Fess Parker (born August 16, 1924) is an American film and television actor. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas. Parker is best known for his role playing frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone as well as starting a fad of wearing coonskin caps. He served as a radioman in the Marine Corps at the end of World War II after being rejected as an aviator for being too tall (He is six feet, five inches).
After being discharged, he was stabbed in the neck by a drunken driver during a post-collision argument. Parker required many months of rehabilitation, but he was unable afterwards to participate in collegiate sports as much as he wanted.
At the University of Texas he was initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity in 1948. Parker graduated from the University in 1950 with a history degree. He studied at the University of Southern California, earning a graduate degree in drama. He began his show business career in the play, Mister Roberts, in 1951 and was subsequently hired by the Walt Disney Studios in 1954 to play historic figure Crockett. He also made guest appearances on television programs and composed and sang music.
He married Marcella Rinehart in 1960, and the couple has two children. From 1964-1970 he starred in the NBC TV series, Daniel Boone (TV series). Fess Parker retired from the film industry in the early 1970s, after the end of the television series about Boone.
Parker currently owns and operates a family winery, Fess Parker Winery and Vineyard, near Santa Barbara, California along with two hotels, the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort (part owner, operated by the Hilton Hotels Corporation) in Santa Barbara and the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn and Spa in nearby Los Olivos.
Battle Cry (1955)
