"I m up at 5 in the morning and in bed by 10 in the evening"
About this Quote
A 5 a.m. wake-up and a 10 p.m. bedtime sounds like the most boring brag imaginable, which is exactly why it lands. Coming from DeForest Kelley, forever welded in the public mind to Dr. McCoy’s snappish energy on Star Trek, the line quietly rewrites the mythology of the actor’s life. Celebrity culture sells us nocturnal glamour: parties, late shoots, artistic chaos. Kelley offers the opposite: a schedule that could belong to a farmer, a factory foreman, or a health nut. The subtext is discipline as defense. In an industry built on uncertainty, routine becomes a form of control.
There’s also a generational tell. Kelley was a Depression-era Southerner who came up through radio, B-movies, and the studio system’s grind before finding his iconic role in middle age. For performers shaped by that era, professionalism often meant showing up on time, hitting your mark, and staying out of trouble. “In bed by 10” isn’t just self-care; it’s a quiet refusal of the actor-as-child stereotype, the idea that fame excuses disorder.
Context matters, too: Star Trek fandom and convention culture turned cast members into semi-mythic figures. A simple statement of routine punctures the aura. It’s an assertion of ordinary human limits behind the mask of space opera heroics. Kelley’s intent feels less like confession than calibration: don’t confuse charisma with chaos; longevity, on-screen and off, is built the unsexy way.
There’s also a generational tell. Kelley was a Depression-era Southerner who came up through radio, B-movies, and the studio system’s grind before finding his iconic role in middle age. For performers shaped by that era, professionalism often meant showing up on time, hitting your mark, and staying out of trouble. “In bed by 10” isn’t just self-care; it’s a quiet refusal of the actor-as-child stereotype, the idea that fame excuses disorder.
Context matters, too: Star Trek fandom and convention culture turned cast members into semi-mythic figures. A simple statement of routine punctures the aura. It’s an assertion of ordinary human limits behind the mask of space opera heroics. Kelley’s intent feels less like confession than calibration: don’t confuse charisma with chaos; longevity, on-screen and off, is built the unsexy way.
Quote Details
| Topic | Habits |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Kelley, DeForest. (2026, January 15). I m up at 5 in the morning and in bed by 10 in the evening. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-m-up-at-5-in-the-morning-and-in-bed-by-10-in-148827/
Chicago Style
Kelley, DeForest. "I m up at 5 in the morning and in bed by 10 in the evening." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-m-up-at-5-in-the-morning-and-in-bed-by-10-in-148827/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I m up at 5 in the morning and in bed by 10 in the evening." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-m-up-at-5-in-the-morning-and-in-bed-by-10-in-148827/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.
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