Fess Parker

About this actor

Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. (August 16, 1924 – March 18, 2010) was an American film and television actor best known for his 1950s portrayals of Davy Crockett for Walt Disney and his late 1960s portrayals of Daniel Boone. He was also known as a wine maker and resort owner-operator. Fess Parker was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up on a farm near San Angelo. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in the latter part of World War II, hoping to become a pilot. He was turned down because he was too tall at 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m). He then tried to become a radioman gunner, but he was found too big to fit comfortably into the rear cockpit. He was finally transferred to the Marine Corps as a radio operator and shipped out for the South Pacific shortly before the atom bomb ended the war. Discharged in 1946, he enrolled in the University of Texas on the GI Bill. He was stabbed in the chin by a drunken driver during a post-collision argument. He required many months to recover, and was unable to...