Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A marvelous, often moving, account of friendship, January 24, 2005
I think many of us have no real conception of what kind of people movie and television stars are, how they live, or what kinds of friends they have. Our views are jaded by the seemingly never-ending sensational bits that come out of Hollywood, tales of excess well beyond any the rest of us can imagine much less indulge in. Many stars have wild reputations, which are often deserved. Many times I have read about the behavior of some of our biggest stars and thought how stupid they must be to squander what they have been so fortunate to obtain, that fame and fortune seems so wasted on them.
Then there are the very few actors who have the reputation of quiet dignity and warm graciousness; actors that we respect not just for their acting ability but for their humanity. DeForest Kelly was one of those actors.
In all the years I have been a Star Trek fan (over 30), I have never read or heard so much as a rumor that DeForest Kelly was anything except a complete gentleman, a kind and caring individual for whom the role of Dr. McCoy was a natural. This despite the fact that he was, for years, typecast as a villain.
Kristine M. Smith's book gives us a look into the lives of Mr. Kelly and his wife Carolyn from the perspective of a fan turned friend turned aide and confidant. Along the way, Ms. Smith shares aspects of her life as well, which is appropriate considering the intertwining of her life with the Kelly's.
I found the book to be a page-turner, and could not put it down once I started reading it. In many ways, I found that, even though I had never heard anything but good about Mr. Kelly, I was surprised from time to time how normal the Kelly's and their life were. At other times I was moved by various events that Ms. Smith describes. I don't want to give any details away so as to not spoil anything for new readers. Suffice to say that I strongly recommend this book to Star Trek and DeForest Kelly fans as well as to anyone who would like to have a glimpse of what a real star, in every sense of the word, is actually like.
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23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This book should not have been published, August 20, 2006
As a life long admirer of DeForest Kelley, I snapped up what I thought was a rare biographical look into his life. What I found was a book about a fan seeing herself through her idol's eyes, giving us a blow by blow of every personal interaction they had, every time he mentioned her name in public, even recreations of telephone conversations they had. Okay, I was still with the book that far. The author over the years develops an authentic and admirable relationship with both Carolyn and DeForest Kelley, and they truly do become friends. The author is utimately so trusted by both De and Carolyn Kelley that they asked her to help care for them when they were simultaneously hospitalized. At the time, De Kelley was dying of cancer. The author did an angelic and laudable thing in putting her life on hold to care for De Kelley for over three months, as his physical system began to shut down. I admire and commend her for extraordinary act of kindness to him. I lost a father to a lengthy battle with cancer, and I know precisely what such personal care involves. That said, I was deeply pained to find the last third of her book presents the excrutiating minutiae of Kelley's decline, complete with accounts by the author of her helping him bathe, helping him with his biological functions, holding him as he vomits... To me this seemed a violation. As a reader I did not expect or want this highly detailed, day by day account of the last months of De's life as he languished in pain and emotional distress in the hospital. And DeForest Kelley himself, a classic old school Southern gentleman, would surely have been a man of great dignity and privacy. The painful details (and there are many of them) of his demise do not belong in a published book that his lifelong fans will read. I applaud what the author did FOR DeForest Kelley, in staying with him day and night as assistant and caregiver in his last months. Thank God for her - seriously. But knowing how deeply she loved the man (because she tells us on almost every page) I am perplexed that after his death, she felt it was appropriate to offer those painfully intimate and lengthy details of his loss of physical strength and dignity to the world. DeForest Kelley lived and acted in public, but the intimate moments preceding his death should have remained private.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
HOW I FINALLY MET THE REAL DR. McCOY [aka De Kelley], February 10, 2005
Whether you are a DeForest Kelley fan who followed him to Star Trek, or admirer Dr.Leonard McCoy and followed him into the helping professions as I did, to truly get to know this quietly courageous and dedicated "country doctor" you have to read Kristine Smith's "A Harvest Of Memories". In it you will meet a man who possessed that extremely rare kind of courage, someone who dared to be who he really was, without the protective shell that most of us use. In an often heartbreaking universe Mr. Kelley was strong enough and brave enough to remain kind, compassionate, and caring to his fellow man [and animals !]. His only protective "shield" was the love of his wife of over fifty years, his few close friends, and the deep affection of his legion of fans. Kris Smith's book shows us a man with inherent goodness and human decency, in a profession not known for those qualities,who did indeed suvive and prosper.
Reading this moving and heartfelt memoir I came to understand why Dr. Leonard McCoy's compassion, humanity, and fervent commitment to his patients [and his friends: "Dammit Jim..."]had always seemed so very real. It's because they were real; They were the mirror reflections of the man standing firmly behind the image of Dr. McCoy. In "Harvest" you get to meet him in an up close and personal way that few were priviledged to experience, for he was a very private man. He would not write his own autobiography, although many of the Star Trek cast did.....Somehow that is not surprising. This book is not a biography.It is much more personal than that. In the newly released "From Sawdust To Stardust" Terry Lee Rioux calls Kris Smith DeForest and Carolyn Kelley's daughter. As this memoir unfolds you will see why. And you'll watch a very special relationship develop, over time and distance, joy and trial, triumph and tragedy, all the way to the very edge of that "Undiscovered Country". For those of us who have accompanied a loved one on the first part of that final journey, Kris' description of the love, pain, sorrow and joy, will ring very true.....as will the ultimate decision to love someone enough to let them go on ahead.
Thus, if you would like to meet and get to know DeForest Kelley....or Leonard H. McCoy....you should really read both books: "A Harvest Of Memories" and "From Sawdust To Stardust". They allowed me to meet one of the role models of my youth [for the good doctor was an empathetic and caring counselor long before starships carried a mental health crew]. I read Kris' memoir first....I was hooked.....And I agree with Mr. Spock regarding the future: "There are always possibilities." ["He's not dead Jim."]
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