Terry Lee RiouxNew York: Pocket/Simon & Schuster, 2005.
$14.00/Trade Paperback
"That green-blooded son-of-a-bitch. This is his revenge...for all those arguments he didn't win."
-Dr. McCoy, upon realizing he has become the unwitting vessel for Spock's soul in Star Trek III
As a child, telling the world I was a Star Trek fan was pretty much the same as declaring "You know, I don't actually want to be that popular." It's a classic stigma which has held true for just about any fandom in the realm of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. The upside is that as you get older your odds of finding people who feel the same way increases exponentially. The Internet helps, but I would argue conventions serve an even greater function for geek social interaction. Having worked behind the scenes at numerous conventions covering a myriad of fandoms, I've learned that even the most socially inept red-flag misfits benefit in some way from meeting people who feel the same way they do.
Lord knows it's worked wonders for me.
It probably accounts for why I was so pleased to see that someone had finally written a book about Star Trek's DeForest Kelley. Better known as Dr. McCoy, Kelley was far and away my favorite Star Trek actor. His character was one who deftly blended deep cynicism with humanity in his profession—not to mention an enviable sense of humor in the face of relentless danger. Shows like Scrubs and House owe Dr. McCoy a debt of gratitude for their use of this character type. He may not have been the first fictional doctor on television, but he was one of the most famous, and after 30 years, the most enduring.
Somehow, though, Kelley wound up being the only member of the original cast to never tell his life story. I always thought that was strange, considering how much film and television experience he had prior to and outside of the series that made him an icon. He was several years older than his cast mates. A contract player from the last gasp of Hollywood's legendary studio system who then spent much of television's early golden age desperate to keep his name relevant in a sea of westerns and crime dramas, he was the classic story of the struggling actor whose endurance and talent kept him alive until a vehicle truly worthy of his talents could come along.
Despite the countless stories published by his cast mates, he never wrote a book. It may have gone against his humble nature or he may have just never gotten around to it. Whatever the reason, it was frustrating for me as a fan that I couldn't take-in a beginning-to-end account of his extraordinary life and career that included leaving his rural Georgia beginnings to move to California at age seventeen, his serving in World War II, and later his “making it” into film to work alongside the giants of Hollywood in the late-40's and early-50's.
I owe Terry Lee Rioux a debt of gratitude. She seems to be tuned into the same belief that Kelley's take on the original Enterprise's chief physician was the deepest and most compelling of all the characters. An important part of what has long since become one of the most influential shows in television history. Like any serious, devoted fan she has taken that interest and put it to good use in From Sawdust To Stardust. Few biographies truly succeed in combining passion for the subject matter with a scholarly eye towards detail and research. Rioux has clearly put her heart into making sure the two halves are well-represented. The result is a tribute not only to a great actor but to the concept of the criminally underrated actor—the ones who devote their careers to standing out by standing aside, rarely getting the credit they deserve for it. People like Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmett Walsh, Phillip Bosco, Lance Henriksen, Bill Nighy and dozens more from our generation, and every other since the early days of the movie star.
Immediately noticeable is the incredible attention to detail that Rioux brings to her subject. This is not a quick two pages on Wikipedia or a fast-lane account of the highs and lows. From Sawdust To Stardust is three hundred and forty-one pages of research that must have taken at least a couple of lifetime’s worth of work to give its loyalty the proper attention. Besides a great collection of film and TV roles, Kelley also left behind a long trail of friends and co-workers who have most likely been waiting a long time to give him a fitting tribute. She also excels at knowing when to step aside and let her interviewees tell the story in their own words. The tragedy of some biographies results from the writer's over-eagerness to make the work their own. It often reaches a point where the story gets lost in the writer's perspective and voice. At no time is that a problem here. Early on, Rioux shows her knack for moving seamlessly between the narrative she beautifully paints and the stories of the people who knew Kelley best. She remains unbiased throughout, knowing full-well that the most important thing is to tell the story and tell it the best way possible.
