RIP: Fess Parker, TV’s `Davy Crockett,’ Dies at 85
by Big Hollywood
After departing Hollywood, Parker got into real estate with his wife, Marcella, whom he had married in 1960.
He bought and sold property, built hotels (including the elegant Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn & Spa in Los Olivos and Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort Santa Barbara) and grew wine grapes on a 2,200-acre vineyard on California’s Central Coast, where he was dubbed King of the Wine Frontier and coonskin caps enjoyed brisk sales.
After its inaugural harvest in 1989, Parker’s vineyard won dozens of medals and awards. The Parkers’ son, Eli, became director of winemaking and their daughter, Ashley, also worked at the winery.
Parker was a longtime friend of Ronald Reagan, whose Western White House was not far from the Parker vineyards. Reagan sent Parker to Australia in 1985 to represent him during an event, and when Parker returned he was asked by White House aide Michael Deaver if he was interested in being ambassador to that country.
“In the end, I decided I’d better take myself out of it. But I was flattered,” Parker said.
Parker also once considered a U.S. Senate bid, challenging Alan Cranston. But Nevada Sen. Paul Laxalt said it would be a rough campaign, and a key dissenter lived under the same roof.
“My wife was not in favor,” Parker said. “I’m so happy with what evolved.”
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. was born Aug. 16, 1924, in Fort Worth, Texas—Parker loved to point out Crockett’s birthday was Aug. 17.
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43 Comments
"Daniel Boone" is one of the earliest television shows I can remember watching and I loved it. In his way, Mr. Parker was a big part of my childhood and I'm saddened to hear of his passing.
Requiescat in pace.
He had a beautiful speaking voice – deep, confident, and distinctive.
RIP
This is a sad week — first we lost Peter Graves and now Fess Parker.
I was born just days before the last episode of the Disney's Davy Crockett proto-miniseries in 1955, so I missed the Davy Crockett craze. I did watch the Davy Crockett shows when they were re-broadcast on the Disney's Wonderful World of Color when I was growing. Of course, I also was an avid watcher of Daniel Boone.Thursdays night on NBC.
Both shows worked because Fess Parker really brought it. he was tall, soft-spoken, easy-going guy. He was comfortable out in the wilds and he was confortable in his own skin. He was the understanding farther, the devoted husband to the lovely Patricia Blair, a stalwart friend, and a true patriot.
A few years ago, there was a wonderful online interview that included Fess Parker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McX8zhipmko
It takes some doing to outshine Ron Ely and Jim Caviezel, two great actors and extraordinary gentlemen, but Fess Parker did in his usual understated way.
Good bless you, Fess Parker, and thanks for the memories! You will always be King of the Wild Frontier!
Fess Parker, as Davey Crockett was my first hero. Did Disney romanticize him? Of course, bvut so what? We have too few authentic heroes today. I strongly urge everyone who reads this site to get a copy of Davey Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier as well as The Great Locomotive Chase. They hold up great 60 plus years later.
We need to also thank Fess for lending his winery to the movie Sideways in the cameo role of Frass Canyon (Frass means insect excrement.) I think it should have been nominated for an oscar since it was better than any role Matt Damon ever gave us.
Loved Fess Parker in the Davey Crockett series on the Walt Disney program. He held his own with the talented, veteran actor, Buddy Ebsen…no small feat. He was believable as Daniel Boone, too.
It's great that he led and enjoyed a happy, and productive life as an actor, and entrepreneur, with his longtime sweetheart, and wife, Marcella.
RIP, Fess. Your life is a fine example to all of us.
God bless you, Mr. Parker. This has, indeed, been a sad week. I weep at the thought of what we are left with in Hollywood as we lose so many of the great ones so quickly.
I was born too late for the Crockett phase, but the family would gather round the brand new Magnovox (COLOR, finally!) and watch Daniel Boone. A great show. A family show. Very few shows ever touched on those times in our history. It was all Westerns 24/7 back then. And now…not even westerns.
I've always loved westerns and Daniel Boone was one of my all time favorites. RIP Fess you were one hunky looking guy.
Daniel Boone was a man, yes, a big man. I remember the words to the theme song I heard on tv many years ago.
Fess Parker was my hero growing up. I still watch the Davy Crockett shows with my wife and kids. He modeled true strength and manhood – gentle yet strong, quiet yet bold, self-confident yet not overbearing, patriotic, and with a passion to help others and to right a wrong or injustice. If I had a son, I would point to the man as a model. I am truly sad to see him go. I always wanted to meet him. I feel like I have lost a close family member.
On a lighter note, besides Davy and Russell, I truly enjoyed Jeff York as Mike Fink, King of the River.
A sad week indeed — we also lost Alex Chilton — "The Letter," "Soul Deep" — the Box Tops, Big Star…
His finest moment, for my money, was his scene with Tommy Kirk at the end of "Old Yeller." He has very little screen time in that film, but his character and his performance are pivotal perfection in a minor masterpiece of American cinema.
RIP
I remember people Like Fess Parker , Clint Walker, Richard Boone and Clint Eastwood growing up. They all had one thing in common they were men,on and off the screen.
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What a true gent.
One of the more vivid memories of my childhood was the ending of "Davy Crockett" where Davy/Fess is the last man standing at the Alamo and it ends with him swinging old Betsy at the swarming Mexican soldiers as he goes down. They showed us the film at an elementary school assembly because, see, back then kids weren't considered too delicate to handle such scenes.
I also remember they used to show Daniel Boone reruns in the afternoon when I was about 12 years old. A friend and I had the biggest crush on Fess Parker. We watched the show faithfully and swooned! See, back then, there were REAL men to get crushes on.
