DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal Audio Book
The audio version of DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal--designed to be played on large-capacity (500 MG and larger) iPods and on iTunes--is narrated by me and features an exclusive end piece that contains more than 15 minutes of voicemail messages from Carolyn and DeForest Kelley.
Format Details: M4B is a file extension for an MPEG-4 part 14 audio layer audio book container file format used by iTunes. An M4B file is very similar to an M4A file but specified for audio books. M4B files support metadata for chapters and bookmarking on supporting players and most commonly uses AAC (Advanced Audio Codec).
The series of voicemail messages gives Kelley fans an extended opportunity to hear Carolyn Kelley’s voice, possibly for the first time ever for some of you.
De’s wife of 54 years (until his death), Carolyn was “the wind beneath De’s wings”. But because she was bashful, her voice was rarely heard in fandom.
DeForest Kelley often said, “I make the living but she makes the living worthwhile.”
Until you’ve heard Carolyn’s voice, you cannot possibly appreciate the woman who made De’s life complete.
ADDED BONUS: The voicemail section also includes voicemail messages to me from actress Tippi Hedren, Paramount producer and goodwill ambassador A.C. Lyles, executive producer Harve Bennett, and Leonard Nimoy’s first secretary, Teresa Victor.
SPECIAL THANK YOU TO AUDIO ENGINEER ROD JANPOL who took my narrated Audacity files and tweaked them in a number of ways to make sure the result was something we could both put our names to with a modicum of pride.
"You have done brilliantly. As with the first time I read your book and From Sawdust to Stardust by Terry Rioux (DeForest Kelley's biographer), this audio book version touched me where I live. It is beyond brilliant, very moving..." -- Greg Barton, Australia
Email from recent reader Samantha Pitts:
Hello Kris,
Within the past week, I’ve both read and listened to your wonderful memoir of DeForest Kelley. I read with an intensity of focus, slaking a thirst I didn’t really know I had. So many things about this experience provoked a deep sense of gratitude that prompts me to write a few words of thanks. Your words pulled me in and I was there. The magical almost fairy tale account of your meeting with the Kelley’s and the evolving relationship with them. Getting to really know DeForest and having my perception of what kind of person he was validated. Discovering the gem that was Carolyn. The humor, wit and shenanigans from you and the gang of the DKFC and the Kelley’s themselves. The absolute love, the respect, and sheer tenderness woven throughout. And, so much more that I don’t quite have the words to express everything right now. But it seems important to at least let you know. So instead of being asleep in bed by now I am still up finishing this note to say thank you , thank you, thank you for sharing.
Warm regards,
Samantha Pitts
