey, who became a successful businessman. Nor are there stills from Kelley's work: the early movie break, Fear In the Night, or TV episodes from Bonanza, You Are There, and Gene Roddenberry's lawyer series pilot starring Kelley, 333 Montgomery. Rioux gives such careful attention to the development of Kelley's craft and his struggle to get work, it's shocking to not have visual proof of that effort.

Rioux' theme of spiritual strength, often embodied in Kelley's 57-year love affair with his wife, Carolyn, can take on a tone that slides into worship. But as a theme, it pays off. After Star Trek ended, Kelley's encounter with a dying child whose one wish was to meet "Dr. McCoy" apparently changed the actor's attitude about his iconic role and his purpose in forever being "Bones."

There's another connection that Rioux doesn't make, but jumps out at any reader who has done time in therapy. She makes the arresting statement that when soldiers (Kelley among them) returned from World War II, they wanted to get back to living and "forget the war ever happened. " It's telling, then, that the Western had phenomenal popularity in the late 40s and all through the 50s. Westerns are morality tales about good and evil, right and wrong, choices with life-and death consequences, men with guns and the bonds that form between them in desperate situations. This kind of morality play became the foundation of "Star Trek," and Gene Roddenberry even described his idea as "Wagon Train to the stars" so TV executives would understand what he was talking about. Cheap, B-movie Westerns on screen and TV were Kelley's bread and butter in the 50s and early 60s, his face and voice were recognized as part of that imaginary world. In a way, these morality plays helped expose and heal the soul-wounds of war. One can say that Kelley's familiar humanity helped carry a world's wounded consciousness forward to a hopeful future, in Star Trek.

I closed this book feeling that DeForest Kelley, actor, was truly a healer. Not a doctor - but thank God he played one on TV.

Okay, I admit I'm biased. I was vice president of his fan club for years. But for those who are shooting this book down because it doesn't cover enough Star Trek for you.. a subtle reminder. Star Trek was NOT De Kelley's career. Star Trek came at a time near the end of De's career. Yes, it is what caused fans to love him and recognize him, but it was not his career. His career started long before Star Trek was a glimmer in Roddenberry's mind.

And as a person who was very fortunate enough to call the Kelleys friends, I can assure you that this book does let you in on the quiet nature of his life and the special person he indeed was. De was about the little stuff, not the big stuff. And that is how this book is written. He wasn't out for the publicity or the acknowledgement. He just did things because they were "the right things to do"... not because he would gain stardom, press, publicity or attention. In fact, he hated attention. He hated talking in front of people. So why did he go to conventions? Because he did love his fans. He loved hearing from them. And he wanted to acknowledge THEM. Not get the attention for himself.

Anyway.. if you want a biography that is factual with a bunch of dates and such.. no this perhaps isn't the book for you. But it was never meant to be that type of book.

But if you want a book that delves into the life of a very quiet, charming "county boy from Georgia" who just happened to become one of most beloved doctors on television, then please, read this and share it with friends.

He deserves nothing less.