James Drury
James Drury in a publicity photo for The Virginian (1971)
Born
James Child Drury Jr.

(1934-04-18)April 18, 1934
New York City, U.S.
DiedApril 6, 2020(2020-04-06) (aged 85)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Alma materNew York University
UCLA
OccupationActor
Years active1955–2014
Spouses
  • Cristall Orton
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1957; div. 1964)​
  • Phyllis Mitchell
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1968; div. 1979)​
  • Carl Ann Head
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1979; died 2019)​
Children2 sons (including Timothy Drury), a stepdaughter and 2 stepsons[1]

James Child Drury Jr. (April 18, 1934 – April 6, 2020) was an American actor. He is best known for having played the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series The Virginian, which was broadcast on NBC from 1962 to 1971.

Early years

Drury was born in New York City, the son of James Child Drury and Beatrice Crawford Drury.[2] His father was a New York University professor of marketing.[3][2] He grew up between New York City and Salem, Oregon, where his mother owned a farm.[1][4] Drury contracted polio at the age of 10.[3]

He studied drama at New York University[2] and took additional classes at UCLA to complete his degree after he began acting in films at MGM.[5]

Career

Drury's professional acting career began when he was 12 years old, when he performed in a road company's production of Life with Father.[2]

He signed a film contract with MGM in 1954 and appeared in bit parts in films. After he went to 20th Century Fox, he appeared in Love Me Tender (1956) and Bernardine (1957).[6]

In 1959, Drury was cast as Harding, Jr., in the episode "Murder at the Mansion" on Richard Diamond, Private Detective. On May 9, 1959, early in his career, Drury appeared as Neal Adams in the episode "Client Neal Adams" of ABC's Western series Black Saddle.

On Christmas Eve 1959, Drury appeared in "Ten Feet of Nothing" on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. Drury portrayed a young miner, Joe Plato.[7]

In 1960, Drury appeared in different roles in two episodes, "Fair Game" and "Vindication", of another ABC Western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams as a Confederate adventurer roaming through the post-Civil War American West. On November 16, 1960, Drury played young pioneer Justin Claiborne in the episode "The Bleymier Story" of NBC's Wagon Train.[8] He was also cast in the 1960 Disney movie, Pollyanna as George Dodds, the love interest of Nancy Olson.

In 1960, Drury portrayed Joe Darle in the episode "Wall of Silence" of the ABC/Warner Bros. detective series, Bourbon Street Beat. He made a guest appearance on the CBS drama series Perry Mason in 1961 in the role of musician and defendant Eddy King in "The Case of the Missing Melody".

Drury as "The Virginian"

He appeared in secondary roles for Disney. In 1962, he was cast in a substantial role as a lascivious gold prospector in the early Sam Peckinpah Western Ride the High Country (1962) opposite Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea. On April 11, 1962, Drury played the title role in an episode of Wagon Train, "The Cole Crawford Story", (S5, E28).

Around the same time, Drury landed the top-billed leading role of the ranch foreman on The Virginian, a lavish series that ran for nine seasons until 1971.[9] Drury was put under a 7-year contract with Universal in 1962, and was the front-runner for the role, but he still had to audition three separate times and was required to lose 30 pounds in 30 days to secure the part. Drury reported that he had based his performance of the Virginian on character elements of his maternal grandfather, with whom he had spent much of his childhood.[10]

Drury and his Wilshire Boulevard Buffalo Hunters band performed 54 USO-sponsored shows for troops in Vietnam in three weeks in April 1966.[6]

Drury continued his title role in The Virginian after it was reformatted as The Men from Shiloh on NBC (1970–1971).[11]: 981  He had the lead role of Captain Spike Ryerson in the drama series Firehouse on ABC television in 1974.[11]

In 1993, Drury had a guest-starring role as Captain Tom Price on the first three episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger, opposite Chuck Norris and Clarence Gilyard. Drury also had a cameo role in the 2000 TV movie of The Virginian starring Bill Pullman. The film followed Wister's novel more closely than had the television series. Drury appeared in a number of films and other television programs, including The Young Warriors and the TV cowboy reunion movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw with Doug McClure, who played the character Trampas on The Virginian.

In 1991, Drury was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.[12] In 1997 and 2003, he was a guest at the Western Film Fair in Charlotte, North Carolina.[13]

Personal life and death

On February 7, 1957, Drury married Cristall Othones, and fathered two sons, Timothy and James III. The couple divorced on November 23, 1964, and on April 27, 1968, he married Phyllis Jacqueline Mitchell; the marriage ended in divorce on January 30, 1979. His third marriage was to Carl Ann Head on July 30, 1979; it lasted until her death on August 25, 2019.[2] Drury had three stepchildren from his previous marriages, a stepdaughter, Rhonda Brown, and two stepsons, Frederick Drury and Gary Schero.[1] His son, Timothy Drury, is a keyboardist, guitarist, and vocalist who has played with the rock groups Eagles and Whitesnake.[14]

Drury supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.[15]

Drury was in the oil and natural gas business in Houston in the late 20th century.

