Daniel Boone is an American action-adventure television series, starring Fess Parker as the frontiersman Daniel Boone, that aired from September 24, 1964, to May 7, 1970, on NBC for 165 episodes, and was produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Arcola Enterprises, and Fespar Corp. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Cherokee friend, for the first four seasons of the series. Albert Salmi portrayed Boone's companion Yadkin in season one only. Country Western singer-actor Jimmy Dean was a featured actor as Josh Clements during the 1968–1970 seasons. Actor and former NFL football player Rosey Grier made regular appearances as Gabe Cooper in the 1969 to 1970 season. The show was broadcast "in living color" beginning in fall 1965, the second season, and was shot entirely in California and Kanab, Utah. The show was highly fictionalized with very little historical accuracy.
An earlier television series based on Daniel Boone appeared on the Walt Disney Presents anthology in 1960, with Dewey Martin as Boone.
Contents
Characters
Main characters
Daniel Boone – The title character of the series, played by Fess Parker
Rebecca Boone – Daniel's wife, played by Patricia Blair
Jemima Boone – Boone's daughter, played by Veronica Cartwright (Season 1–2)
Israel Boone – Boone's son, played by Darby Hinton
Mingo – Boone's companion and an Oxford-educated half-British Native American – played by Ed Ames (Seasons 1–4)
Cincinnatus – The store-keeper and a fixture of Boonsborough village life, played by Dallas McKennon.
Background
Daniel Boone was one of two significant historical figures played by Fess Parker. He previously appeared as Davy Crockett in a series of episodes of the Walt Disney anthology television series, to considerable acclaim amid the launch of a national craze. For his role as Boone, which lasted much longer, but had far less impact, Parker again wore a coonskin cap, which had been popularized years earlier by the Crockett shows. Daniel Boone's headgear was even mentioned in the show's theme song: "From the coonskin cap on the top of ol' Dan....". Efforts had been made to secure the rights to Crockett from Walt Disney, but Disney refused to sell, so the series wound up being about Boone instead.
In contrast, Parker's Boone was less of an explorer and more a family man than Parker's Crockett. Parker as Crockett also generally wore a light beard, whereas his Boone was predominantly clean-shaven. Boone's wife Rebecca (played by Patricia Blair) and son Israel (Darby Hinton) were often featured in the stories. In reality, Boone had 10 children. During the first two seasons, his daughter Jemima was shown (played by Veronica Cartwright), but she disappeared with no explanation toward the end of the second season. Western actor Chris Alcaide appeared twice on the series, once as an Indian, Flathead Joseph. Walter Coy made his last major television appearance in 1970 on Daniel Boone in the role of Chief Blackfish. Rico Alaniz played the Indian Crooked Hand in the 1969 episode "The Allies". Med Flory was cast in seven episodes, the last three in the role of the drifter Bingen.
The series is set in the 1770s and 1780s, just before, during, and after the American Revolution, and mostly centered on fictional adventures in and about Boonesborough, Kentucky. Nearly all of the aspects of the show were less than historically faithful and completely fictional, which at one point led the Kentucky legislature to condemn the inaccuracies. The series' story line does not follow historical events; instead, story lines run back and forth concerning historical events.
Inconsistencies include episodes such as "The Aaron Burr Story," a second-season episode in which the former Vice President of the United States visits Boonesborough. The episode was based on Burr's raising an armed group, allegedly to commit treason, in 1806. Meanwhile, another episode in the second season hinged on allegations that the Boonesborough settlers were planning insurrection against the British Crown, prior to the American Revolution. Still other episodes took place during the Revolutionary War. No explanation was made for the 30-year discrepancy.
Production
Parts of the series were filmed in Kane County, Utah.
Music
The show's main title featured three versions of the theme song written by Vera Matson and Lionel Newman (although the lyrics were written by Ken Darby, credited under the name of his wife Matson). The third "groovy version" was sung by The Imperials.
Release
Home media
Liberation Entertainment (distributed by Goldhil Home Media) released all six seasons on DVD in Region 1 for the first time between 2006 and 2008.
On September 23, 2014, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released Daniel Boone- The Complete Series: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition on DVD in Region 1 via amazon.com's CreateSpace program. This is a manufacture-on-demand release, available exclusively through amazon.com.
On January 8, 2016, it was announced that Shout! Factory had acquired the rights to the series in Region 1. They have subsequently released new collector's editions of the first five seasons on DVD. The sixth and final season was re-released on December 19, 2017.
Syndication
As of August 2022, Daniel Boone airs on INSP. The series is also occasionally aired on over-the-air broadcast channel Heroes & Icons in weekend binge blocks, FETV, and joined the new over-the-air broadcast network WEST when it launched on September 29, 2025.
