His most recent work was as the voice of Viking One in "Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars" (1998), and as himself in the limited-release conventions docu "Trekkies." His last ST film was Judgement Rites (1994). About his only notable tv appearance since the 1973/74 animated ST series was the 1987 pilot/movie for ST:The Next Generation, his only non-ST film role since 1966 was Night Of The Lepus (1972). Most of his work before 1967 was in westerns including Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957), which inspired a ST episode a decade later. His pre-ST tv roles included Science Fiction Theatre (1955), as a doctor (though not on the Enterprise).
From TV Guide, 7-17-99 issue:
Make no "Bones" about it, DeForest Kelley was the heart of Star Trek. The veteran actor, who died of cancer June 11 at age 79, spent much of his early career as a villain in big-screen Westerns before playing outer-space good guy Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the 1966-69 sci-fi series and 6 feature films. If Trek was Wagon Train in Space, as its creator Gene Roddenberry often said it was, and William Shatner (as Captain Kirk) was the ultimate space cowboy, then McCoy was the wise country doc we all wish we had--crusty but kind, no-nonsense but deeply humane. These were qualities the soft-spoken, Georgia-born Kelley--known to friends as "De"--had in abundance. "He was a true Southern gentleman and a privilege to know," says Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett, who played McCoy's trusty assistant, Nurse Chapel. "I never heard anyone utter a word against De, and I never heard him say one derogatory thing about anyone else. Who else can you say that about? As much as the world will miss him, this is a much kinder place because he was around.--Michael Logan
