Jackson DeForest Kelley (January 20, 1920 – June 11, 1999) was an American actor known for his iconic roles in Westerns and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek.
Kelley was born in Toccoa, Georgia, the son of Clora (née Casey) and Ernest David Kelley, who was a Baptist minister. DeForest was named after the pioneering electronics engineer Lee De Forest. Kelley was delivered in their home by h...
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Jackson DeForest Kelley (January 20, 1920 – June 11, 1999) was an American actor known for his iconic roles in Westerns and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek.
Kelley was born in Toccoa, Georgia, the son of Clora (née Casey) and Ernest David Kelley, who was a Baptist minister. DeForest was named after the pioneering electronics engineer Lee De Forest. Kelley was delivered in their home by his uncle, a prominent local physician. He grew up in the Atlanta area and was a 1938 graduate of Decatur Boys High in Decatur, GA. As a child, he sang in the church choir, where he discovered that he enjoyed singing and was good at it. Eventually this led to solos and an appearance on the radio station WSB AM in Atlanta, Georgia. As a result of his radio work, he won an engagement with Lew Forbes and his orchestra at the Paramount Theater. Kelley had an older brother, Ernest Casey Kelley.
Kelley served in World War II as an enlisted man in the...
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