Fess Parker
Encyclopedia
Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. was an American film and television actor
best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett
in the Walt Disney
1955-56 TV mini-series and as TV's Daniel Boone
from 1964-70. He was also known as a wine maker
and resort
owner-operator.
The Fess Parker Winery is one of the wineries along the famous Foxen Canyon Wine Trail.
, 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 in 6 in (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 Hardin-Simmons on the GI Bill. He was stabbed in the neck by another driver during a post-collision argument. He was an active member of the H-SU Players Club and transferred to the University of Texas in 1947 as a history major and continued to be active in dramatics.
Parker graduated from the University of Texas
in 1950 with a degree in history. He had been initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha
fraternity. Having one year remaining on his GI Bill, he studied drama at the University of Southern California
, working towards a master's degree in theater history.
, although he is credited with the voice of Leslie, the chauffeur, in the 1950 film Harvey
.
Within months, he was on location with a minor part in Untamed Frontier with Joseph Cotten
and Shelley Winters
.
Parker became a contract player with Warner Brothers appearing in small roles in several films such as Springfield Rifle
(1952), Island in the Sky
, The Bounty Hunter and Battle Cry
. In 1954, he appeared as Grat Dalton in the Jim Davis
western anthology Stories of the Century
in the episode The Dalton Brothers.
, they originally considered James Arness
for the title role. Parker had recently graduated to a contract weekly actor, but listened to his agent and appeared in a B movie
called Them! which required only one day's work. He had a small scene in the movie as a pilot put into an insane asylum after claiming his plane had been downed by giant flying insects. Arness appeared in a larger role in the same film.
During a screening of this film Walt Disney looked past Arness and discovered Parker. Disney was impressed by Parker's portrayal of a man who was unswerving in his belief in what he saw despite the forces of authority against him. Parker was asked to drop by the Disney Studio. When he did, he brought his guitar, met Disney, sang a song, then said goodbye. Several weeks later he was told he had been selected over Arness and several other actors for the role, including Buddy Ebsen
who eventually played Crockett's companion, George Russell.
Disney's three episode version of Crockett depicted his exploits as a frontiersman, congressman, and tragic hero of the Alamo. It has been called the first television miniseries
, though the term had not yet been coined. Davy Crockett
(1955–56) was a tremendous hit and led to a merchandising frenzy for coonskin caps and all things Crockett.
Parker became a contract star for Disney and appeared in The Great Locomotive Chase, Westward Ho, the Wagons!
, Old Yeller
, and The Light in the Forest
. He complained they were all basically the same role. Disney refused to loan Parker for roles outside of that persona
, such as The Searchers
and Bus Stop
.
Parker made guest appearances on many television programs, and composed and sang. He performed the occasional role of Tom Conrad, editor of the Diablo Courier in the syndicated
western series, Annie Oakley
(1954–1957), starring Gail Davis
, Brad Johnson, and Jimmy Hawkins
. In 1962, he starred in the title role of the TV series Mr Smith Goes to Washington
. Parker took to the stage in 1963, in a traveling production of Oklahoma!
as 'Curly'. The movie roles he sought were elusive.
television series portraying another historic figure
of America's frontier days began filming in 1964. Over its six years (1964 to 1970) as one of the highest rated shows of its time, Parker was not only the star of the series but also the co-producer and director of five of its most popular episodes.
Ironically, having been under contract to Disney, Parker became interested in opening a Davy Crockett-themed amusement park. In the late 1960s, he optioned land in northern Kentucky at the confluence of Interstate 71 and Interstate 75, with the intention of building Frontier World. However, when the Taft Broadcasting Company of Cincinnati, Ohio
began building Kings Island
Amusement Park in nearby Mason, Ohio
, less than a 2-hour drive from Parker's site, financing for Parker's venture dried up.
Turning down the title role of McCloud, Parker retired from the film industry in the 1970s, after a short-lived 1974 sitcom, The Fess Parker Show.
in 1954, but lost to George Gobel
. He was never nominated again, nor was his show Daniel Boone.
In 2003, Parker received the Texas Cultural Trust's "Texas Medal of Arts Award", established only the year before.
For his work with Disney, Parker was honored in December 2004 with his own tribute window on a façade in the Frontierland
section of Disneyland.
After his acting career, Parker devoted much of his time to operating his Fess Parker Family Winery and Vineyards in Los Olivos, California
. The winery is owned and operated by Parker's family, and has produced several different types of award-winning wines. Parker's son, Eli, is President and Director of Winemaking & Vineyard
Operations while daughter, Ashley, is Vice President of Marketing & Sales.
