I was having an interesting conversation with some folks on Facebook tonight after word had spread that actor Fess Parker died today at the age of 85.
One person staunchly resisted the suggestion. "Impossible," she said. "He's one of those guys like Sinatra or Jimmy Stewart. He couldn't possibly die, like an ordinary mortal."
Before today, I would have agreed with that, and, although I knew better, I would have added John Wayne to the list. Fess Parker was like John Wayne in my eyes. He certainly was not an ordinary mortal, and I would have sworn to that on a stack of Bibles when I was a child. He played Daniel Boone, an authentic American hero. He could throw a hatchet and split a tree. I'd seen him do it on TV. Before that, he played Davy Crockett, another authentic American hero.
As a matter of fact, I've heard that Walt Disney chose Parker over James Arness and Buddy Ebsen when casting his Davy Crockett miniseries in the 1950s. That was a huge break for Parker, and it sparked one of the early TV–inspired marketing frenzies when Disney cashed in on the popularity of the show by licensing the sale of things like coonskin caps and bubble gum cards.
Then, for six seasons, from 1964 to 1970, Parker played Daniel Boone in the NBC series of the same name. Interestingly, Parker again wore the coonskin cap when he played Boone — even though the real Daniel Boone never wore a coonskin cap.
But I can tell you that, when I was a child, you simply couldn't be an American kid and not have a coonskin cap (although I must confess that I did know some kids who didn't have coonskin caps — and I felt bad for them, to tell you the truth). It was part of the officially sanctioned uniform for American kids.
Now that Parker is gone, I have to wonder how the other members of the cast are doing.
- Ed Ames, who played Boone's Indian sidekick, Mingo, is now 82 and apparently remained friends with Parker until his death. Ames reportedly visited Parker regularly. They only lived about a 15–minute drive from each other.
- Patricia Blair, who played Boone's wife, Rebecca, is 79 now. She was born and raised in the Dallas–Fort Worth area (coincidentally, Parker also was born in Fort Worth, but he grew up in the west–central Texas town of San Angelo). I kind of had a crush on her when I was 6 or 7!
- Darby Hinton, who portrayed Boone's son, Israel, is 52 now. My understanding is that he is a filmmaker, and his current project is a TV series with the working title Hinton's Living History. In the pilot, he, his wife and their four children travel around the country, experiencing history in many ways and in many places, including Fort Boonesborough, Ky., which was founded by the real Daniel Boone 235 years ago.
- Veronica Cartwright, who played Boone's daughter, Jemima, is 60 and still does some acting. Most Daniel Boone fans probably don't remember much about her. She disappeared after the second season.
But you never know what might happen ...
Now that we've learned that Fess Parker was mortal after all.
