- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJames Child Drury Jr.
- Nicknames
- Jim
- Jimmy
- Height5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- Laconic, dark and handsome were the essential attributes for Hollywood western leading men in the 50s and 60s. James Drury fit the bill, keeping in mind that his most famous screen persona - that of the stalwart Shiloh estate ranch foreman known only as 'the Virginian' - took a while to properly develop. In the original 30-minute pilot way back in 1958, the Virginian appeared rather more like a genteel dandy than a tough cowboy. Four years later, the NBC network approved a revamped version of the series and Drury, now looking the part, was on his way to popular success. Though his career may have fallen short of outright stardom, he endeared himself with TV audiences for almost a decade and went on to enjoy a fair cult status beyond the final episode of The Virginian (1962) in March 1971.
James Child Drury was born not in the American West, but in New York, the son of Beatrice (Crawford) and James Child Drury. His father, from an Irish family, was a professor who lectured in marketing and advertising at New York University. Young James spent some of his formative years on a family ranch in Salem, Oregon, where he learned to become an expert rider. His maternal grandfather, John Hezekiah Crawford, of Kentucky, educated him in the ways of the woodsman and taught him marksmanship. James began to act in school plays, toured with a theatrical company by the age of twelve and then studied drama at his father's university. Curiously, he completed his senior year at UCLA studying not acting but horticulture and animal husbandry. Upon graduation, he was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made his first screen appearance a year later in 1955. Aside from playing junior army officers and assorted teenagers in films for 20th Century Fox and Disney, Drury quickly found a comfortable niche in TV westerns (which, no doubt, had much to do with his expertise in horsemanship). He had guest appearances in just about all the famous ones: The Texan (1958), Bronco (1958), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Lawman (1958), Cheyenne (1955), Gunsmoke (1955), Rawhide (1959) and Wagon Train (1957). He also made the little seen, yet unsold pilot for The Virginian. A strong performance as one of a quartet of villainous brothers in Sam Peckinpah's seminal western Ride the High Country (1962) led to a seven-year contract with Universal. He (along with Doug McClure) auditioned for their respective roles in The Virginian soon after, finding out that the parts were indeed theirs just two days prior to shooting. In 1966, Drury fronted a band, the Wilshire Buffalo Hunters, touring Vietnam for three weeks as part of the USO.
Despondent after The Virginian ended its run, Drury played a sheriff in the pilot for the comedy western series Alias Smith and Jones (1971) and then starred in Firehouse (1974), a short-lived ABC adventure drama set at a Los Angeles fire station. After the cancellation of Firehouse, Drury seemed to become even more disheartened and made only a few more sporadic TV appearances thereafter. However, he managed to reinvent himself as a successful businessman, first as co-owner of a ranch raising Appaloosa horses (his steed in The Virginian had been a white Appaloosa named Joe D), then as proprietor of a company recycling asphalt, and latterly, having moved to Texas, in the oil and natural gas business. He was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in 1991.
James Drury died from natural causes on April 6, 2020, in Houston, Texas. He was 85.- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis
- SpousesCarl Ann Head(July 30, 1979 - August 25, 2019) (her death)Phyllis Mitchell(April 27, 1968 - January 30, 1979) (divorced)Cristall Othoneos (Orton)(February 7, 1957 - November 23, 1964) (divorced, 2 children)
- ParentsJames Child Drury Sr.Beatrice Crawford Drury
- His Virginian character
- Smoky, gravelly voice
- Settled in Houston in the mid-1970s and has been in and out of the oil and natural gas business since.
- The son of a New York University professor of marketing, he was born in New York City but later grew up on a ranch in Oregon where he developed an affinity for horses and the outdoor life.
- Recorded a series of novels by acclaimed western author Kirby Jonas for a books-on-tape company called Books in Motion.
- Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1991.
- In 1971 he appeared in Finland for four appearances in different Mid-Summer festivals. At the time he was very popular there after having been in the TV series The Virginian (1962). He was told that the kind of reception he got in Finland was like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra got in the US.
- [referring to his title role on The Virginian (1962)] Nobody knows the name of my character. Not even me.
- I was a brand-new contract player at MGM in 1954, and I was 20 years old, and the studio undertook to make a property called "Raintree County" [eventually made as Raintree County (1957)], with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. And I wanted the Montgomery Clift role much, and I told everybody about it that I wanted to play. I read the book, and I thought it was a wonderful role and I wanted to play. Obviously, nobody listened to me, Montgomery Clift played the role, and did a great job, but I always regretted that I didn't get a chance at that, because I like the property, the property gave me goosebumps when I read it, and I wanted to participate putting it on film. It was not to be and I had no regrets about it. I was very disappointed at the time that I couldn't make any headway, but that's the way life is.
- Owen Wister designed the character in 1902 when he came out with the novel, without a name. So you automatically assumed 'The Virginian' has some secrets [he'd rather not divulge], and there's an aura [that an] actor who plays the part carries with him as he comes through the door.
- [on the death of Doug McClure] He was very instrumental in the success of the show and probably the best friend I ever had, and we lost him. He died too young, he was only 59, but you think about him everyday.
- [When asked if he knew Julie London through his best friend Robert Fuller] No, I had known Bobby Troup, her husband, very well, [we'd] done several shows together. But I never really knew Julie, except just to meet her. Bobby [Fuller] became their very lifelong friend . . . but I never spent any time on the road with her, [although] I think Bobby Fuller did. Bobby Troup and I did Perry Mason (1957) and we did several other shows before he ever started Emergency! (1972). It was a family affair on "Emergency!" except for Fuller, and he didn't really want to do a modern show, he wanted to do another western, but Jack Webb [the producer of "Emergency!"] talked him into it or insisted that he do it, and he was [eventually] very happy, because it was a great success and he had a wonderful time with Julie London and . . . Bobby Troup.
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