We have giant ants to thank for bringing Fess Parker to the attention of Walt Disney, who was looking for an actor to portray Davy Crockett. I interviewed Mr. Parker, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 85, in 1994 on the occasion of the home video release of Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. As he told it, Disney was screening the science fiction film Them, in which Parker had a brief scene: "There were an enormous amount of possibilities that would have caused him to miss my little two or three-minute scene," he recalled in that folksy Texas drawl, "but he didn't get a phone call, he didn't have to go to the bathroom, someone didn't interrupt him. He saw me and asked who I was. No one knew." That wouldn't last long. With the Dec. 15, 1954...
- 3/20/2010
- by Donald Liebenson
- Huffington Post
Fess Parker, the Baby Boomer who captured the imagination playing American heroes Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, has died. He was 85.
The actor, wine maker and resort owner died Thursday, March 18 of natural causes at his Santa Ynez, Calif., home near the Fess Parker Winery, according to reports.
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1924, the six-foot-six Parker seemed born to play the legendary Davy Crockett in a series of 1950s Disney films including "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" and "Davy Crockett Goes to Congress." Crockett-mania gripped the nation, and little kids could be heard singing the theme song and sporting racoon-skin caps.
He also starred in the "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" TV series before hitting it big again with the "Daniel Boone" series in the '60s.
His film credits include "Them!," "The Kid From Left Field," "The Bounty Hunter," "Alias Jesse James" and the classic "Old Yeller.
The actor, wine maker and resort owner died Thursday, March 18 of natural causes at his Santa Ynez, Calif., home near the Fess Parker Winery, according to reports.
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1924, the six-foot-six Parker seemed born to play the legendary Davy Crockett in a series of 1950s Disney films including "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" and "Davy Crockett Goes to Congress." Crockett-mania gripped the nation, and little kids could be heard singing the theme song and sporting racoon-skin caps.
He also starred in the "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" TV series before hitting it big again with the "Daniel Boone" series in the '60s.
His film credits include "Them!," "The Kid From Left Field," "The Bounty Hunter," "Alias Jesse James" and the classic "Old Yeller.
- 3/18/2010
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
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