So long Daniel Boone. 'Davy Crockett' star Fess Parker dead at 85.

I grew up watching the re-runs of Daniel Boone. It's a shame they don't make TV progaming like that anymore.


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Actor Fess Parker, who became every baby boomer's idol in the 1950s and 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 comes on the 84th birthday of his wife of 50 years, Marcella.

"She's a wreck," Anash said, adding Parker was coherent and speaking with family just minutes before his death. Funeral arrangements will be announced later.

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." In reporting this development, Hedda Hopper wrote: "Take off those black armbands, kids, and put on your coonskin caps, for Davy Crockett will hit the trail again."

But just as suddenly it had taken the country by storm, the craze died down.

More... http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=488788&gt1=28103

So long Fess, I grew up watching you on TV. NO RERUNS. You will be missed.

Old Timer wrote:So long Fess, I grew up watching you on TV. NO RERUNS. You will be missed.

Dang you old!

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Old Timer wrote:So long Fess, I grew up watching you on TV. NO RERUNS. You will be missed.

Dang you old!

YEP...................................

Maybe not old, aged and refined like a fine cheese.

CarolinaHound wrote:

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Old Timer wrote:So long Fess, I grew up watching you on TV. NO RERUNS. You will be missed.

Dang you old!

YEP...................................

Maybe not old, aged and refined like a fine cheese.

And you my friende are like the fine wine. Smooth

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Old Timer wrote:So long Fess, I grew up watching you on TV. NO RERUNS. You will be missed.

Dang you old!

YEP...................................

Maybe not old, aged and refined like a fine cheese.

And you my friende are like the fine wine. Smooth

lol, more like a fine wine-o.