The Parker operation includes over 1500 acres (607 ha) of vineyards, and a tasting room and visitor center along the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail. In addition to wine, the winery is known for selling coon skin caps
and bottle toppers, inspired by Parker's Crockett and Boone characters, and for appearing in the movie Sideways
.
In a reminiscence of his acting days, Parkers' wine labels have a logo of a golden coonskin cap.
He was buried with his parents in Santa Barbara Cemetery, in Santa Barbara, California.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett
David "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...
in the Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
1955-56 TV mini-series and as TV's Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
from 1964-70. He was also known as a wine maker
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
and resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
owner-operator.
The Fess Parker Winery is one of the wineries along the famous Foxen Canyon Wine Trail.
Early years
Fess Parker was born in Fort WorthFort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and grew up on a farm near San Angelo
San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo is a city in the state of Texas. Located in West Central Texas it is the county seat of Tom Green County. As of 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total population of 93,200...
. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in the latter part of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, hoping to become a pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
. He was turned down because he was too tall at 6 in 6 in (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
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
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 Hardin-Simmons on the GI Bill. He was stabbed in the neck by another driver during a post-collision argument. He was an active member of the H-SU Players Club and transferred to the University of Texas in 1947 as a history major and continued to be active in dramatics.
Parker graduated from the University of Texas
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
in 1950 with a degree in history. He had been initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha is a Greek social fraternity with over 230 chapters and colonies and over 250,000 lifetime initiates in the United States and Canada.-History:...
fraternity. Having one year remaining on his GI Bill, he studied drama at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, working towards a master's degree in theater history.
Career
Parker began his show-business career by summer 1951 when he had a $32-a-week job as an extra in the play Mister RobertsMister Roberts (play)
Mister Roberts is a 1948 play based on the 1946 Thomas Heggen novel of the same name.The novel began as a collection of short stories about Heggen's experiences aboard the USS Virgo in the South Pacific during World War II...
, although he is credited with the voice of Leslie, the chauffeur, in the 1950 film Harvey
Harvey (film)
Harvey is a 1950 film based on Mary Chase's play of the same name, directed by Henry Koster, and starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull. The story is about a man whose best friend is a pooka named Harvey—in the form of a six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch tall invisible rabbit.-Plot:Elwood P...
.
Within months, he was on location with a minor part in Untamed Frontier with Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
and Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
.
Parker became a contract player with Warner Brothers appearing in small roles in several films such as Springfield Rifle
Springfield Rifle (1952 film)
Springfield Rifle is a western film, directed by Andre de Toth and released by Warner Bros. Pictures in 1952. The film is set during the American Civil War and stars Gary Cooper in the lead role as Major Alex Kearney. Phyllis Thaxter played the lead female role as Erin Kearney. The film also...
(1952), Island in the Sky
Island in the Sky (1953 film)
Island in The Sky is a 1953 American aviation adventure/drama film written by Ernest K. Gann based on his 1944 novel of the same name, directed by William A. Wellman, and starring and co-produced by John Wayne. It was released by Warner Bros...
, The Bounty Hunter and Battle Cry
Battle Cry (film)
Battle Cry is a 1955 CinemaScope film, starring Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, James Whitmore, Tab Hunter, Anne Francis, Dorothy Malone, Raymond Massey, and Mona Freeman...
. In 1954, he appeared as Grat Dalton in the Jim Davis
Jim Davis (actor)
Jim Davis was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...
western anthology Stories of the Century
Stories of the Century
Stories of the Century is a Western television series that ran in syndication through Republic Pictures between January 23, 1954, and March 11, 1955.-Synopsis:...
in the episode The Dalton Brothers.
Davy Crockett
According to Parker himself, when the Walt Disney Company was looking for an actor to play Davy CrockettDavy Crockett
David "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...
, they originally considered James Arness
James Arness
James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
for the title role. Parker had recently graduated to a contract weekly actor, but listened to his agent and appeared in a B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
called Them! which required only one day's work. He had a small scene in the movie as a pilot put into an insane asylum after claiming his plane had been downed by giant flying insects. Arness appeared in a larger role in the same film.
During a screening of this film Walt Disney looked past Arness and discovered Parker. Disney was impressed by Parker's portrayal of a man who was unswerving in his belief in what he saw despite the forces of authority against him. Parker was asked to drop by the Disney Studio. When he did, he brought his guitar, met Disney, sang a song, then said goodbye. Several weeks later he was told he had been selected over Arness and several other actors for the role, including Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...
who eventually played Crockett's companion, George Russell.
