TLDR: Fess Parker played two different American frontier legends back to back, beating out a future television Western icon for the first one. When Hollywood eventually stopped calling, he simply built a second career as a real, award-winning California winemaker instead.
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. was born August 16, 1924, in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised on a farm near San Angelo.
He chose his own middle name as a teenager simply because he liked how it sounded, enlisted in the Navy hoping to become a pilot during World War II, and studied history at the University of Texas before earning a master’s degree at the University of Southern California.
He broke into acting through the national touring company of Mister Roberts, which brought him to Hollywood, where Warner Bros. signed him to small roles in films including Springfield Rifle and Island in the Sky.
A Monster Movie Scene Beat Out a Future Western Legend
Walt Disney was searching for an actor to play Davy Crockett when a scene from the 1954 horror film Them! caught his attention, Parker playing a terrified witness convincingly enough to stand out.
Disney chose him over another actor from that same film, James Arness, who went on to become the lead of Gunsmoke instead, one of television’s longest-running Westerns.
Parker’s Davy Crockett miniseries debuted on Disneyland in December 1954, and the character’s death in its third episode, faithful to the real Crockett’s death at the Alamo in 1836, generated enough public demand that Disney brought Crockett back for a new run of episodes the following season anyway.
He Turned a Coonskin Cap Into a National Craze
The Davy Crockett phenomenon set off a genuine merchandising wave, coonskin caps, lunchboxes, toy rifles, and buckskin shirts among the biggest sellers.
Parker’s own recorded version of “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” reached number five on the charts, behind only singer Bill Hayes’s competing version, which hit number one.
He Played the Same Kind of Role Again a Decade Later
After a brief, unsuccessful run playing a Jimmy Stewart-style senator on television, Parker returned to frontier buckskin in 1964 to play Daniel Boone, a role he held for six seasons through 1970.
He also recorded that show’s theme song himself, though co-star Ed Ames had the stronger reputation as a singer, a reputation that survived a legendary Tonight Show mishap covered in our piece on Ed Ames.
He Walked Away From Hollywood on His Own Terms
After Daniel Boone ended, Parker made one more attempt at series television, an unsuccessful 1974 pilot called The Fess Parker Show, before stepping back from acting almost entirely. “I left the business after 22 years,” he told the Associated Press in 2001. “It was time to leave Hollywood… Who needed a guy running around in a coonskin cap?”
He built a genuinely substantial second career instead, developing real estate across Santa Barbara County with his wife Marcella, including the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn & Spa in Los Olivos and the Fess Parker DoubleTree Resort in Santa Barbara.
In 1989, his 2,200-acre vineyard produced its first harvest, going on to win dozens of medals and earning Parker the nickname “King of the Wine Frontier.”
The winery stayed a genuine family operation, with son Eli becoming director of winemaking and daughter Ashley also working there.
He Died at Home, Just Minutes After Speaking With Family
Fess Parker died of natural causes at his Santa Ynez Valley home on March 18, 2010, at age 85. According to a contemporary Associated Press report, his death came on his wife Marcella’s 84th birthday, and family spokeswoman Sao Anash said he’d been coherent and speaking with relatives just minutes before he passed.
You can read more about the rest of the Daniel Boone cast in our full guide to the show.
Fess Parker, Frequently Asked Questions
Did Fess Parker really beat out the star of Gunsmoke for a role?
Yes, Disney chose Parker over James Arness for the role of Davy Crockett after seeing both actors in the 1954 film Them! Arness went on to star in Gunsmoke instead.
How did Fess Parker die?
He died of natural causes at his home in Santa Ynez, California, on March 18, 2010, at age 85, coherent and speaking with family just minutes before his death.
What did Fess Parker do after leaving acting?
He built a substantial career in real estate and winemaking in Santa Barbara County, opening two resorts and founding an award-winning winery that his children later helped run.
Did Fess Parker play any other famous frontier roles besides Daniel Boone?
Yes, he first became famous playing Davy Crockett in Walt Disney’s 1954-55 television miniseries, a full decade before taking the title role in Daniel Boone.