Drury died from natural causes on April 6, 2020, 12 days short of his 86th birthday.[16]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1955 Blackboard Jungle Hospital Attendant Uncredited
Love Me or Leave Me Assistant Director Uncredited
The Tender Trap Eddie
1956 Diane Lieutenant Uncredited
Forbidden Planet Crewman Strong
The Last Wagon Lt. Kelly
Love Me Tender Ray Reno
1957 Bernardine Lt. Langley Beaumont
1959 Good Day for a Hanging Paul Ridgely
1960 Toby Tyler Jim Weaver
Pollyanna George Dodds
Ten Who Dared Walter Powell
1962 Ride the High Country Billy Hammond
Third of a Man Emmet
1967 The Young Warriors aka Eagle Warriors Sgt. Cooley
1991 The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw Jim
1994 Maverick Riverboat Poker Player Uncredited
2005 Hell to Pay JT Coffee
TBA Billy and the Bandit Grandpa Posthumous release

Television

Year 1961 Title Role Notes
1961 Perry Mason Guest Star Season 5 Episode 3
1955–61 Gunsmoke Tom / Johnny Red / Jerry Cass / Booth Rider 4 episodes
1958 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Michael Grimes Season 3 Episode 23: "The Right Kind of House"
Playhouse 90 Jesse James Episode: "Bitter Heritage"
The Texan Johnny Kaler Episode: "The Troubled Town"
1958–61 The Rifleman Spicer / Lloyd Carpenter 2 episodes
1959 Have Gun - Will Travel Tony Season 3, Episode 21 "Hunt the Man Down"
1959 Rawhide Kenley S1:E3, "Incident with an Executioner"
1959 Lawman Clay Troop Episode "The Gang"
Lawman Stan Bates Episode "The Outsider"
Steve Canyon Lt. Richard Muller 2 episodes
Cheyenne Bill Magruder Episode: "The Impostor"
Black Saddle Neal Adams Episode: "Client: Neal Adams"
1959-60 Men into Space Major Nick Alborg Episode: "Tankers in Space"
Wagon Train Cole Crawford / Justin Claiborne 2 episodes
1961RawhideJohnny AdlerS3:E20, "Incident of the Boomerang"
1961RawhideRanceS3:E29, "Incident of the Night on the Town"
1962 The Detectives Adrian Episode: "Walk a Crooked Line"
1962–71 The Virginian The Virginian 249 episodes
1969 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Himself 2 episodes
1971–72 Alias Smith and Jones Sheriff Tankersley / Sheriff Lom Trevors 2 episodes
1971 Ironside Al Episode: "The Professionals"
1974 Firehouse Captain Spike Ryerson 13 episodes
1993 Walker, Texas Ranger Captain Tom Price 3 episodes
1993–94 The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Ethan Emerson 2 episodes
2012 Tales of the Cap Gun Kid Ranger Captain 1 episode

Narrator

  • River Invaders: The Scourge of Zebra Mussels (1994) — PBS special — host/narrator
  • Sturgeon: Ancient Survivors of the Deep (1995) — PBS special — host/narrator
  • A Vanishing Melody: The Call of the Piping Plover (1997) — PBS special

References

  1. 1 2 3 "James Drury, Taciturn Star of 'The Virginian,' Dies at 85". The New York Times. April 6, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Aaker, Everett (2017). Television Western Players, 1960–1975: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. pp. 135–137. ISBN 978-1-4766-6250-3. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  3. 1 2 "James Drury". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  4. ↑ Wheat, Dan (April 17, 2014). "'The Virginian' turns 80, recalls Oregon roots". Capital Press. Salem, Oregon. Archived from the original on September 17, 2019.
  5. ↑ Fischer, Marian Lowry (August 26, 1954). "Salem Youth Under Contract with MGM". Daily Capital Journal. Salem, Oregon. p. 13. Retrieved January 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 Green, Paul (2009). A History of Television's The Virginian, 1962–1971. McFarland. pp. 94–103. ISBN 978-0-7864-5799-1. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  7. ↑ "The Old Ranger Brings you Tales of the Old West (Advertisement)". The Baltimore Sun. December 26, 1959. p. 12. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
  8. ↑ Shearin, Beth (November 6, 1960). "What's Doing For Fun". Rocky Mount Telegram. p. 6A. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
  9. ↑ Ryan, Patrick (April 4, 2020). "James Drury, star of NBC's long-running Western series 'The Virginian,' dies at 85". USA Today. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  10. ↑ Green, Paul (2009). A History of Television's The Virginian, 1962–1971. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-0-7864-4680-3.
  11. 1 2 Terrace, Vincent (January 10, 2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. p. 343. ISBN 978-0-7864-8641-0.
  12. ↑ "Great Western Performers". National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Gene Watson Peer's Quote from James Drury ('The Virginian'): June 2018". Gene Watson's Fansite. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Producer Tom". Radio 610 WTVN. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  15. ↑ Critchlow, Donald T. (October 21, 2013). When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-1076-5028-2.
  16. ↑ Barnes, Mike (April 6, 2020). "James Drury, Star of 'The Virginian,' Dies at 85". the Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
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