Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. (born August 16, 1924) is an American film and television actor best known for his 1950s portrayals of Davy Crockett for Walt Disney and of Daniel Boone in the late 1960s. He is also known as a wine maker and resort owner-operator.
Parker was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up on a small farm outside San Angelo, TX. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps at the end of World War II. He joined to become a pilot, but was turn...
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Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. (born August 16, 1924) is an American film and television actor best known for his 1950s portrayals of Davy Crockett for Walt Disney and of Daniel Boone in the late 1960s. He is also known as a wine maker and resort owner-operator.
Parker was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up on a small farm outside San Angelo, TX. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps at the end of World War II. He joined to become a pilot, but was turned down for being too tall (six feet, six inches) for a pilot.
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 was unable to participate in sports to the extent he desired.
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, and then moved to California, where he studied drama at the University of Southern California.
Parker began his...
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