The narrative holds its own. Although I am admittedly not familiar with Rioux's work beyond this book, I can't imagine she doesn't have any experience in fiction. Only a sharp eye for writing short stories or novels could bring this kind of engaging attention to each moment. She knows how to strengthen the imagery and emotions that construct and hold together the strong flow of the stories and memories. With the level of detail in From Sawdust To Stardust, it's critical that it reads as more than just a dry collection of anecdotes and facts. It has to strike at the reader's attention, appeal to their need for a literary backdrop to heighten the reality. And yet, this is still by a fan and for people who already think the same way: in short, those who don't have to be sold on anything. They will find a lot to love about the commitment Rioux puts into a story she has been eager to tell for what I'm guessing has been quite some time. She hits every note along the way, but she never lets the story drag or get lost in a sea of dates, names and places. Despite being a lengthy read, it still moves briskly, setting an impressive level of confidence in its approach to moving through all the stages of Kelley's extraordinary life and career.
What makes it even better is how it doesn't favor the obvious. It's no great secret that people know Kelley from Star Trek and not much else, in spite of appearing in many other projects over a span of six impressive decades. Star Trek is a large part of those decades. Focusing heavily on those years wouldn't be all that surprising, since some readers might even skip around to what they think are potentially the most interesting bits. Rioux never gives in to the obvious though. Kelley's childhood is given the same attention and respect as his early days in California, or his initial foray into film, or his friendship with George Reeves, or his working with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry on his pre-Trek crime shows. And yes, when it's time to talk about DeForest Kelley and Star Trek, Rioux dives into those years and gives us all the information and emotion we could ever need. But if one piece of his life runs longer than another, it's never due to favoritism or glossing over a potentially dull point. Not once does she overstay her welcome or short change one period to get us to another more quickly.
However, there might be one part of From Sawdust To Stardust which some might find is stressed a little more above all others, depending on your interpretation. The people who want the details of Kelley's work on Trek will find a lot to enjoy and absorb. The same goes for whoever might want to know about his younger years, or how he survived between the cancellation of the series and the renewed interest that brought it back to life a few years later. And for those who wish to read about Kelley's nearly sixty-year marriage to wife Carolyn, a love and devotion between two people that lasted almost the course of their lives, they'll find that as well. It also might be the one thing Rioux wants to share with us above all else. Their marriage echoes Paul Newman's death and the emphasis that has been placed on his life-long passion for wife Joanne; or the parallel sense of loss and inescapable void which Hammer Films icon Peter Cushing felt in the wake of his wife Helen's passing. Since DeForest's marriage encompassed so much of his life it's only reasonable that their relationship comes up as often as it does. But, as I was easily pulled in and kept moving by Rioux's fantastic storytelling, I happened to notice something: it felt at times as if many of the book's strongest literary moments belonged to the deep, constant love that existed between Kelley and his wife.
It's hard to criticize her for this. All indications point to Kelley as a humble man, bound by the deep values instilled in him by his Southern Baptist roots. He was an actor of considerable worth with a deep, abiding respect for his profession, the fame it gave him, and the powerful (and at times, probably quite scary) fandom of what many originally wrote off as just another science fiction show. He didn't always understand the phenomenon that swept up his life, but he never wrote it off or the people who made him famous. He was a rarity in Hollywood: a person, not a personality. Rioux does a good job of making us understand that, but she also seems to think there is no better way to illustrate this than to keep their love story as an undercurrent to the great triumphs and disasters of DeForest Kelley's life. As far as Rioux is concerned, Carolyn was DeForest’s greatest source of comfort, strength and inspiration and its appropriate for her to think along those lines. If that's favoring one element over another, then so be it.
From Sawdust To Stardust is an effective, beautifully written biography because it's exactly what a great biography of a fan-icon should be. It's a sum of every essential part coming together perfectly to give an interesting life all the necessary comprehensiveness. Terry Lee Rioux infuses every sentence of every page with respect for DeForest Kelley as a man and an artist. She's a writer who, even after so many years of fascination and work, still retains that excitement at the prospect of introducing him to someone new or giving a so-called expert something they may not have known before. You could say she's a fan first and a scholar second, but a better way to think about it would be to imagine the dual roles running side-by-side in perfect sync.
