Fess Elisha Parker Jr. (born F.E. Parker; August 16, 1924 – March 18, 2010) was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett in the Walt Disney 1955–1956 TV miniseries and as Daniel Boone in a television series from 1964 to 1970. He was also known for being a winemaker and resort owner-operator.
Parker was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised on a farm in Tom Green County near San Angelo. His father, a tax assessor, had the same first name which had been given to him in honor of the educator and politician Simeon D. Fess. The middle name "Elisha" was chosen by the future actor himself, when he was a teenager (around 1937), because it sounded rhythmic and matched his middle initial.
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 feet 6 inches (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.