And Then There are Those Attempting Character Assassination

In one of the sci-fi Facebook groups where I announced my upcoming interview with Roger D. Noriega, there is a guy who has accused me of exploiting my friendship with the Kelley’s.

Here is our exchange of ideas.  Below the announcement, which reads like this:

Tim M. (last name not divulged, because I don’t want to be accused of character assassination myself)… creepy Stalker ‘Author’.

Kris M Smith  T’was more the reverse, if you ever read my book. I’m far from a pushy person. They called me a thousand times on the phone after I moved down to CA at their urging. I called them maybe ten times, total.

Tim M. I HAVE read your ‘Book’. Shame on you for exploiting your relationship (with) the sick old man. Not cool.

Kris M Smith  Sorry you feel that way. You’re the first to tell me that. My reviews have been 99.999% lovely. But different people have different perspectives, and that’s okay. I wish you all the best, always!

Tim M. … uh yeah.

Kris M Smith I don’t just write about De, you know. I’m a writer; that’s my profession. I’ve written books about other topics, too. It’s how I make a living. I don’t consider it exploitation when I’m giving readers and clients and their readers what they want. See my Author Central page https://www.amazon.com/…/B001HN12DS%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt… and or visit WordWhisperer.net (my writing services website) for more about me. Who do you “exploit” to make your living? I consider what I do serving my reading fans. And serving De’s career (while he was alive) and (ultimately) expanding his legacy beyond what he did for a living, as I have done since I was in high school. It’s all a matter of perspective, I guess.

Tim M. Again, I have read your book. Trust me, I am not the only person who wishes DeForest Kelley and his wife had placed their trust in somebody more honorable. A ‘True’ Friend wouldn’t have written such a book… Mr. Kelley was always a Private person… I’m pretty sure he would NOT have wanted such a book released. Should have kept your interactions with the Kellys (sic) private that’s what a true friend would have done.

Kris M Smith  Au contrare! De and Carolyn both authorized my writing of the book and the release of all conversations. (I have it in writing from Carolyn. My convos with De about it are in the book.) De said, “Tell it all.” And Carolyn requested several additional copies after hers was stolen in the hospital. She loved it. My books are about my friendship with them. Sadly, the story ended with his death. I didn’t like that part any more than you did, but he said to “tell it all” and I wanted fans to know what transpired so they wouldn’t imagine the worst that can happen with a man battling cancer. I did take a lot of the last few weeks out of the updated edition (2016) because I wanted to add back in more than 55 pages of fun and funny anecdotes that didn’t make it into the first edition due to constraints in page count. Your version simply doesn’t square with the facts. I’m sorry you reached the conclusion you have. It breaks my heart. If that was your intention, you succeeded. But I still have the reviews of fans who tell me it was “just what the doctor ordered” for them and their needs, so I have that to go by, too. I will do my best to focus on those and to kindly “blow the rest away…” (from the poem “Friendship” by Dinah Craik (1826 – 1887) English novelist and poet.)

(An aside: De authorized me to write his biography, too! But I passed that task off to Terry Rioux because I’m an anecdotal writer not a historian, interviewer, or researcher, all of which were required to write a biography.)

In a nutshell, I don’t even recognize the Kris Smith that this fellow has created in his mind.

Tim M. is unfathomable to me. 

 

In the same thread (beyond responding to him) I asked fans who knew fans of westerns to let them know about the upcoming interview, too, and posted my article from COWBOYS AND INDIANS MAGAZINE  from 2016 to remind them of his long career in westerns.

Then I added that I have been extolling De’s virtues ever since 1969 in writing (I attached copies of my articles from TV STAR PARADE and GRIT, for which I was paid zip zilch nada, except for the COWBOYS AND INDIANS PIECE, for which I was paid $750.00!!! — what’s in parentheses here is for your info: I didn’t put the income generated on the page), so my intention in writing about him has been to continue to elevate him, keep him in the spotlight, keep him top of mind.  Full stop. My books are intended to do that. They aren’t making me a mint.  (Far from it! If they were, I could retire as a copywriter and write more books and articles with my own name on them.)

Even when I wrote the award-winning “Why I Live in the Valley” for the LA Times following the Northridge quake, I mentioned being De’s star polisher as one of the perks, and Carolyn called to tell me she knew it would win first place and that the gal who sold De some of his wardrobe called her to tell her he was mentioned in the essay. She was thrilled that he got additional public accolades!

Photo taken to illustrate my “Why I Live in the Valley” article

So…yeah… although it hurts to be accused of exploiting my friendship with De and Carolyn, I know my own mind and heart and that my chief reason for keeping him in the spotlight is to let fans know he was the full meal deal, and that he should always be remembered for that even more than for his roles as an actor.

And he was an international treasure just for being a great actor!  To me, he was much, much more.  Mentor, Friend, Role Model.

It’s at times like this I’m gladdest he was my role model.  My ability to be diplomatic with this fellow emanates from that!

P.S.   While taking my morning walk just now, it occurred to me that I learned two more valuable lessons from Carolyn and De about Cheerful Accolades and Armchair Assaults

From Carolyn, I learned this about Cheerful Accolades  (book  excerpt) :

They (Mom and Dad and De and Carolyn) got into a sort of gabfest about me because initially that was their common frame of reference. Instead of Dad’s usual caustic remarks, I heard him saying some of the sweetest things about me! Then I thought that he was probably just following the Kelleys’ lead, since they were being so complimentary. Then I decided, no…I guess Dad really did think I was worth claiming as a kid; he just had an uncommonly weird way of showing it. Acutely embarrassed by their comments, I finally directed, “Okay, you guys. Knock it off.”

Carolyn grinned, “Just stick your toe in the rug and take it, like a good little celebrity.”

I laughed. So did De!

And from De I learned this about armchair critics (from his poem THE DREAM GOES ON AND ON AND ON):

“They’ve critiqued our wrinkles, our bellies, and our hair,

We just keep going, we don’t care.”

You win some, you lose some. Keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Forgive. Forget. Move on.

Rinse and repeat.

Please follow and like us: