Fess Parker passes
 

Fess Parker passed today. He made it to his late 80's and lived a good live in the Santa Barbara area with a vineyard.

Will miss him...

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Fess Parker, a baby-boomer idol in the 1950s who launched a craze for coonskin caps as television's Davy Crockett, died Thursday of natural causes. He was 85.

Family spokeswoman Sao Anash said Parker, who was also TV's Daniel Boone and later a major California winemaker and developer, died at his Santa Ynez Valley home. His death came on the 84th birthday of his wife of 50 years, Marcella.

Parker was coherent and speaking with family just minutes before his death, said Anash. Funeral arrangements will be announced later.

"I was terribly sorry to hear of the passing of Fess Parker today," said former first lady Nancy Reagan in a statement. "He was a longtime friend to Ronnie and me, and I was always grateful for his support of the annual tennis tournament which benefited my anti-drug program. He will be greatly missed."

The first installment of "Davy Crockett," with Buddy Ebsen as Crockett's sidekick, debuted in December 1954 as part of the "Disneyland" TV show.

The 6-foot, 6-inch Parker was quickly embraced by youngsters as the man in a coonskin cap who stood for the spirit of the American frontier. Boomers gripped by the Crockett craze scooped up Davy lunch boxes, toy Old Betsy rifles, buckskin shirts and trademark fur caps. "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" ("Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee...") was a No. 1 hit for singer Bill Hayes while Parker's own version reached No. 5.

The first three television episodes were turned into a theatrical film, "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier," in 1955.

True to history, Disney killed off its hero in the third episode, "Davy Crockett at the Alamo," where the real-life Crockett died in 1836 at age 49. But spurred by popular demand, Disney brought back the Crockett character for some episodes in the 1955-56 season, including "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race."

"Like many kids growing up in the '50s, Davy Crockett was my first hero, and I had the coonskin cap to prove it," said Disney CEO Bob Iger. "Fess Parker's unforgettable, exciting and admirable performance as this American icon has remained with me all these years, as it has for his millions of fans around the world. Fess is truly a Disney Legend, as is the heroic character he portrayed, and while he will certainly be missed, he will never be forgotten."

Parker's career leveled off when the Crockett craze died down, but he made a TV comeback from 1964-1970 in the title role of the TV adventure series "Daniel Boone" — also based on a real-life American frontiersman. Actor-singer Ed Ames, formerly of the Ames Brothers, played Boone's Indian friend, Mingo.

After "Daniel Boone," Parker largely retired from show business, except for guest appearances, and went into real estate.

"I left the business after 22 years," Parker told The Associated Press in 2001. "It was time to leave Hollywood. I came along at a time when I'm starting out with Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Sterling Hayden and Gregory Peck."

Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Texas/Southwest

RIP, Davy Crockett.

(Part of my childhood, just like Peter Graves.)

Sorry to hear this. I wonder who number three will be?

Another part of our childhood is gone:(

His TV career was long before my time, but his winery has made some consistently excellent Pinots that I've enjoyed over the years.

I'll remember him by pulling one out of the rack.

RIP.





Tim

Remember him well from Frontier Land on the Disney program. My sisters & I looked forward to it on a weekly basis. Good times.

Daniel Boone was a man, yes a big man....... I loved the Daniel Boone show. Never remembered him as Davy C. though. I had the coonskin cap and a fake flintlock rifle, and for some reason believed I was an incarnation of D. Boone way back then. Good times they were. Fess Parker, Peter Graves, who's next? Walt Disney or Marlin Perkins, oh wait...never mind.

What, you are pretending you are Joe Biden?

I almost, but not quite, bought a coon tail when I was at his winery last time, I liked it better than the wine. Maybe just a bad bottle.

r.i.p. fess.

Thanks Joe, had not heard.

R.I.P Fess

Here's a funny note on this guy................ my current wife is a few years younger than me (early 40's) and she admitted to me some time ago that her first "rub-out" was to Fess Parker!!!

We all have our 15 minutes of fame, or is it 7 :D

She said if Disney only knew how many young girls 'ol Fess got heated up they would have cancelled him