"Daniel Boone", "Davey Crockett" Star Dies

SANTA YNEZ, Calif. (AP) - "Davy Crockett" and "Daniel Boone" star-turned-developer and vintner Fess Parker has died. He was 85.

Family spokeswoman Sao Anash says Parker died Thursday morning of natural causes at his Santa Ynez home near the Fess Parker Winery.

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 Davy Crockett 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 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.

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