RIP, Fess Parker. You made a lot of good memories for me.
Born on a mountain top in Tennessee
Greenest state in the land of the free
Roamed through the woods so's he knew every tree
Killed him a bar when he was only three
I was born a couple years too late to enjoy Davy Crockett and for some reason, Dan'l Boone wasn't watched in my house when it was on. But I did get enough exposure to the shows that allowed me to enjoy the romanticization of two of America's larger-than-life heroes.
On a visit to Disneyland as a child, I got a coonskin cap (back then they were made with real raccoon). I'd always wanted one as it was a symbol (to me) of a real hero.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Parker.
Killed him a bar when he was only Three Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier….Much Thanks Fess for being part of my childhood and making it a joy.
Its interesting you mention Ron Ely, I know Ron he is a good guy. Fess was a patriot and took alot of hits for his enterprises from the looney Liberals in Santa Barbara!
Well I be! I never knew Fess was a Texan. I always admired him and that just tops the cake! No wonder he was so likable. Proud of the fella. He hung out at a ranch now and then near Abilene where I live. The time sure does fly. Too bad our choice is to get old or die. I suppose I will keep on getting old for a few more days until I am killed in the revolution against communist Washington DC. I am a 7th generation Texan and like Crockett I will man the walls against tyrrany and to defend my chosen home. Too bad my own countrymen are so misguided as to force a new civil war upon us. Better dead than a communist or a subject of Emperor Oreo.
I grew up watching Fess ,had my coonskin hat, and loved Davy Crockett. He was a legend. Fess was a true American patriot. He was cast as a villian locally in Santa Barbara by the left wing trolls. They cast him as a evil developer.He built some nice wineries, restaurantsand hotels. My son got married at one of his hotels by the beach.
They always come in threes, Marc, and you left out big Merlin Olsen…SO that's 3 big men in stature, and 3 larger than life people gone from us.
He must have taken a little while out during the very early 70's to do personal appearances, because I saw him appearing at a rodeo in Florida where he rode his horse around the ring, shaking the hands of kids and teens mostly. I remember his hand was as big as a bears paw, just this massive thing that dwarfed my 17 year old hand, and it was rough from work, not pink and soft.
But then didn't he piss off a whole new group a few years ago when he was going to sell some land to an Indian tribe?
I have always been a big fan of Ron Ely. I watched Tarzan YV series on nNBC. And I thought he was a terrific Doc Savage even though the film itself was pretty porr. Now that there is going to be a new Doc Savage movie, with Shane Black directing, I hope the powers-that-be cast Mr. Ely as Doc's farther.
Let Mr. Ely know that he has plenty of fans, and even a Yahoo group.
I wasn't much for the coonskin cap. But I did harangue the parents relentlessly for the fringed jacket.
While I was doing some historical research, I came across his name frequently in the Fort Worth Press' entertainment column. He also appeared at the Fort Worth Stock Show during his Daniel Boone phase.
Damn fine actor; too often overlooked is Fess along with Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Bob Newhart (his screen debut), and James Coburn in Don "Dirty Harry" Siegel's incomparable "Hell is for Heroes" (1962).
Davey, Davey Crockett, king of the wild frontier. Fair winds and folowing seas my friend!
I can't watch that final scene of him at the Alamo swinging Old Betsy at his killers without tearing up so badly I can't see the screen. God rest Fess Parker's soul.
He wasn't just an excellent (and underrated) actor, he was also a gentleman back when those terms weren't mutually exclusive. And he fought for what was right off screen as well on screen. I well remember his valiant battle to make the industry pay him the share of profits he'd been promised in exchange for taking a low salary during the 'Davy Crockett' series. Yes, this was one truly honorable gentleman. Again – God rest his soul.
My mother said she was crazy about this guy in the 50's.
I liked his winery.
RIP
[...] Big Hollywood, RIP: Fess Parker, TV’s `Davy Crockett,’ Dies at 85: …Parker was a longtime friend of Ronald Reagan, whose Western White House was not far from [...]
Timeless advice, right?!
"Be sure you're right . . . and then go ahead!"
As we age, the people we go up with pass on. Be it the ones you know directly or indirectly. Sunday night was always a big thing at my house, There was just a lot of very good TV from about 1954 to 1964 after that things started to change. Fess Parker was the reason, why my father gave me my first rifle. I have hand many since then, and like old friends from years gone by I can pick up that rifle( I still Have it) and remember what it was like in America of my youth. Fess was a part of my youth in more ways that I could say. To be able to make something of yourself as an actor is no small thing, to be able to walk away form it and make something else in a different field is very rare. Most fail at it. RIP Fess!!
The best Fess Parker story is that he got the role of Davy Crockett, which made his career, because of a bit part he had in the giant ant classic "Them!" Disney was considering James Arness, who was the star of the sci-fi flick, to play Crockett and screened the film to decide whether Arness would do for the role. But when he did, he was so taken by Parker's small part as a pilot with a southern accent who had been locked in the booby hatch because he had reported seeing a couple of queen ants flying by his plane that he gave him the role. The right place at the right time!
Thank goodness for DVD's. Not to long ago, Disney came out with the Davy Crockett complete series. I wasn't to sure my children would like it, so I bought it for myself. Lo and behold, they loved it. You can say enough about heroes these days.
Thank you Fess Parker, and thank you Dan'l Boone and David Crockett.
That's not Davy Crockett. That's Daniel Boone!
The dad on Old Yeller. A personal Top 10 movie. I still get choked up thinking about that movie.
and I am there with you odinsacolyte
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