Davy Crockett Star Fess Parker Dead at 85

Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone star Fess Parker died today at age 85. Parker died of natural causes at his Santa Ynez home near the Fess Parker Winery, said a family spokeswoman. His death comes on the 84th birthday of his wife of 50 years, Marcella. Parker became every baby boomer's idol in the 1950s when he starred as frontiersman Davy Crockett.

Kids grabbed up lunch boxes, toy Old Betsy rifles, buckskin shirts, and trademark fur caps. The series theme song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," became a hit with its line "Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee." Parker also played Daniel Boone in the late '60s television show. He later became a developer along California's central coast and grew grapes for prize-winning wines. (More Fess Parker stories.)