Disney's three episode version of Crockett depicted his exploits as a frontiersman, congressman, and tragic hero of the Alamo. It has been called the first television miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
, though the term had not yet been coined. Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett (TV miniseries)
Davy Crockett is a five part serial which aired on ABC in one-hour episodes on the Disneyland series. The series stars Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his fictional best friend, George Russel....
(1955–56) was a tremendous hit and led to a merchandising frenzy for coonskin caps and all things Crockett.
Parker became a contract star for Disney and appeared in The Great Locomotive Chase, Westward Ho, the Wagons!
Westward Ho, The Wagons!
Westward Ho, the Wagons! is a 1956 live-action Disney western film, aimed at family audiences. Based on Mary Jane Carr's novel Children of the Covered Wagon, the film was produced by Bill Walsh, directed by William Beaudine, and released to theatres on December 20, 1956 by Buena Vista Distribution...
, Old Yeller
Old Yeller (1957 film)
Old Yeller is a 1957 Walt Disney Productions film starring Tommy Kirk, Dorothy McGuire and Beverly Washburn, and directed by Robert Stevenson. It is about a boy and a stray dog in post-Civil War Texas. The story is based upon the 1956 Newbery Honor-winning book Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. Gipson...
, and The Light in the Forest
The Light in the Forest (film)
The Light in the Forest is a 1958 film based on a novel of the same name first published in 1953 by U.S. author Conrad Richter. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and starred Fess Parker, Joanne Dru, James MacArthur and Wendell Corey. Though it is a work of fiction and primarily...
. He complained they were all basically the same role. Disney refused to loan Parker for roles outside of that persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
, such as The Searchers
The Searchers (film)
The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars...
and Bus Stop
Bus Stop (film)
Bus Stop is a 1956 film directed by Joshua Logan for 20th Century Fox, starring Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O'Connell, Betty Field, Eileen Heckart, Robert Bray and Hope Lange...
.
Parker made guest appearances on many television programs, and composed and sang. He performed the occasional role of Tom Conrad, editor of the Diablo Courier in the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
western series, Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley (TV series)
Annie Oakley is an American Western television series which fictionalized the life of famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It ran from January 1954 to February 1957 in syndication. ABC showed reruns on Saturday and Sunday daytime from 1959–1960 and from 1964-1965...
(1954–1957), starring Gail Davis
Gail Davis
Gail Davis was an American actress, best known for her starring role as Annie Oakley in the 1950s television Western series Annie Oakley.-Life and career:...
, Brad Johnson, and Jimmy Hawkins
Jimmy Hawkins
James F. Hawkins , known as Jimmy Hawkins, and later, Jim Hawkins, is an American actor and film producer whose career began as a child actor to such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, and Donna Reed...
. In 1962, he starred in the title role of the TV series Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (TV series)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1962-1963 ABC sitcom starring Fess Parker as Eugene Smith, an honest but unsophisticated U.S. senator from an unidentified small-populated state. The half-hour program is based on the 1939 Frank Capra film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring James Stewart in...
. Parker took to the stage in 1963, in a traveling production of Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
as 'Curly'. The movie roles he sought were elusive.
Daniel Boone
Parker's Daniel BooneDaniel Boone (TV series)
Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...
television series portraying another historic figure
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
of America's frontier days began filming in 1964. Over its six years (1964 to 1970) as one of the highest rated shows of its time, Parker was not only the star of the series but also the co-producer and director of five of its most popular episodes.
Ironically, having been under contract to Disney, Parker became interested in opening a Davy Crockett-themed amusement park. In the late 1960s, he optioned land in northern Kentucky at the confluence of Interstate 71 and Interstate 75, with the intention of building Frontier World. However, when the Taft Broadcasting Company of Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
began building Kings Island
Kings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
Amusement Park in nearby Mason, Ohio
Mason, Ohio
Mason is an affluent city in southwestern Warren County, Ohio, United States, 22 miles away from Cincinnati . As of the 2010 census, Mason's population was 30,712. Mason has experienced fast growth, with its historic Main Street remaining at the center of the community...
, less than a 2-hour drive from Parker's site, financing for Parker's venture dried up.
Turning down the title role of McCloud, Parker retired from the film industry in the 1970s, after a short-lived 1974 sitcom, The Fess Parker Show.
Awards
Fess Parker was nominated for best new personality EmmyEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 1954, but lost to George Gobel
George Gobel
George Leslie Gobel was an American comedian and actor. He was best known as the star of his own weekly NBC television show, The George Gobel Show, which ran from 1954 to 1960 .-Early years:He was born George Leslie Goebel in Chicago, Illinois, His father, Hermann Goebel, was a...
. He was never nominated again, nor was his show Daniel Boone.
