LOS ANGELES -- Actor DeForest Kelley, who as crusty Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy on "Star Trek" brought a country flavor to outer space, died Friday. He was 79.
Kelley died after an extended illness, said Carol Pfannkuche, spokeswoman for the Motion Picture and Television Country Home and Hospital, a retirement facility, in suburban Woodland Hills."He represented humanity and it fitted him well," said Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on the science-fiction saga. "He was a decent, loving, caring partner and will be deeply missed."
The conflict between McCoy's all-too-human character and Spock's cold logic provided grist for many of the lighthearted moments in the television series and "Star Trek" movies.
His Dr. McCoy was one of a colorful crew of 23rd-century space travelers that helped make the original "Star Trek" television series a lasting cult favorite, although the program aired only from 1966-69 on NBC.
The "Star Trek" phenomenon lived on in feature films and in a series of TV and movie spin-offs, including "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
"I'm just a country doctor!" McCoy would exclaim when called on to cope with the other-worldly illnesses and calamities that beset the USS Enterprise, but he would always come through for his captain.
Bones hardly went an episode without arguing with Spock or complaining. "No. I'm a doctor, not a mechanic," he said in one episode, and "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer" in another.
Born Jackson DeForest Kelley Jan. 20, 1920, in Atlanta, he played supporting roles in a number of movies.
His part in "Star Trek," which was created by Gene Roddenberry, brought Kelley out of relative obscurity and into the popular culture limelight. He played in six of the sci-fi films.