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by Kris M. Smith (Author)
FROM THE FOREWORD: You are here (I presume) because you've read my 2015 memoir "DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal: A Harvest of Memories from the Fan Who Knew Him Best" or its 2001 predecessor "DeForest Kelley A Harvest of Memories: My Life and Times with a Remarkable Gentleman Actor."I am here because so many of you wrote to tell me that you're still hankering for every morsel of experience I enjoyed as a fan and friend of Carolyn and DeForest Kelley. I'm doing this for you now for three reasons: 1. I'm no longer a spring chicken and I want to help extend the Kelley legacy as far into the future as I possibly can 2.the 20th anniversary of De's passing is this year (June 11, 2019)3.the 100th anniversary of De's birth will occur on January 20, 2020 Based on the 5-star reviews that flooded in after the publication of my Kelley memoir, I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Fans said, "I feel like I've truly met and know De and Carolyn now." BULLS EYE That's exactly what I was aiming for I succeeded so well, in fact, that I started getting my own fan mail from readers who loved De or were just discovering him for the first time. They asked me follow-up questions. They wanted to continue to inhabit my experiences with the Kelleys, including the mundane. True fans can never get enough of the Kelleys. So, I'm doing everything I possibly can to be sure that my readers get everything I have to share with you before I'm shoveled off this mortal coil. I consider this my magnum opus. It has been quite the undertaking, when you consider the thousands of hours I spent typing these phone visits originally (immediately or shortly after each of the 1000-plus conversations occurred), the time I spent rifling through them and my journals for the 2001 version of my memoir of my life and times with the Kelleys, and this final "no holds barred" iteration. Whew So, to those who reached out and inquired, thank you. Although this has been a herculean undertaking, by tackling the phone logs again I've been able to re-experience the magic. In fact, I feel as if I resurrected the Kelleys and spent additional time with them because I had forgotten so much of what was in the phone logs So, in asking me to tell it all, you've blessed me as much as I hope these six volumes will bless you.