In 2003, Parker received the Texas Cultural Trust's "Texas Medal of Arts Award", established only the year before.
For his work with Disney, Parker was honored in December 2004 with his own tribute window on a façade in the Frontierland
Frontierland
Tokyo Disneyland's instance is known as Westernland, as "frontier" does not adequately translate into the Japanese language. The Mark Twain sails this park's Rivers of America...
section of Disneyland.
Fess Parker Winery
Los Olivos, California
Los Olivos is a census-designated place in Santa Barbara County, California. The ZIP Code is 93441, and the community is inside area code 805...
. The winery is owned and operated by Parker's family, and has produced several different types of award-winning wines. Parker's son, Eli, is President and Director of Winemaking & Vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
Operations while daughter, Ashley, is Vice President of Marketing & Sales.
The Parker operation includes over 1500 acres (607 ha) of vineyards, and a tasting room and visitor center along the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail. In addition to wine, the winery is known for selling coon skin caps
Coonskin cap
A coonskin cap is a hat fashioned from the skin and fur of a raccoon. The original coonskin cap consisted of the entire skin of the raccoon including its head and tail...
and bottle toppers, inspired by Parker's Crockett and Boone characters, and for appearing in the movie Sideways
Sideways
Sideways is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne and directed by Payne. Adapted from Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, Sideways follows two forty-something year old men, portrayed by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, who take a week-long road trip to...
.
In a reminiscence of his acting days, Parkers' wine labels have a logo of a golden coonskin cap.
Personal life
Parker married Marcella Belle Rinehart on January 18, 1960. They had two children — Fess Elisha III and Ashley Allen Rinehart — along with 11 grandchildren and a great-grandson.Death
According to a spokesperson, Parker died of natural causes on March 18, 2010, at his home in Santa Ynez, California, near the Fess Parker Winery.He was buried with his parents in Santa Barbara Cemetery, in Santa Barbara, California.
Filmography
- HarveyHarvey (film)Harvey is a 1950 film based on Mary Chase's play of the same name, directed by Henry Koster, and starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull. The story is about a man whose best friend is a pooka named Harvey—in the form of a six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch tall invisible rabbit.-Plot:Elwood P...
(1950) - No Room for the Groom (1952)
- Untamed Frontier (1952)
- Springfield RifleSpringfield Rifle (1952 film)Springfield Rifle is a western film, directed by Andre de Toth and released by Warner Bros. Pictures in 1952. The film is set during the American Civil War and stars Gary Cooper in the lead role as Major Alex Kearney. Phyllis Thaxter played the lead female role as Erin Kearney. The film also...
(1952) - Take Me to Town (1953)
- The Kid from Left Field (1953)
- Island in the SkyIsland in the Sky (1953 film)Island in The Sky is a 1953 American aviation adventure/drama film written by Ernest K. Gann based on his 1944 novel of the same name, directed by William A. Wellman, and starring and co-produced by John Wayne. It was released by Warner Bros...
(1953) - Thunder Over the PlainsThunder Over the PlainsThunder Over The Plains is a 1953 western film directed by André de Toth and starring Randolph Scott and Lex Barker. This was the first film that Lex Barker appeared in after completing a series of 5 Tarzan films...
(1953) - Dragonfly SquadronDragonfly SquadronDragonfly Squadron is an American war film by Lesley Selander from 1954. It is set in the period shortly before and during the invasion of South Korea by North Korean troops.-Plot:...
(1954) - Them! (1954)
- The Bounty Hunter (1954)
- Battle CryBattle Cry (film)Battle Cry is a 1955 CinemaScope film, starring Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, James Whitmore, Tab Hunter, Anne Francis, Dorothy Malone, Raymond Massey, and Mona Freeman...
(1955) - Davy Crockett, King of the Wild FrontierDavy Crockett, King of the Wild FrontierDavy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier is a 1955 live-action Walt Disney adventure film starring Fess Parker as Davy Crockett. This film is an edited compilation of the first three stories from the Disney television series Davy Crockett :...
(1955) - The Great Locomotive ChaseThe Great Locomotive Chase (film)The Great Locomotive Chase is a 1956 Walt Disney Productions CinemaScope adventure film based on the real Great Locomotive Chase that occurred in 1862 during the American Civil War. The film stars Fess Parker as James J...
(1956) - Davy Crockett and the River PiratesDavy Crockett and the River PiratesDavy Crockett and the River Pirates is a 1956 live-action Walt Disney adventure film starring Fess Parker as Davy Crockett. It was shot in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois...
