Doctor by doctor : Dr. Leonard Horatio McCoy

Abstract

This essay continues my survey of the various doctors in the many parts of the Star Trek gesamtkunstwerk. Here I turn to the most well-known of all of the doctors, Leonard Horatio McCoy. McCoy was portrayed by DeForest Kelley (1920–1999) in Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–69) as well as in the animated series (1973–74). Kelley as McCoy also appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies and made a brief appearance as a very elderly doctor in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Encounter at Farpoint” (Corey) in 1987. More recently, the role was assumed by Karl Urban in the franchise film reboot, Star Trek (Abrams 2009) and its sequels. The fictional Dr. McCoy was born in 2227 in Georgia, trained at the University of Mississippi, married, with one daughter, and after divorcing (Sutherland, “The Survivor”), became chief medical officer of the Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk in 2266. The core trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy comprise a command troika modelled on classical mythology. Diversity and multiethnicity are embraced with the inclusion of a human-alien hybrid (Spock), along with a bridge crew that included a Scotsman with a broad burr, a black female communications officer, a Japanese helmsman, and a Russian navigator. “Though dominantly white, this was an integrated cast for 1960s network television”. Even greater ethnic and gender mixes were produced in later years, as witnessed in ensuing Star Trek series spinoffs that portray a female as well as an African-American captain. The production team in the original series of Star Trek noted “the exquisite chemistry among Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley, three men as different from one another as the characters they played. The actors truly enjoyed one another, and it showed in their performances”, helping to eventually give the series its past and current cult status.