Star Trek Creator Had to Fight to Play Series’ Most Memorable Character

By Chris Snellgrove | Published 11 seconds ago

Here’s a trivia question to ask at a Star Trek convention: who do you think is the most memorable character The Original Series is it? Many would say Spock, the alien who captivated the audience from the beginning. Honestly, though, I think he’s more (as the character might say) “likable” than memorable. Some would say Captain Kirk, who became the face of the franchise. It may be a hair-splitter, but to me, that makes him more iconic than memorable. Personally, I think the most memorable TOS character is Dr. McCoy, who served as the no-nonsense, emotional counterpart to Spock’s psychotic Vulcan.

McCoy was great because he was always the last audience. When Kirk and Spock argued over intellectual abbreviations, the good doctor character (with his southern drawl) would bring everything back to Earth. McCoy was most memorable, of course, because he was played to perfection by the late, great DeForest Kelley. He is so natural in the role that you might think he was Gene Roddenberry’s first choice for the role. As it turned out, he was! But Roddenberry lost to two different directors in two driver’s teams, which is why Kelley was actually the the third time the man who will play the medical officer aboard the Starship Enterprise.

The Doctor Entered

When Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, DeForest Kelley was his first choice to play the show’s doctor. He wanted to cast her in the first episode of the show’s pilot, “The Cage.” However, Roddenberry had little energy in those days, and occasionally let director Robert Butler take over. At Butler’s suggestion, Roddenberry cast John Hoyt in the role of the doctor in the pilot episode. In a way, this worked: NBC rejected the first Star Trek pilot but ordered another, and the only cast member who returned for the second was Leonard Nimoy. If DeForest Kelley had gotten the role then, he may have been cast again later.

Later, Gene Roddenberry was working on the second episode of the Trek pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” He still wanted Kelley to play the medical officer on the Enterprise, especially after the man played the role A Police Storyone of Roddenberry’s failed pilots. Unfortunately, the past repeated itself: the director of the second pilot, James Goldstone, strong-armed Roddenberry into ousting Paul Fix. NBC liked “Where No One Went Ahead” and greenlit the series; to this day, newcomers to Star Trek are confused by the absence of Dr. McCoy in this episode.

His Memory Will Live Forever

Finally getting the green light for his epic sci-fi show was good news for Gene Roddenberry. When NBC picked up his series, Roddenberry had almost as much control everythingincluding acting. He was finally able to get DeForest Kelley on the show, and Dr. McCoy made his debut in “The Corbomite Maneuver.” Star Trek would come to define the veteran actor’s entire career, and he jumped in with other actors. The Original Series characters in feature films. Later, he appeared in the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generationsuccessfully handing over the franchise baton to an entirely new group of intrepid local explorers.

The quality and intensity of Kelley’s performance on Star Trek left an indelible mark on pop culture. Years later, Karl Urban did his best Kelley impression when he played Dr. McCoy in the Kelvinverse films. Now, Punisher actor Thomas Jane is set to play a paranoid doctor in the final season of Strange New Worlds. Together, these characters have done more than continue the legacy of a great sci-fi franchise. They also carried on the legacy of DeForest Kelley, an incredibly talented actor and one of the most memorable characters in Star Trek history.