(1956) - Westward Ho, The Wagons!Westward Ho, The Wagons!Westward Ho, the Wagons! is a 1956 live-action Disney western film, aimed at family audiences. Based on Mary Jane Carr's novel Children of the Covered Wagon, the film was produced by Bill Walsh, directed by William Beaudine, and released to theatres on December 20, 1956 by Buena Vista Distribution...
(1956) - Old YellerOld Yeller (1957 film)Old Yeller is a 1957 Walt Disney Productions film starring Tommy Kirk, Dorothy McGuire and Beverly Washburn, and directed by Robert Stevenson. It is about a boy and a stray dog in post-Civil War Texas. The story is based upon the 1956 Newbery Honor-winning book Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. Gipson...
(1957) - The Light in the ForestThe Light in the Forest (film)The Light in the Forest is a 1958 film based on a novel of the same name first published in 1953 by U.S. author Conrad Richter. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and starred Fess Parker, Joanne Dru, James MacArthur and Wendell Corey. Though it is a work of fiction and primarily...
(1958) - The Hangman (1959)
- Alias Jesse JamesAlias Jesse JamesAlias Jesse James is a Bob Hope western comedy movie. A highlight for fans of Westerns of that era happens during the gun fight climax at the end of the movie that features a number of cameos by movie and television personalities Alias Jesse James (1959) is a Bob Hope western comedy movie. A...
(1959) - The Jayhawkers!The Jayhawkers!The Jayhawkers! is a movie set in pre-Civil War Kansas starring Jeff Chandler and Fess Parker, and directed by Melvin Frank.-Cast:Jeff Chandler ... Luke Darcy Fess Parker ... Cam Bleeker Nicole Maurey ... Jeanne Dubois Henry Silva ... Lordan...
(1959) - Hell Is for HeroesHell Is for Heroes (film)Hell Is for Heroes is a 1962 war film directed by Don Siegel and starring Steve McQueen. It tells the story of a squad of American soldiers, who in the fall of 1944 must hold off an entire German company for approximately 48 hours along the Siegfried Line until reinforcements reach them.-Plot:Squad...
(1962) - Smoky (1966)
- Daniel Boone: Frontier Trail Rider (1966)
Television
- Davy CrockettDavy Crockett (TV miniseries)Davy Crockett is a five part serial which aired on ABC in one-hour episodes on the Disneyland series. The series stars Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his fictional best friend, George Russel....
(miniseries 1954-1955) - City DetectiveCity Detective (TV series)City Detective is a half-hour syndicated crime drama starring Rod Cameron as 43-year-old Bart Grant, a tough 1950s New York City police lieutenant. The first of three consecutive Rod Cameron series, City Detective aired between January 1, 1953 and May 10, 1955...
(1 episode, 1955) - Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonMr. Smith Goes to Washington (TV series)Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1962-1963 ABC sitcom starring Fess Parker as Eugene Smith, an honest but unsophisticated U.S. senator from an unidentified small-populated state. The half-hour program is based on the 1939 Frank Capra film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring James Stewart in...
(1962–1963) - Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series) "Nothing Ever Happens in Linvale," plays Sheriff Ben Wister
- Daniel BooneDaniel Boone (TV series)Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...
(lead cast member from 1964–1970, with Ed AmesEd AmesEd Ames is an American popular singer and actor. He is best known for his pop and adult contemporary hits of the 1960s like "When the Snow is on the Roses" and the perennial "My Cup Runneth Over." He was part of a popular 1950s singing group called The Ames Brothers.-Early life:Born in Malden,...
, Patricia BlairPatricia BlairPatricia Blair is an American television and film actress, primarily on 1950s and 1960s television. She is probably best known as Lou Mallory on the classic Western series The Rifleman where she co starred in 22 episodes with Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford and veteran actor Paul Fix; and as...
, Darby HintonDarby HintonDarby Hinton is an American actor and filmmaker initially cast in commercials when he was six months old. From 1964–1970 he portrayed Israel Boone, a son of American pioneer Daniel Boone, on the NBC adventure series Daniel Boone, with Fess Parker in the title role...
, and Veronica CartwrightVeronica CartwrightVeronica A. Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television. She is best known for her role of Lambert in Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress....
) - Climb an Angry Mountain (1972)
- The Fess Parker Show (1974) (unsold pilot)
- Oz and James's Big Wine AdventureOz and James's Big Wine AdventureOz and James's Big Wine Adventure is a BBC television programme of which two series have been broadcast. It is presented by wine expert Oz Clarke and motoring journalist James May , with Clarke aiming to educate May about wine while undertaking a road trip. The first season focused on France and...
(2007) (as himself, discussing wine making)