was on location with a minor part in Untamed Frontier with Joseph Cotten and Shelley Winters. Parker became a contract player with Warner Bros., 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 syndicated Western anthology series Stories of the Century in the episode "The Dalton Brothers". In another 1954 appearance, Parker was cast as Curt Morrison, a cowboy/militia-marshal patrolling the land rush in the New Mexico Territory, in the episode "The Kickapoo Run" on the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days. In the 1961 Death Valley Days episode "A Miracle at Whiskey Gulch", Parker portrayed the Reverend Joel H. Todd, who tries to instill Christian principles in a wild frontier town. Davy Crockett According to Parker himself, when the Walt Disney Company was seeking an actor to play Davy Crockett, James Arness, later cast as Marshal Matt Dillon on CBS's Gunsmoke, was first considered for the title role. Parker had recently graduated to being a contract weekly actor but listened to his agent and appeared in a Warner Bros. science fiction film about giant ants called Them!, which required only one day's work. He had a small scene 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 the 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, and then said goodbye. Several weeks later, Parker was informed that he had been selected over Arness and several others for the role, including Buddy Ebsen, who eventually played Crockett's sidekick, Georgie Russell. Disney's three-episode version of Crockett depicted his exploits as a frontiersman, congressman, and tragic hero of the Alamo. The episodes have been called the first television miniseries, though the term had not yet been coined. Davy Crockett (1954–55) 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