Young Dan'l Boone

I was an extra in the 3rd episode, "The Salt Licks" the summer of 1977. It was filmed on the shores of Watts Bar lake in East Tennessee outside Knoxville. I played one of the settlers that was captured by the Indians while at the salt licks. Young Dan'l (Rick Moses) and Hawk (JiTu Kumbuka) rescued us. John Devlin played Skag in this episode. We became fast friends and he sort of took me under his wing for the episode making sure I was close to him so I would be in more shots. He was also good company during the long hours of production. What a great experience! Danny Zapien, who played the the medicine man, kept our spirits up between takes with funny stories and just cutting up, generally. Jerry Rushing from North Carolina played the blacksmith, Avery, and was also a lot of fun. Mannie Acosta in makeup woke us up at 5AM call by adding coffee to the Max Factor pancake makeup! I met Cal Bellini who I knew from his role in Little Big Man. Rudy ?? in special effects was good at explosions!! I have photos of most of the characters, director and such that I'd like to share, but can find no way to post them on IMDb. Any help out there?

The series has a place in my heart, too. I was the location casting director, the one who cast the extras and local talent - all of whom were wonderful to work with! On many mornings the extras had to be at the hotel, to load up on buses, at 4:30 am, and the ride out to the set could take as long as 1 1/2 hours each way. They were always on time, carrying their pillows to sleep on the bus, and would cheerfully, although a little sleepy, head off to wardrobe and make-up at 6:00 am - Troopers, all of them! I remember getting a call from the head of production at Fox, complementing us on the amazing extras! And how happy he was with their work on the series. There were 8 episodes shot but only a few aired. We were up against some pretty heavy competition on the other networks, and many of us felt that we could have survived if we are only airing on a different day.

My late husband also worked on this show. He often did wild lines in Cherokee (he had gone over to the Cherokee homeland in NC and learned with a teacher there). He didn't talk much about doing the show and I'm afraid I never got to watch it - it came and went too fast while I was in law school. It was good to read other "reviews" from those who knew locals involved in East Tennessee. Thanks.