RIP Fess Parker

[Zomby Woof]

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-fess-parker19-2010mar19,0,3352776.story

Fess Parker, who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on TV, dies at 85
Parker became a sensation among young baby boomers as the 'King of the Wild Frontier.' He went on to become a hotel developer and Santa Ynez winery owner.

Fess Parker, whose star-making portrayal of frontiersman Davy Crockett on television in the mid-1950s made him a hero to millions of young baby boomers and spurred a nationwide run on coonskin caps, died Thursday. He was 85.

Parker, who played another pioneer American hero on television's "Daniel Boone" in the 1960s before retiring from acting a decade later and becoming a successful Santa Barbara hotel developer and Santa Ynez Valley winery owner, died of complications from old age at his home near the winery, family spokeswoman Sao Anash said.

Parker was a struggling 29-year-old actor in 1954, with rugged, boyish good looks and a soft Texas drawl, when Walt Disney was looking for someone to play the lead in a three-part saga about Crockett. The three hourlong shows were scheduled to air during the premiere season of Disney's weekly "Disneyland" TV show, which began on ABC that fall.

James Arness was one of the many actors considered for the role. But although Disney watched Arness during a screening of the science-fiction thriller "Them!" another young actor in a small part caught his eye: the 6-foot-6 Parker.

[Aristus]

1. Even as a kid growing up in the '70's, long after the coonskin cap craze,

I thought he was the coolest guy on the planet.

[Zomby Woof]

2. I remember watching 'Daniel Boone' reruns in the early 70's

My wife has a set of Fess Parker wine glasses from his winery - they have his name with a coonskin cap over it. :-)

[jobycom]

3. Didn't know he was still alive, but I miss him already. Steve McQueen may have been the King of Cool

in much of the nation, but when I was a kid in the 70s Daniel Boone kicked his ass in that department. We all pretended to be frontiersmen with coonskin caps, not racers.

RIP, Fess Parker.

[Zomby Woof]

4. Yep!

I grew up in Tennessee, where Boone and Crockett were icons. I remember building forts in the backyard because of watching his 'Daniel Boone' series.

[Kaleva]

5. When I think of Crockett and Boone,it's Fess Parker's image that pops in my head.